4th degree tear!! Recovery tips??

[chewie29]

Hi there,

My beautiful baby boy, Jack was born on 23/10/11 and was 7lb 8oz. I came home from hospital yesterday. During the birth I suffered a 4th degree tear which had to be repaired in theatre shortly after the birth. Just wondering if any of you ladies out there experienced a 4th degree tear and how your recovery went? Any tips? I have not yet had my bowels open (sorry to bring this up) and am quite nervous about it. I am on all of the appropriate medications, including laxatives, antibiotics and pain killers. Any advice would be appreaciated.

Thank you

Firstly congratulations on your baby boy. I hope he brings you a lot of joy (and lets you get some sleep )

I took arnica pills when I tore, which really helped. Pouring warm water over yourself (iyswim) when you pee also helps. I have to say, the first poo is always the worst.... Just drink lots and lots of water, and lots of fresh fruit and vegetables. Dried fruit as well - prunes and raisins. Anything to, er, help things a long as it were.

Good luck. I promise you, it will pass. But the first week or so is painful.... Just get your DP / DH to do as much for you as he will, and just sit on the sofa with your beautiful newborn.

Well done!

I had a 3a tear and can't rate highly enough a doughnut pillow to sit on. It takes all the pressure off your bum!

Thanks for the tips ladies. I will take them all on board, hopefully I won't have any complications. It was worth it though to have my beautiful little man. :-)

I used to run a shallow salt bath for after I had a shower and sit in this for a few minutes. Also dry your downstairs with a hairdryer!!! Looks strange (don't leave curtains open!) but is better than a towel :)

You can get perineal gel packs from Mothercare which you freeze. Apparently condoms filled with water do a similar much cheaper job.

I had a 3c tear 3 years ago and found lactulose helped move things along. I assume you've been given some?

Tea tree & lavender oil baths (mix a few drops of each oil in whole milk and pour in bath).

Stay on top of your pain meds, even if you feel fine take the next dose.

It does pass and get easier. If you're breastfeeding try it lying down. Sitting on a tear to feed does ache after a while.

Congratulations on the birth of your little boy! He will make it more bearable

Hi Chewie

Congratulations! I also had a baby boy on 23/10/11 & had a 4th degree tear so i'm really pleased you posted this as i'm in the same boat. Just to let you know i have been prescribed lactulose & this is really helping. I have managed to go to the toilet and i can say the thought is worse than the actual act. Midwife told me to try holding a clean sanitary/maternity towel folded in half against my front bits to help feel like there is some support. Also, dont force anything & allow yourself as much time as you can when you need to go, theres no rush (took me 20 mins).

Good luck & thank you.

The hairdryer idea sounds a good one, i'll give that a go! Yes, they have prescribed me laxatives.

Congratulations to you Cravingcake on the birth of your little boy. The midwife told me that 4th degree tears were quite rare so this worried me somewhat. The surgeon said that he had done a good job fixing me up so fingers crossed I won't have any long term problems. All the best with your little one.

Congratulations on your new arrival! I was in a similar situation to you and midwife sorted me out with a programme taking paracetamol, co-codamol, diclofenac, for painkillers, along with movicol as a laxative. I took all 3 painkillers as often as allowed, even if I felt ok - my DH drew up a chart so I could tick each dose off with a time, so I could take a painkiller at the shortest amount of time between doses iyswim. This wasn't that often though, when I think back as each day was 24 hours long with bfing, rather than the usual 12 hours!
I also took arnica and had a product free bath each day.
The midwife warned me against sitting on the rubber ring my mum bought me as she said it leads to a 'pooling of fluids'!
Good luck x

Ahhh, congratulations on your baby. I had a 4th degree tear with my first DD and was restitched in theatre too. I'm very lucky to have healed completely and have no ongoing problems from it. Hope you will too.

I was advised to have D2 as a ELCS to avoid retearing. It turned out during the ELCS that she was breech anyway, so I would have ended up in theatre anyway, but it was a difficult decision to make. If you're planning to have any more babies, may be worth bearing in mind.

Also, make sure that the hospital follows up on your recovery and checks that everything is healing as it should. And if you don't feel quite right or comfortable, make sure to get it checked out right away. Don't suffer in silence or let anyone fob you off.

I found a valley cushion really helpful in the early weeks as you can adjust it to suit you. Think your midwife or local NCT should be able to point you in the direction of where you can hire them. Other than that, can only echo what other posters have said - esp. take it easy. You need to give yourself time to heal, preferably sleeping, BFing and cuddling your lovely new arrival. [Goes off feeling all broody] [hwink]

I had a similar situation with dd1. Definitely don't let yourself get constipated, I ended up having an enema after about a fortnight (I have bowel problems though so it was in the back of my mind that it might be needed!) which was awful! The folded maternity towel is a brilliant way of helping you feel more 'secure' and not like your innards are going to come out when you go to the loo!

I used the gel packs, they were a godsend because I was in a lot of pain for a few weeks and looked ridiculous shuffling about because I couldn't walk properly! Arnica and salt baths also helped.

With dd2 they gave me an episiotomy because apparently it was all going to come apart again but otherwise I had no long term effects.

Congratulations on you new little one!

Thank you all for your replies. A week on I am still very sore, still taking the pain killers and laxatives which seem to be working quite well. Nobody has checked my stitches though since surgery last week, i'm not sure how often they should be checked. I'll mention it to my midwife tomorrow as she hasn't even mentioned my tear when she has been to visit. I have had my follow up appointment come through for Gyne in March which seems along time to wait to make sure everything is ok. x

My follow up was 3 months I think so March does seem a long time. It's a good idea to mention it to your mw, mine checked my stitches at each visit - I needed the reassurance that I was healing well.

I second the recommendation to have a tick list for drugs. It was the only way I could keep track. Think I ended up using one of those days of the week pill boxes actually.

Are you feeling any better?

You should have a 6 week check at the hospital and ideally by a doctor who Is part of your consultant's (or whoever operated) team. I'd ring to square things out.

I am starting to feel better thank you. I am still very sore and it is still uncomfortable when I go to the toilet, but hopefully that will slowly start to improve. My midwife is letting me down somewhat at the moment, she should have come to see us yesterday but didn't turn up, I will be speaking to her about checking my sitches and how long it needs to be before I have a proper check up. I will contat the hospital if she can't shed any light. My little Jack is thriving though so at least he is ok. x