Forceps were used during her labour and five weeks later she felt something fall out as she was walking.
"I had severe prolapses in all three compartments, so bladder, bowel, uterus, which I ended up having surgery for," she told AAP.
She has spent at least $22,000 on treating her conditions, and continues to suffer from urinary incontinence when she goes for a run.
The Melbourne mother, 39, was recently told by her surgeon that she might live with this for the rest of her life.
"He actually said to me, I think we need to change the expectation here from resolution to improvement, which is pretty hard to hear," she told AAP.
"I'm a marathon runner, I've got two young kids, I have a physical job.
"Rather than expecting that this is going to be gone via surgery or medication, I probably will always have it."
Ms Minichiello is among 1.1 million Australian women living with birth injuries and trauma, which happens to at least 18 per cent of women who give birth, research has revealed.
Ongoing conditions and birth injuries include severe perineal tears, pelvic floor dysfunction, nerve damage, chronic pain, incontinence, sexual dysfunction and psychological trauma.
These conditions are costing Australia an estimated $17.5 billion each year, the Cost of Birth Trauma in Australia report found.
This includes $8.8 billion in lost labour market costs, $6.5 billion in wellbeing and burden of disease impacts, $1.4 billion in health system costs and $792 million in household financial costs.
Released to coincide with Birth Trauma Awareness Week, the report represents the first economic analysis of its kind.
Birth Trauma Australia is hopeful the research will finally lead to change across government and health systems.
"It's the first time we've quantified the true economic and human cost of birth-related trauma," chief executive Amy Dawes told AAP.
"This has to be the catalyst for change, because the lived experience stories that we've been highlighting for the last 10 years have not had that investment.
"Now we've got a monetary value, the numbers are insane, $17.5 billion annually, over double what endometriosis is costing the economy."
She is calling for leadership at state and federal levels to improve and extend pre and antenatal care for women, and build an evidence-based model of best-practice.
This includes extending the funded postnatal period to 12 months postpartum and expanding access to Medicare services, which will also lead to more consistent national data.
Ms Dawes said pelvic floor dysfunction - which affects 35 per cent of women - Â must be formally recognised as a chronic condition to unlock earlier diagnosis, workforce capability and research investment.
"This condition affects millions of women in Australia, yet pelvic floor dysfunction remains under diagnosed, under treated, and largely invisible within the national health policy," Ms Dawes said.
"We need co-ordinated action that delivers consistent, high-quality care before, during, and long after birth."
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