difficulty urinating after giving birth. Help!!!

[Feellikerubbish]

It's been a week since I gave birth to my daughter vaginally. I had a first degree tear and stitches, epidural and a catheter. When I felt the urge to push, when the babys head was on its way, the catheter was removed. Since the birth, I have been experiencing difficulty urinating. The flow of urine is very slow and I am only able to go when I stand, mean forward nd strain. I looked online and found that the symptoms are very similar to that of urethral stricturs. I think it damage may have been caused when the catheter was pulled out so late when the babys head was almost out. Has anyone else experienced similar? Is it common for the urethra to get swollen or damaged during childbirth? Does it resolve itself? Reading online, sounds as though treatment usually involves some kind of surgery. I'm really wo rried.

Well, I had the opposite problem as I couldn't stop! A friend had an issue similar to yours except that she could not go at all. Like me, she had a catheter in for a couple of weeks to let her "bits and bobs" have a rest and recover and she is right as rain. As I am. Please don't suffer this in silence though, speak to your mid-wife if you still see her or to your GP.

I didn't feel the urge to wee for more then a week. I then realise i had just been leaking into my pads! After that the flow was very slow but it did get better within a few weeks by itself. I never saw anyone about it but i should have.

Tell MW tomorrow. It's important they address it quickly, higher infection risk if anything is swollen, for instance.

I couldn't go immediately post birth with either of my dc's. First time I ended up with a catheter for a couple of days because I had an epidural post birth due to complications.

Second time I had an 'in AMD out' catheter a couple of hours after birth which drained over a litre of urine. After that I had very slow flow for a few days, but got better pretty quickly.