A mum has detailed her struggle to have sex after giving birth, to raise awareness of the difficulties new parents can face in the bedroom.
Zoe George, from Australia, who blogs at The Subtle Mummy, said her first child was delivered with the help of forceps, leaving her vagina “broken”.
Six months after giving birth, she and her husband tried to have sex but she said it was a “nightmare”.
“I gave it another six months and by that time we were trying for our second,” George wrote on her blog post entitled: “Oh, it’s broken alright”.
“By ‘trying’ I mean I would cry whilst biting on a pillow, enduring sex while my poor husband tried to get the job done as quickly as possible.”
After visits to the gynaecologist, George was told she had vaginismus.
The NHS states vaginismus is the term used to describe “recurrent or persistent involuntary tightening of muscles around the vagina whenever penetration is attempted”.
It can be caused by damage to the vagina during childbirth.
The website states: “It can disrupt or completely stop your sex life, and can lead to distress, a loss of confidence and relationship problems. It may even prevent you starting a family.”
Vaginismus can be treated with appropriate medication if there is a physical cause. If the cause is psychological, sex therapy and physiotherapy may be recommended.
This may include treatments such as vaginal trainers and relaxation techniques. George went through specialist physiotherapy and conceived her second child several months later.
The topic of sex after childbirth is one that mums are increasingly writing about in order to challenge taboos.
Greg Rutherford’s partner, Susie Verrill, has previously blogged on HuffPost UK about her account of what it was like having sex after giving birth.
“I won’t lie, sex has taken on a different identity,” she wrote. “It used to be spontaneous, impulsive, long.
“Now it’s often scheduled, discussed and short. For lots of mums (me included) just the mere thought of having anything back up the place that not so long ago, was shoving a very large object out, is terrifying.
“After 12 weeks of recovery I was beyond nervous sex wasn’t to be the most comfortable process and although I was looking forward to the intimacy and getting back to our old selves, I was also very much remembering Greg’s member isn’t the size of a cotton bud and would therefore be a tad wincey.
“In fairness, once the time came it wasn’t horrendous, and I think if you just relax and go with it (that means use lube), then it’s nowhere near as bad as you worry it might be.”