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Childbirth

Unstitched 2nd degree tear. How long to heal?

4 replies

pinkspottywellies · 13/03/2009 10:25

DS is 3 weeks tomorrow and when he came out with his hand across his face I had a 2nd degree tear. The midwife described it as small and held her fingers about and inch and a half apart to illustrate

She advised not to stitch it so we left it. I'm just wondering how long I should expect it to take to fully heal.

I had a look with a little mirror (eeeeeeew!) a few days after and have looked since and it is definietly knitting itself together but it's not quite there yet and I'm worried. I'm feeling quite tearful about my mangled bits but have been signed off by the midwives and don't want to waste the doctors time if it's normal.

Sorry that's a bit of a long post. Just wondering if anyone's had the same experience or any midwives who can advise.

Thanks

OP posts:

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cuppachar · 13/03/2009 11:02

Not quite the same as my experience as I had borderline 3rd degree, which was stitched, but I was still getting occasional bleeding by 5/6 weeks so your progress sounds quite good to me. (And I was told mine healed quite well.)Hopefully someone else will be able to tell you more!

I think you usually get offered a 6-week check at the GP so you can ask them to have a look then - I think it's probably a bit too early to worry unless you're having other problems not mentioned in your OP...

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lauraloola · 13/03/2009 11:08

Dont ever look in the mirror!! Although I was stitched with my 2nd degree tear I was very shocked when I had a look and was sure they had stitched it up wrong!

I would leave it a couple more weeks - 3 weeks is still very soon after for any major healing to happen. Keep it clean, bath with a drop of dettol and then raise it in your 6 week check if you still arent happy. Your Gp should have a look and see what he thinks.

Congratulations by the way.

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feetheart · 13/03/2009 11:15

Congratulaions

I had a 2nd degree tear both times, stitched the first time, not stitched the second time. Second time round it healed much quicker and was much more comfortable whilst it was healing.

Agree with the others DO NOT look down there - look at the size of your baby's head, it came through there, your 'bits' will take a while to recover from the shock

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pinkspottywellies · 13/03/2009 20:59

Thanks everyone. Feel much better now. I was really upset at having torn again. I had a 2nd degree tear with dd because she was born so quickly so this time I was trying really hard to control it more to avoid tearing. The midwife said it was going really well and I wouldn't have torn if he didn't have his hand over his face!

Glad to hear it all sounds quite normal