tearing

[MissBax]

I'm currently 23 weeks pregnant and not worried about pain during childbirth or anything, but had read that 90% women tear. I know alot of these will be minor, but was just wondering whether anyone could shed some light on their own experiences, of how to reduce chance, and what happens / how bad it is if severe, and how to overcome tearing. Thanks :) x

*lean

I had a 3a tear (the best of the worst the surgeon said), I healed really well. Second dd was an elcs which was a total breeze.

Hello! Reading all this with interest as I'm now a final year midwifery student, and starting work on a research proposal on exactly this topic.

I'm particularly interested in what women are fearful of in labour and birth, and will then look at whether fear has any impact on birth outcomes - with a view to developing strategies for Midwives to help address those fears antenatally.

That was a much longer sentence than I'd anticipated.

All views welcome, I want to make sure the research reflects what women are really concerned about, rather than what I think they are.

adopts brace position

I had a 2nd degree tear with my first which I didn't feel at the time but was very very sore for a good while after but not to the point of causing me any major problems.

With my second I didn't tear despite him being 9lb 1.5Oz. The only things I think we're different were much shorter pushing stage and the 2nd time I really listened to the midwifes instructions on getting his head out whereas the first time I was panicking out of it on gas & air a bit.

I had a 2nd degree test with both my children - I too was petrified of this. Fact is you don't feel it so don't stress.
When the head is crowning and they tell you not to push if you can stop yourself and just pant then you reduce your chances

doireallyhaveto

Stillbirth/something awful happening to the baby is my biggest fear.

Severe tearing/prolapse is my second biggest fear.

And I'm so frightened of being left alone and forgotten in a busy NHS hospital.

I had a 2nd degree tear with my first, but didn't notice till they told me. I was VERY sore for about 2 weeks, but I had a lot of grazing too so that didn't help. Pouring water over myself whilst on the loo and ibuprofen helped.
With my second I had a 1st degree tear. It was very long but my midwife didn't stitch it. It took a long time to fully heal (about 10 weeks), and 2 other midwives said they would have stitched it, BUT I wasn't very sore at all and felt back to normal within the week.

Sometimes you can't always prevent it. I had to have an episiotomy to help me get the baby out. (He was a big 8lbs 9oz! I'm a size 6 5'6). So yeah I needed stitches. I was pretty sore for the first week or 2 but I looked after the stitches and was very careful and healed very well!

Tore with the first one slightly, couple of stitches, didn't feel it happen and it didn't hurt to pee or anything. Didn't tear with second at all, the only difference was that with the first one the midwife said to go with it when my body was pushing so I went for it and pushed as hard as I could! With the second one, the midwife told me not to push so hard and to pant the babies head out and it worked, right away and out she popped! Felt the same after both just a bit bruised but no pain relief was needed. x

I had quite a few stitches internally and externally with dd1 but I think I may have been to blame. I was totally unprepared for the pain and I was so spaced out by that point I pushed when crowning and she sort of shot out.
With dd2 I done perineal massages in the weeks prior to giving birth and only had a few grazes.
If tearing does happen I recommend pouring a jug of warm water on the vag when having a wee, really eases the sting.

Pigface1 - please make sure you tell your midwife you don't want to be left alone! Most won't anyway (aside from fetching, carrying or going to the loo), unless your baby is being continuously monitored AND there's central monitoring, but if she knows you're worried about that, she'll be happy to hang with you. When you're in active labour, you should have a dedicated midwife for one to one care.

Prolapse - start your pelvic floor exercises now! It's really very unusual (in 3 years and across 2 v busy units with 4-5000 births each a year I don't know of any). Listen to your midwife, and try active / upright / all fours birthing positions - gravity really helps, so you're not pushing your baby uphill.

Something awful: you're the single best baby monitor there is. If you have concerns, midwives want to see you. After 18-20 weeks (every unit has a slightly different policy), call delivery suite if you're worried. They'll tell you what to do.

Hope that helps x

And thank you for the feedback!

I didn't do anything to reduce the chance of tearing as I felt there wasn't a huge amount of evidence for anything out there. I had a second degree tear and didn't even know at the time. Have dissolvable stitches which were sore for the first couple of weeks but managed with paracetamol and ibuprofen. Pain has settled down and thing I'm healing. Don't worry about it!

I had a third degree tear and episiotomy with a forceps delivery. I had an epidural.Will which only worked on my right side! I had to sit on a valley cushion for a week after and sadly they stitched me up to tightly and I didn't heal for 4 months.

I'm not sure saying that you didn't notice a tear is actually reassuring at all. It could mean that the tear didn't hurt, or it could raise the question of how much the rest of labour must hurt to not notice one of the most delicate parts of you ripping...

It may of course be true that is not noticed, but that's not necessarily a good thing shudder

I had a few 1st degree tears from involuntary pushing. I didn't notice it happening. The stitches weren't too bad. It was after that was the worst for me, having to use a jug of warm water when I went to the loo.
Not sure how to prevent them though.