Did you have an episiotomy? TMI

I had one. Cooper was born in theatre via ventouse. I was Anaesthetised so can't help with the pain part sorry.

 

Recovery was fine. I was expecting much worse TBH. I was scared to go to the toilet but even that was better than expected.

 

As for healing, we were back having s*x 6 weeks later (I would have quite happily gone there at 4 weeks, but had to get clearance from my MW first), sure it was a little uncomfortable to start with but quickly went back to normal. DH has said that things don't feel any different and they certainly don't for me either.

I did take a look very early on after birth and was freaked out, but haven't looked again since. My MW and DH assure me it all looks fine

 

Good luck

I had a big one due to footling breech delivery and never felt it just when they stitched me up after but i think normally they use a painkiller. Was a bit tender sitting for a while and i was scared about going to the toilet but they gave me plenty of ural sachets and kiwifruit juice and painkillers after so never actually hurt. Poor DP didnt get any for at least 3ish months but that my extreme paranoia. Everything seems to be back to normal down there now but cant say ive had a good look hahaha

To be honest at the time i was in labour i was ready to reach in there and drag josh out that i didnt even think about what was happening down there and the only reason i know it was a particuarly big episiotomy is that they wouldnt tell me how many stitches there were and that all the nurses seemed to want to check it a lot and tell me how awesomely i had done and that i was all the nurses were talking about. Although it was mostly because of the type of birth i had.

Despite everything going somewhat pear shaped and scary im going to do it again and surprisingly the thing that scares me most this time is making it to hospital in time rather than all the things that went wrong or got cut.

If you have had one what was it really like? Did you feel much? Were your lady bits any different once it healed?

I had one because I had been pushing for an hour and half, Daniels heart rate was dropping with each contraction and he just wasn't coming out. He was posterior and I was apparently a good pusher.

The bad part about mine was that a student MW did it and didn't do it big enough so she had to have another go. Therefore next time if its necessary I'll be very blunt that no student is going near me like that!

I had local put in before they did it. So I didn't feel the cut or anything. But I was freaked because I have a real phobia of being cut.

It took some time to heal and the scar I have you can barely see. but once I had that done Daniel flew out.

Ohhh, yea i dnt think id like to see any pictures either! ha, i freaked out enuf when i walked into the birthing room & saw the 'scissors' told my m/w 2 put them away asap as i wudnt b needing them.

But......

I also had one due to a suprise footling breech, didnt feel the cutting at all, & when they were stitching me up i had pain once, but told them & they just injected more of the painkiller stuff.

Recovery was way better than i was expecting, didnt hve any problems, & was back on the horse within 4weeks.

hope this helps hun. had friends have vbac & did just fine by themselves(no cutting needed ) so you can do it! best of luck ttc. x

Not painful as such. The area is so well stretched that the nerve endings are stretched too. You are given local anaesthetic too. It didn't hurt but I knew exactly what she was doing. By that I mean, I could feel the cutting but it wasn't painful. Not pleasant though and I'm hoping to not have another one. Stitches were no drama at all.

I, too, was cut twice as she didn't cut enough the first time (that was the MW). It was my biggest fear of labour and birth but at the time you do what you gotta do.

I was definitely quite sore afterwards and used a lot of salt baths and hypercal cream to aid healing but I don't know how sore I would have been without one if you know what I mean.

HTH

Lisa you may remember that I was debating whether to have a repeat c section or try for a vbac after having an emergency c section with my son 2 & a half years ago.

On thurs 22 apr I delivered my baby girl by vbac. It was the most amazing experience of my life! I am so glad I didn't go for the section. Yes, natural delivery was much longer & harder & I was scared for some of it, but it was such a beautiful, exiting, empowering experience. I would do it again in a heartbeat. In fact I am even looking forward to doing it again.

