The Pregnancy Pelvic Floor Wellness Clinic

Conditions We Treat

We provide comprehensive care for conditions, injuries and symptoms that occur before, during or after childbirth. Some issues we commonly treat include:

• Bowel leaks: Loss of bowel control (fecal incontinence) can cause leaks of gas or stool (poop) ranging from an occasional stool leak while passing gas to a complete loss of bowel control.
• Constipation: Difficulty passing stool or having fewer than three bowel movements per week is constipation, which becomes chronic (long-term) when it lasts several weeks or longer.
• Episiotomy complications: An episiotomy is an incision (cut) through the tissue between your vagina and your anus (perineum) during childbirth, which may help prevent vaginal tears. Problems that can develop after an episiotomy include bleeding, infection, tearing into the rectal tissues and pain with sexual intercourse.
• Fistulas: An abnormal opening or passage between two organs can develop due to prolonged labor, difficult delivery and other causes. An example is a rectovaginal fistula, which connects the rectum (lower end of the large intestine) and vagina.
• Painful sexual intercourse: Pain during or after sex may feel sharp, deep, throbbing or stabbing. The pain may occur only at penetration or go on for hours after intercourse.
• Pelvic organ prolapse: Pregnancy and childbirth can weaken or damage muscles in the pelvic floor. Pelvic organ prolapse occurs when the pelvic floor can no longer support organs such as the bladder, intestines and uterus, which may drop into the vagina.
• Severe perineal lacerations: Also called vaginal tears, these deep tears in the perineum commonly happen during childbirth. Perineal lacerations range from first-degree tears (least severe) to fourth-degree tears (most severe). Complications include ongoing pain, infection, bowel leaks and nonhealing wounds.
• Vaginal or vulvar pain after childbirth: Pain and swelling can occur after childbirth due to the intense pressure on your vagina and vulva, vaginal tears or an episiotomy.
• Urinary retention: This condition is the inability to completely empty your bladder when you urinate, or you may not be able to pass any urine (pee).
• Urine leaks: Loss of bladder control (urinary incontinence) can cause leaks that vary from occasional, small urine leaks to frequent urine leaks of larger amounts.