sil had double episiotomy........

[fizzbuzz]

How awful is that? I feel so for her.
I have never heard of it until now. Anyone else had this?

[alfiesbabe]

Sounds dreadful, but what is it?

[Karen999]

Both ways...down and to the sides.....

[fizzbuzz]

Cut front to back (perineum), and under buttock, (long way round-will need cosmetic surgery later to repair this, offered by NHS)

All got infected and started to come undone. Feel so for her. Surely a c section would have been better than that? They couldn't get LO out (forceps) so had to make a second cut to enable easier access

[sweetkitty]

[Hulababy]

Poor woman

I guess it was too late for a c section by then.

[Sazisi]

poor sil

I imagine it would have been too late to consider a c-section at that stage; baby would have moved down too far

[Frizbe]

your poor sil sending her {{{Big Hugs}}}

[flossie64]

I had this done when I had my son . It did heal but takes a long time . You do a lot of sitting lopsided . I did not have surgery afterwards and still have a lumpy scar 16.5 yrs on .The best thing I was given was finger stools filled with water and frozen to place on scar at first as it eases the discomfort.
Hope she recovers soon

[WezzleWoo]

Ouch - I tore quite badly with my first and that wsa painful enough.

This sounds horrendous

Hope she's feeling better soon

[fizzbuzz]

She's putting on brave face, but I just feel so for her, and don't know why. I guess they only did it because they had to.

Have read somewhere that episiotomy is the western equivalent of female circumsision......

Am a being unreasonable?

[expatinscotland]

um, no, it is nothing akin to female circumcision.

i had one myself, for a forceps delivery.

my clitoris and inner labia were left intact, unlike female circumcision.

[fizzbuzz]

...It is meant to be the barbaricness (grammar??) of it that is similar

[alfiesbabe]

Why would they need to do this? It's not a normal procedure for forceps though is it? What sort of labour/interventions did she have leading up to this?

[expatinscotland]

it's not barbaric, though.

it's a medical procedure designed to save the baby's or mother's life, or both.

i've not heard of a double one, but have heard of women on here having such bad tears they had to wear colostomy bags whilst waiting for their colons to heal up enough for surgical repair.

i agree, a forceps delivery is far from pleasant, but in my case it was necessary as dd1 was face up with her hand up by her head.

i'm glad i didn't have a csection, FWIW.

i hope she recovers well!

[TheBlonde]

I thought epi's were quite standard with forceps

[expatinscotland]

they are. but i'd not heard of a double one.

i never saw mine - DH did. i'm not really sure where they cut, tbh, because i didn't go looking!

[Fireflyfairy2]

With my 1st child I had an epesiotomy, they used suction & then they needed to cut me to use forceps as the baby's heart was dipping.

With my 2nd child they asked if it was Ok to cut me when his head was crowning as they had more control with a cut than they would if I tore.

I healed much better the second time around as the MW stitched me far better than before.

I feel for your poor SIL though. A mum from the school had this, although apparently she tore from front to back, wasn't cut (?) & she went on to have 2 more children by c-section.

[morningpaper]

there's nothing wrong with chopping whatever is needed to save the life of a baby and/or mother

But it is wrong that it was allowed to get infected and come undone. I hope she is having proper care now.

[hotcrossbunny]

I had a double episiotomy. Baby was stuck after 3 hours of pushing. I was very relieved to get her out tbh. The stitching afterwards was awful though, very undignified and painful.

I am very stretched now and occasionally bleed if I wipe a bit roughly (sorry if TMI) Can't bear the thought of childbirth again so looks like dd will be an only

[TheBlonde]

hotcrossbunny - birthtraumaassociation might offer some help

[sophierosie]

hotcrossbunny - have you heard of the Birth Trauma Association? They offer counselling and support for people who have had traumatic births and can help with resulting fear of childbirth.

Fizzbuzz - it may be useful for your SIL in the future.

[sophierosie]

oops

x-posts!

[jaype]

Had a single episiotomy with my first and they ddidn't have time for an anaesthetic as ds was stuck and his heart rate was dipping dangerously (his own fault for having his hand stuck under his chin, if I do say so myself). The theory is that you can't feel it as much if they do it at the height of a contraction - except I'd stopped having them. I can really sympathise with those who have been forced to have FGM as I'm sure that although agonising, the perineum isn't as sensitive as the other bits. I have no idea how I managed to have a second and be planning a third... Your SIL was very unlucky and I am mentally sending her a rubber ring in sympathy!

[MoosMa]

I was cut twice (DD1 was face up and had a mahoosive head), I have about 2 inches of L-shaped scarring on the outside, who knows how much there is on the inside, I just know it took about an hour to stitch up. I don't know if this is standard or if that's a double?

Sympathies to her, especially with the complications too that sounds truely awful. Is she very traumatised by it?

[smartiejake]

OOh - poor woman( wincing emoticon). I had a bad cut for my first who was roughly yanked into this world by a variety of tortuous contraptions but nothing like this!
Hope she recovers soon.