And I say all this even though it ended with a vontouse delivery & an episiotomy. I had been in labour for 14 hours, had no sleep, couldn't eat (in case I needed a c section), & was completely exhausted. I had been pushing for an hour & the MW decided it was best if the specialist came & helped her out with the ventouse. I was absolutely terrified-like you an episiotomy was my biggest fear. The sepcialist tried once to pull her out while I pushed, & then before the next go he made the cut. The MW had topped my epidural right up to the max before he startedo I really didn't feel a thing, but I did see him go in with the scissors so I screamed a lot (in hindsight I must have seemed like such a wuss). Anyway, after he made the cut she came right out. I lost a lot of blood (about 800ml) but I didn't really notice because I was holding my gorgeous wee bubba & feeling like a superhero because I pushed her out into the world! Seriously I cannot tell you how amazing it felt (& how different to that horrible detached feeling of being in theatre having your stomach sliced open & some stranger taking your baby out while you are surrounded by people & covered with sheets & scrubs etc). The specialist stitched me up (which I didn't feel either)

I really haven't had too much pain. It's tender, but I am coping. I haven't looked because I really don't want to see how bad it is, but all the MWs who have looked at it said the specialist did an amazing job of stitching it. Apparently it's very bruised but that's because of the bleeding. My MW says my vajayjay will be " as good as a new one when it's all healed up" LOL. I thought I woulkd have trouble sitting etc but I am fine, & all I'm taking is voltaren & panadol. I was afraid of the first wee & bowel motion but it was absolutely fine.

The best part about the vbac is that other than my bits being a bit bruised & tender I feel absolutely wonderful. I was up & in the shower within an hour or two, & after that I was back to normal. I thought I had a really good recovery after the c section, but honetsly, now that I know what recovery from a vbac is like I realise how awful the recovery was after the section. I was hooked up to all sorts of drips etc for ages, I had to take strong painkillers, I was groggy, my tummy had a huge cut on it, I was sore, I couldn't drive for weeks, or pick up anything heavy-ish. Seriously-it was terrible. And at the time I thought it was fine-how crazy.

Anyway, Lisa what I want to say is even with an episiotomy, the VBAC was awesome. And next time I will do it without the ventouse. I really recommend you consider having a go. I know it's scary & you want to stick with what you know (another section) but I promise you, natural birth is just wonderful compared to the section & you owe it to yourself to at least consider it.

PS if you read back on my posts you will see that I was initially so anti the VBAC & I thought people who pushed for them were a bit crazy. Now I have turned into one of those crazy pro VBAC people LOL

Anyway, good luck hun. And stop looking at horrific pictures on the net for goodness sake. I am sure you could fiund some damn horrific pictures about c sections too if you look hard enough! I would recommend though that you get someone good to do the stitching because apparently that makes all the difference to the healing. This is what I was told by a friend who had a third degree tear but is now perfectly fine because someone good did the stitching.

lisa85 wrote: THanks for sharing your stories girls :) Odette I loved your story you have restored my faith in a VBAC :) I was the same. After having such a fab C-section I always thought I'd go for another but as time goes on I think it would be nice to at least try for a VBAC.

You won't be sorry. If it doesn't work out then that's not the end of the world, but at least you won't always wonder what could've been. Don't let the fear hold you back. Knowing what I do now I wish I hadn't been so afraid. Next time I'll just enjoy it & not worry so much.

Good luck with the ttc . That's the really fun part!

Yay Lisa congrats on the TTC!!!!!!!!

I didn't have an episiotomy with either of the boys so can't help you there but I rekn you should avoid looking at gruesome birth pics chick every birth is different and so is every vj! Both my boys were over 9lbs so not tiny but I only got 4 stitches with Jake and 3 with Ty and believe it or not it was coz both the little buggers tucked their hand upside their heads and ripped me with their nails lol little horrors yet a friend had a 6lber and needed something like 37 stitches so its all down to the individual body.
I also have a complete paranoia about being cut so asked my MW about it and she actually said they prefer to avoid episiotomys whereever possible anyway so there you go

I had one. Tyler was posterior so wasn't decending properly. I'd had an epidural however and felt nothing.
Was slightly uncomfortable during the 1st 2weeks but am fine now

Good luck
x

I had one with my first DD. Also like others I had an epidural, so didn't feel a thing. Scar healed well and looks nice and tidy and barely noticable. Healing took longer then a small tear, but that's to be expected.