4th. Degree. Tear. 6+ months later and I’m still healing…

i tore with my first pretty badly and also had an episiotomy. recovery was horrible. i also had hemorrhoids (tmi?) and could barely sit for like three weeks. with my second, i didn’t tear a bit and recovery was seriously so much easier except for the after-birth pains which were more painful than some of my contractions. i guess if it’s not one thing, it’s another!

I had two very small lacerations, only one stitch. They hurt like a bitch, though, and six weeks out, aren’t fully healed. Totally one of the suckier parts of the process.

I delivered my first child in July and I teared BAD! The split went in a multitude of directions-down, up and inside the labia. I had no drugs and a very light epidural-and I swear I could feel it tearing during the crowning process-which took forvever btw. My Dr. tried very hard to prevent it (or so he says) but in the end I had over 30 stitches. After my son came out, my husband referred to the doctor as “the mad seamstress”, because, according to my husband “he was going to town down there with his needle and thread for a long time”.
Needless to say, the recovery took a while and I took over my sons boppy as a means of sitting survival. The worst for me was standing/walking for extended periods of time, aka longer than 6 minutes. I am now one of those people that will always whisper, “How’s your bum?”

In retrospect, I am of the opinion that my Dr re-attached my labia to my body. Seriously. This was my first delivery and like you, 3 pushes and he was out. I had second degree tears all over my labia. Too many to count. It was the worst. Sitting, moving, lying hurt. Everything hurt. I told my husband I would take 2 pregnancies before instead of 1 delivery. I hated it. 2 months later I’m still deal with anal tears on and off when I have a bowel movement… Sigh

okay, I’ll be the one to jump in with the section story. When I finally got a look at it (in the mirror) all I could think of was that I looked like something from Frankenstein with the staples! I couldn’t sit up or go up stairs without pain and difficulty for weeks afterwards. My poor hubby was in charge of having to change my bandages and I was leaking from the incision for about two weeks afterwards. Since I had an emergency section, I had been pushing for two hours prior to the surgery so I also had some fear around bathroom time afterwards. So much fun…and now I’m pregnant again!

Well, mine went a little down the completely horrible river. I tore (not sure of the degree) lost over 2 pints of blood and passed out. Never got to hold my baby till an hour later and woke up to 3 med students with their heads between my legs stitching away happily. When asked how many stitches I was getting they replied simply “we lost count”. Needless to say I did not sit right lay right pee right or let anything touch me south of the border for 6 – 7 months after my daughter was born. Medium long labour, short delivery, insanely long recovery time…

I recall my mother telling me when I was a teen about episiotomies (excellent birth control, btw. Have teens watch an episiotomy video) and thinking, “ugh, no way!” Fast forward to the birth of my son. He came sailing out fast; when I started pushing, he was halfway down the birth canal. Spouse wasn’t allowed to look down there, but he said he watched as the doc and a nurse went to town stitching away at my crotch. I’d like to think the tons of kegels and pelvic tilts and whatever helped; a month later, I was totally fine, and now 4 months later, those stitches are just a memory.

I had a 3rd or 4th degree tear, never asked which one. All i know is that there were hundreds of stitches from the vag all the way to my bum hole (TMI?) that was the most painful experience EVER. it took about 3 months to heal (my son is now 5 1/2 months old) i even had to have (i cant for the life of me remember what it was called) some sort of liquid applied to my girly bits at my 6 week check up to essentially “burn off” and “pink bits” that hadnt quite healed like they should have. That too was extremely painful, like having your crotch stung by a million bees…. (again TMI?) I had a natural labor and would choose that again over having to deal with the healing – bring on the contractions! (my labor was very quick, 6 hours total)
Im now worried when i have my 2nd that ill rip just as bad, which could result in major surgery.

With my second child it wasn’t even the episiotomy that was so horrible…it was the bruising! I finally had to gather up the courage to look myself after every nurse that checked me after delivery got the same startled expression (eyebrows shooting up while making a silent ow) on their face when they looked down there. My entire vagina was a black bruise! My best friend was my cushy donut to sit on for almost a month! It has been 2 and a half years and it still haunts me…but in the end totally worth it :)

Third-degree tear, four significant lacerations, tons of stitches, and somehow the whole process left me with a huge, rock-hard stool that I COULD NOT pass, even after a whole slew of home remedies. I ended up in the ER getting manually disimpacted. That process and the prior failed attempts to pass tore some of the stitches. It was awful. It was months before I could just poop normally.

And I was surprised, because I really took my time pushing, giving my tissues a chance to stretch. But the moment came where I had to push with everything I had, knowing I was going to tear. Yikes.

I tore, but not too bad. The worst part for me that I wasn’t expecting at all was that the catheter “scratched”, and so help me, I wanted to cry every time I peed for almost 2 months.

I had a 2nd degree bi lateral tear with my first… Now a month away from my giving birth to my second and…. yeah I’m a bit nervous considering he’s going to be almost twice the size of his sister (they had to induce labor early due to preeclampsia so she was small, he’s already bigger than her)

count me as gumby…2 kids 1 stitch with my first none with my second, fast (under 12 hr) labors 2-3 pushes each, no meds at all.. I think I am just built to deliver babies.

Amy, your story sounds very similar to mine. I also had 3rd degree lacerations. It was all internal, so they had to cut an episiotomy to do the repairs. I have no idea how many stitches. I was so swollen, it was like I had a scrotum. I was unable to pass my first BM after trying for about 8 hours – I felt like I was going through labor again. I tried glycerin suppositories, but that didn’t work. My midwife ended up digging it out. It was horrible. Pooping for the first 6 weeks was so painful it brought tears to my eyes. I couldn’t sit normally for about 2 months. My perineum is still tender after 3 months.