Episiotomy

Hi All

Not looking for any stories or anything. (Please oh please oh please keep any horror stories to yourself. SOOOOO don't wanna know)

 

But can someone please confirm or deny for me, is it true that midwives prefer to leave you to tear naturally than to cut you?

 

See the thing is, I have written in my birthplan that I'd prefer to be cut than to tear naturally if the need arose. But I've got quite a few people telling me that midwives won't cut anymore.

True or False?

I think it depends on the MW...

I had one.. Daniel was stuck (he was posterior) and it was either I push more and tear or she cuts me. Now I have an absolute fear of being cut and she knew this but said it was better to be cut than tear, and tear bigger than what the cut would be. I think I'd opt to be cut again TBH. I've heard too many nasty stories about some awful tearing and tearing right up inside.. bugger that.

From what I have been told some of the worst tears are actually from episiotomies tearing further so some midwives won't cut. However some belive cutting is better than tearing so it pays to see what your midwife's viewpoint is.

Yeah totally depends on your mw. Mine doesn't cut if she can avoid it. Shes only done 2 in her like 15 odd years of practice and she keeps it as shallow as possible. I have a total fear of being cut so I'm really glad!

I think it depends on your midwife. Gabrielle got stuck and after 2 hours of pushing (and her starting to go into distress) my midwife cut me. I think she said afterwards that hospital policy is to do it only if there is a good reason for it coz she had to write down the reason for it on her paperwork.

I have a horror story about healing but since you said you don't want to know I'll leave it at that I think my story is not the norm anyway coz I've heard of people with just as many issues who tore instead of being cut.

I was cut (18months ago) so not sure if it has changed or not, they did need to get the baby out in a hurry though. Might pay to check with your MW to see what her policy is. Although I can't compare a cut with a tear I would definitely opt for a cut again - made the pushing a lot easier

AmStaff, perhaps you should call your MW to get peace of mind before the next appointment as it sounds like an important issue to you. She wouldn't mind I am sure. (I think we had the same one - CH?)

I had a ventouse delivery which didn't require cutting or tearing externally. I had MW and OB down there and trusted them implicitly.... they were clearly doing what was going to be best for me and baby.
(I did tear internally however, early on in the pushing, which required stitches. Nothing that anyone could have prepared for.)

Edited by JessDub

My understanding was that a tear is more likely to heal quicker and be 'shallower' ( only on the skin) . A cut is more likely to cut into muscle tissue - hence the longer healing time and resisitance to cut unless needed (i.e they know you're going to tear, and tear quite badly). But why focus on the negative....it's not like *you'll* need one...