C-section after 3rd degree tear

I haven't been in this situation but my sister had a 2nd degree tear and she said that delivering her next baby naturally (5yrs later) 'fixed' her down there...no tears and now it's better than it was after the first birth. I know yours is 3rd degree but just thought I'd give you that info...

I was induced, had a 2nd degree tear and ventouse delivery and while the thought of a natural birth worries me a little bit I keep thinking about what my sister said...you don't often hear the good stories...

I don't know about the being induced side of things, but I had a 3rd degree tear with #1 (with ventouse delivery) and was really scared about having another tear for #2.....But I ended up having a water birth with no drug and NO tear For me the main difference was not having the epi and trusting in my MW (it was REALLY hard not to push when she told me to stop, but in the end thats what made the difference).

i think its important to research and discuss the risks associated with both... there is risk of damage to your bladder and bowel with a c-section, I actually remember the OB saying to me when i was signing my release form with Ollie "there maybe damage to your bladder or bowel however will do our best to fix it"

Not trying to freak you out but just wanted to point out that there are risks associated with sections that most of us would never even contemplate so best to weigh it up with experts.

Having said that, i have known of women who have been recommended to have an elective due to the damage done during labour so its definately possible!

There are risks both ways, and the risks are roughly weigh out the same.
Definitely do you reasearch, you have heaps of time to make a decision hun.

Ive never had a baby vaginally, first was emerg CS and second was elective, and my elective CS was great, I loved the experience, it was an aweosme birth compaired to my first. I had no issues after having DD and i was healed up and walking rounf properly really soon.

You could PM Aroahnui(Liz) as she had a 3rd degree tear with her first and an elective CS for her second.

Like many others have above i had a 3rd degree tear with my first boy - very tight perineum apparently. So next time my midwife and i talked about the ways you can prevent tearing - like not pushing the baby out too hard, kind of controlling the delivery a bit more, they can put some reverse pressure on the head to slow the delivery down, water labouring (not birthing tho) to soften the perinuem.

TBH your second time around you do feel a lot more in control as you don't have the fear of the first time, it's all more familiar. Hard to explain but you just feel more - well yeah in control i guess.

So anyway we did all that and when crunch time came she said no way your perineum is really blanched and you will tear so she gave me an episiotomy and out came baby. So that was better because she controlled the angle and degree of tear so then it doesn't involve the anal sphincter. Actually like someone else said my bladder control has felt better after the second time!

I've never had a cs so can't compare but second time natural labour with no pain relief went really well, quite quick and easy.

First of it's different for everyone, so you really need to discuss options with MW and OB etc. And at the end of the day you need to be happy with the decision.

With my first I had a severe 3rd degree tear (60+) stitches....... took quite some time to heal.

With number 2, I had the same delima as you.... and decided that for me I would go natural because there wasn't a guarentee of a tear..... while in labour I freaked out somewhat about tearing and actually felt the tear...... ended up with a bad 2nd degree (30+) stiches....... healed much better this time, and although still not perfect down there, the postitives for me were that I could still lift and play with my toddler whereas with CS you can't for 6 weeks.

And now I'm facing the same delima being pregnant with number 3. I'm 98% certain that I'll be going natural again this time and am hoping for a waterbirth....

So thats just my experience. And like I say you might tear again, you might not.... you just need to weigh up the pros and cons of all the options and make the best decision for you.

Mum2ET wrote: I don't know about the being induced side of things, but I had a 3rd degree tear with #1 (with ventouse delivery) and was really scared about having another tear for #2.....But I ended up having a water birth with no drug and NO tear For me the main difference was not having the epi and trusting in my MW (it was REALLY hard not to push when she told me to stop, but in the end thats what made the difference).

I could have written this post, though I don't have a number two yet. I am terrified of tearing again, but there's no way I would choose a c-sec over a natural birth, and I am convinced I tore so badly because of my epi and because there were so many people in the delivery room watching me push so when my MW told me to stop pushing, other people were too excited to hear her and kept cheering me on!

My SIL had a really bad tear with her first and opted for an elective c-section with her second, the dr she talked to was all for her CS and really supportive, she found her c-section really good, and healed quite quickly, she reckoned it was way better than her first experience. You do have ages to make the decision, so don't feel like you have to rush into anything, GL

They only found out DD was in breech Position when i was 38 weeks and i was booked in for the next weeek.

They like to do elective CS by 39 weeks. So i would guess you would have to opt in well before that to ensure they can fit you in. I think they would only squezz a CS in for someone 38 weeks gone if there was a medical reason like breech presention