Pregnancy and Vulvodynia, HELP!

Hello everyone!

I was wondering if anyone has had a baby while dealing with Vulvodynia. I am 16 weeks pregnant with my first child and dealing with Vulvodynia. I would really like to hear all your stories about giving birth, if you choose a c-section or vaginal birth? If giving birth or being pregnant helped or made matters worse? Your struggles and fears. Please oh please, I am very stressed out right now. I will tell you a little about myself. I am 27 years old, I have been dealing with Vulvodynia (unprovoked constant burning) for over four years now. I have had two sugeries, one I even traveled to a another state to find a doctor who I was told really knew what he was doing. They DID NOT help at all. I have tried painful steriod injections ( OUCH, OUCH, OUCH!!!) and creams. Estergen creams. Nothing helped. I am not doing any other treatments at this time because I do not know what else to do. The pain is burning, it feels like a terrible sun burn down there. After sex the burning gets alot worse. I am now pregnant and my OBGYN said that she thinks a C-section would be best for me because she thinks vaginal birth could make it worse. I have read that it can make it worse, or better.... PLEASE share your stories with me. I need all the help I can get right now, I am extremely stressed and scared.

Hi Azraella
I have had vestibulodynia my whole life. It means there is no constant burning, but the burning is very bad during and after sexual intercourse. I believe that the skin is not very strong, also that I have a lot of nerve endings and constand inflamation in gland ducts - all of which leads to the pain. It is better than vulvodynia because without friction (sex, lots of walking) I won't notice it.

If you have a mobile epidural during vaginal birth you will not experience any pain from the baby coming out. You might tear a bit, but so would any woman in their first birth. The birth creates scar tissue when it heals and the scar tissue is harder and stronger. If you tear enough to need stitches (for most women this would be not so good) then there is a bonus because you can ask the doctor to stitch you up with a wider vulva.

This is what happened to me and after giving birth vaginally I had much less problem from the vestibulodynia. It is still there and I am not so tight, but it did help significantly.

For myself I don't see how vaginal birth could make it actually get worse in the long run. It might not help... but there is certainly just a chance that it might make it better.

The birth itself should not be any worse especially not if you use pain relief throughout. It would be no worse than having a surgery - did the surgeries make it worse? I think the experience might be similar to that - but the bonus will be a baby!!!!!

I am also pregnant with vulvodynia. I have decided to go with a c-section for delivery. This was a very hard decision for me, but I had to take into account my sex-life for the remainder of my life. I want more children, and if I were to have a vaginal delivery and then sex was not possible because it was too painful, having more children would be difficult. Not to mention... I hate to think about my husband trying to have sex but the pain prevents it... for the rest of our life. Even though labor and delivery would not be easy, I am a little sad that it is something I may never experience. However, I believe that quality of life is a factor in this situation. My quality of life would be greatly diminished if my husband and I could no longer have sex. And, c-sections are extremely safe now. With a c-section delivery, baby and I will be healthy and happy.

I'm just curious what you ladies are doing to alleviate symptoms to be able to have intercourse and conceive because when I even just start to try to have intercourse I am in pain. I am not only frustrated about my sex life but I'm afraid that I will never be able to have sex long enough to get pregnant, you know? Just curious how you all have gotten this far haha.. I can't seem to figure this thing out despite all the different medications.

My vulvodynia is fairly mild... although still painful, sex is not painful every time. While trying to get pregnant, sometimes sex would be worse because I would be anticipating it and the possibility of pregnancy. And of course, one time when the sex is not so scheduled and I think its unlikely it will result in pregnancy... it does! I think the more anxious I am about sex, the harder it is to have sex comfortably... so you must relax. And some sort of lubricant always helps!

And an update on my delivery change of plans. My doctor did some research and found there was some evidence that a vaginal delivery would probably not make the vulvodynia worse. And since my vulvodynia is mild... I've decided to take my chances with a vaginal delivery. While I know there is a chance that my pain could get worse, my husband and I decided it was a chance we were willing to take. If I didn't try to deliver vaginally, I would always be wondering what would have happened. Mentally, it is best for me to not always be thinking about... what if.

Anyone with vulvodynia please plan a vaginal delivery. Normal natural vaginal birth will help stretch the tissues and muscles that are too tight. Everyone look into Hypnobirthing. It teaches you to relax your whole body including your vulva in order to birth more comfortably. (it's not hypnosis, not what you think) There are some amazing videos on youtube!

I am planning a vaginal hypno water birth. From extensive research I have come to conlude that this is the best way of doing things and my OB completely agrees and supports my decision, she has birthed with women with vulvodynia before. If you can condition your mind via hypnobirthing to realise that birth is normal and natural and doesnt have to be painful you will go in much more relaxed, wont tighten your pelvic floor and have much less chance of tearing. Dont let them do an epesiotomy, if you can help it don't have an epidural (you wont need it if you do hypnobirthing anyway) because you need to feel your muscles to relax them.

I am 21 weeks pregnant with baby number 1 and am taking the course right now. Vulvodynia and Interstitial Cystitis have been very quiet for me except for a few bad days (like today). I have been very lucky.

Good luck ladies!

First of all, congratulations! I am so sorry you are so stressed about this. I started having trouble with vulvodynia about 6 1/2 yrs ago. I tried desperately to find a cure, went a zillion docs, etc..finally went to acupuncture, which helped me enough that i could have sex again, and got pregnant. Getting pregnant with my son is what cured me and kept me pain free for the past 5 1/2 years. (It seems to be back now as of 3 days ago but that's off topic!) The more pregnant I got, and the more pressure was on my pelvic floor, the better I got. I did have a c-section on the advice of my Dr. and PT, who swore up and down that I should, in case it made me worse. BUT. I wish that I had done the vaginal birth. The recovery from the c-section was very hard for me. I have had trouble with infertility and miscarriages since then, but if we are lucky enough to have more children I want to do a vaginal birth, and I have found a Dr. who supports me in that. Please, please, try to relax for the sake of your baby. I think the vaginal birth would help more than hurt, based on all the research I've done over the past 5 years since I had my son, and based on personal experience. I wish I had done it. Hang in there. You can do this!