# rectovaginal fistula... how do you know if you have one?



## Faith (Nov 14, 2002)

So embarassing to even ask!

I had a ten pound baby 8 wks ago. Now sometimes it seems like air is coming out of the wrong opening.

But I have no pain or other problems...

Any advice from someone whose BTDT?


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## ironwoodmom (Nov 18, 2004)

yes, i'm the one who posted just before you about a second birth after a fistula... i noticed poop coming "out of the wrong hole," as you say - i was worried and called my doc. he asked if i was passing gas through my vagina and when i said yes he told me to come in the next morning... it's a pretty big deal. but if you're not seeing poop too, then it's probably a pretty small hole. either way, your doc should take a look at it. let us know how it goes! good luck. hope you don't have to have surgery - mine healed on its own with herbal baths and the right foods... feel free to email me personally if you have more questions...


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## tinyshoes (Mar 6, 2002)

Sometimes a boggy vagina, as a result of poor muscle tone and strength in the pelvic muscles, can cause an airy feeling--like floppy air flooshing out every now and then.

Author Sheila Kitzinger says that airy feeling as a symptom of pelvic floor weakness, which can happen to women post-partum. Other symptoms include a dragging or heavy feeling, leaky pee issues, feeling a bulge or heaviness in the vagina, and other symptoms (loaned my book THE YEAR AFTER CHILDBIRTH to a friend, so I can't look at the chapter.) Sheila points out that any muscle that isn't used will become weak, and she asserts that kegels will get a woman's body back in tip-top snappy shape.

Obviously a fistula warrants a trip to the OB/GYN/CNM for further eval. I thought I'd post this possiblity too, in case it _is_ appropriate for the original poster, and esp. for anyone else who might open this thread, wondering about airy crotch in general.


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## USAmma (Nov 29, 2001)

Okay this is probably TMI but since we are all talking, I sometimes get air in my vagina and it comes out sounding like gas.














But I would definately get it checked out.

Darshani


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## mwherbs (Oct 24, 2004)

you can go and be checked if you have a question. Did you go in for your 6 week check? and was everything normal then?
Some women will pass air out their vagina it is called queefing or maybe quirhting one of the 2 I think. it is just air sucked in ward and then through position or movement it is released.


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## Aaudreysmom (Aug 20, 2003)

With my fistual I first noticed a bloody BM just a day after dd was born. With the next BM I noticed it was coming out of the wrong place and that was why it was bloody.


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