As my walk progressed this morning, I continued to remember things relating to maternal health: as I saw that not too many people were picking up after their dogs, I recalled how nauseated I was during pregnancy that I once had to vomit down my sleeve because I was crossing the street where no trashcans were handy. As I reached the half-way mark of the hike, I noticed it was almost time for me to make a bathroom break. I walked faster, as I wanted to avoid the porta-potties.

During the Johnson & Johnson's "What's Happening Down There?" panel, I was only half-kidding when I remarked that just talking about the frequent need to urinate made me want to go pee. I am one of those folks who needs to think about things ahead of time. I don't want to be caught in an inconvenient spot when I've got to go.

Incontinence, prolapsed bladders, and prolapsed uteri are certainly not frequent conversation. It is embarrassing and is literally a loss of control and a weakness. Women don't want to be seen as "out of control" or "weak."

A couple years ago, my original "Karianna Blog" (which is now The Karianna Spectrum) was linked by a group of male women-peeing-in-their-pants enthusiasts. I wondered why my daily hits were suddenly elevated by 700%.

To their credit (?) one of the posters wrote something about not wanting to offend me by linking to my blog. He warned the group members to not email me offending messages privately.

I had written a post in which I revealed that I hadn’t made it to the restroom in time that day. Twice. The post was meant to convey desperation in my hectic schedule and also the “huh-I-gave-birth-so-I-can’t-hold-it-anymore” reality of having children. Of course I didn’t write it thinking men would masturbate to it with their images of me as a poor, incapable, weak woman.

Loss of bladder function is a non-glamorous aspect of what is supposed to be the beautiful sex. Should we be ashamed? No.

Frequently, doctors either don't discuss it, or give an off-hand, "Just do your kegels!" It was rather hilarious to watch my obese male OB try to demonstrate how he wanted me to crunch my abs as well as do kegels so that I could "reclaim" myself.

I was therefore glad that Camp Baby mentioned a topic that is frequently taboo. Sure, there was plenty of twittering, both virtual and actual about the subject matter as it was introduced, particularly regarding the way the discussion "flowed." It is uncomfortable, but just feeling that reinforces the taboo.

I didn't know what "uterine prolapse" was until my nurse practitioner told me during my first prenatal appointment when I was pregnant with Splig that mine is quite prolapsed. She remarked that it was unusual that it was so affected after only one pregnancy, and cautioned that no doubt it would be even worse after Splig. (I blame the Cat's vacuum extraction. I did not have an assisted birth with Splig and apparently the midwife "fixed" some things down there during his birth.)

Yes, I think it is great to mention things like incontinence and prolapse not being completely uncommon; however, a big portion of the J&J discussion revolved around treatment options. As we know, medicine moves quickly. It is therefore unlikely that by the time we will be treated for these conditions that the treatments will remain the same. (The product tie-in here is that Ethicon is a J&J company, providing women's health surgery products that will be obsolete when I am sixty.)

For folks like me who already have difficulty, yes, maybe I'd consider one of the treatments, but not until I am completely sure that I am done having children. I am not ready to make that decision yet. I would have enjoyed the urogynocologists' tips on what I can do now as a stop-gap. Yes, kegels, but perhaps there are other tips? Perhaps even some that they can tie into J&J products (I believe I have a box of pantyliners in the FedEx carrying my "J&J Product Expo" loot. I'll let you know.)

Are there temporary "hammocks" or just the permanent ones? Are there any other supports that can be removed for someone who chooses to become pregnant again, or any treatments that can assist permanently but do not affect fertility?

I am glad that the subject was mentioned, albeit briefly, but it was in some ways a surprising topic. The "discussion journals" were funny, since they included pages upon pages of lined paper. We're bloggers. We don't use paper. I believe everything "discussed" ended up on Twitter. That said, I was glad to give a few of the lined sheets to the Cat for his book report on Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, a book that I will review shortly, if only to mention how awkward it is to suddenly realize how some themes in it might be taken in today's day-n-age.

Yes, I want people to take women's health issues seriously. No, I don't think that necessarily means obliterating fertility to do so.