About your coach
Hayley Wildsmith
I am an experienced Personal Trainer from Auckland, New Zealand. Highly skilled in postpartum rehabilitation, functional training, hypopressive exercise and pregnancy exercise.
Exercise is medicine, yet is often overlooked by health professionals when working with post-partum women. Having a functioning pelvic floor means a lot more than doing a few kegels. To have a strong pelvic floor, you must create and maintain a well-balanced strong body from head to toe. It takes time and education to create self-awareness of function for long term results. My holistic approach to womens health will guide you through this journey of recovery and strength.
Many other methods out there fail to implement exercise at all, or in the correct manor. Working soley on the pelvic floor/core will not provide a full and long lasting recovery. The glutes are the support structure for our pelvic floor and happen to be the largest muscle on our body. Women tend to need a lot more focused and regular work on this muscle group compared to men. Without strong glutes, your pelvic floor is placed under a lot more stress than it should be, and is left unsupported. Think of it as trying to rehabilitate or strengthen your knee without strengthening your quads or hamstrings. It just wouldn’t be very effective. This is why a more holistic methodic approach works best.
My programs also include educational videos on lifestyle changes which are vital to success. These include topics such as how to poop, eat, stretch, breathe, address muscular imbalances and so on.
I have used my own methods to recover from prolapse twice. I have also used my methods to recover from a surgical repair to muscles torn during childbirth. To read more about my personal pelvic health journey please see below.
My personal pelvic health journey…
I was 22 when I had my first child, she was delivered naturally with a long second stage of labour, and a second degree tear. When she was only 8 weeks old I found out I was pregnant yet again. The IUD had not been inserted correctly and while overwhelming I decided to continue with the pregnancy. I had my second child 11 months after delivering my daughter. They call that “Irish Twins” being born within 12 months of each other. His delivery was a difficult one where his shoulders were not passing through the pelvis (shoulder dystocia). Basically he was ‘stuck in my pelvis’ for a very long time. My midwife performed a miracle as we were at a natural birthing center with no available medical interventions and he was delivered and resuscitated to good health, I surprisingly ‘did not tear’.
Given the fact I did not have time to properly restore and rest the pelvic floor between the pregnancies, and the difficult delivery, it is pretty safe to assume my pelvic floor wasn’t in the best condition although I showed no symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction for a further two years. However back then (over a decade ago) pelvic health wasn’t really spoken about so off I went. Fast forward to two years later and I start to exercise a bit more and decide to take up running… oh ****, cue the incontinence symptoms!
Through surgical consults I was diagnosed with permanent nerve damage, mainly affecting one side of the pelvic floor and a rectocele. Through intensive physiotherapy and hard work I regained the strength and nerve function to the point where symptoms were minimal and manageable and went on to specialize in pregnancy exercise and postpartum recovery help other women.
At 32 I was pregnant again with baby number three. At this point my pelvic floor was the best it had ever been postpartum and I was an expert in my field of work so feeling pretty good about the old pelvic floor. Early in my second trimester that all changed, every step I took I felt like my baby was going to fall right out of my body and onto the floor, uh oh! I was checked out by several OBGYN’s who couldn’t find anything wrong upon physical examination but booked me in for a caesarean delivery given my history, with further follows up to happen once the baby was out. I went into labour before the scheduled date of surgery and the first stage of labour was so short and explosive they could not organise a caesarean surgery in time. In fact they had to run me through the hospital just to get to the delivery ward in time. He was born safely however it was by far the most painful delivery of the three, and I continued to hemorrhage after he was born which resulted in a painful and traumatic hospital stay. I had a second degree tear which was repaired with sutures.
After being discharged it was a very long recovery compared to the other births, the pain and swelling was severe and it was very difficult to reconnect with my pelvic floor despite my knowledge and experience and receiving several months of physiotherapy. This is a big red flag there is something seriously wrong. Sex was painful and the rectocele was also back again. After a long winded referral journey of consultations and wait times between several medical professionals I was sent for a high tech imaging scan of my pelvic floor. This process actually took 18 months to get to that point, and by then, my skills had paid off and I felt like my pelvic floor was the most responsive it had ever been. My prolapse had been reversed naturally and I was completely free of symptoms. I went to my final appointment expecting to be told I am absolutely fine down there and it was just a result of the pregnancy hormones that gave me the sensations of my baby ‘about to fall out’.
The scans showed that I had bilateral avulsions (muscles had torn off their insertion points on both sides) of the Levator Ani muscles, and the Deep Transverse Perenial Muscles. There is no current fix for Levator Ani avulsions, however I was booked in to surgically repair the avulsed Deep Transverse Perenial Muscles and the torn fascia in the back vaginal wall.
The most concerning part for me was that I had several GYN’s and physiotherapists provide internal examinations, all of whom missed these avulsions. The reason why they missed it in my case was because the rest of the muscles which were attached were performing so well so they were able to mask the true state of my pelvic trauma, which is a nice testament to my skills, but on the other hand I was a ticking time bomb for a severe prolapse at some stage in my life. Lucky for me I have all the knowledge and skills required to carry that out and continue an active lifestyle. Other women, are not so lucky. That is why I have developed the saving vaginas program to go online.
I underwent surgery on the 7th of November 2019, rehabilitated myself by using my own program (I was not given any exercise advice from the health system). I am still symptom free aside from minor issues that arise from the pudendal nerve damage. I am currently in my mid-thirties and my lifestyle and exercise regime will be managed accordingly, forever. I live a happy and active lifestyle, you can too.