Third degree tear HELP!

[BabyMaker239]

Hi all,
Just after other people’s personal experiences. Nobody knows what “normal” is after childbirth and I was wondering if anyone could share a little bit of their experience after having a third degree tear....
I gave birth to DD in March 2017.
Went in to labour naturally. Had gas n air until 6cm then Dr advised to go on drip to speed up labour (I then had morphine). Drip was given as my bp was 190/90 and baby’s heart rate was dropping.
I was on drip for 90minutes before I started to push.
Pushed for under 10mins and baby was born! Born back to back with her hand over her face.
This left me with a third degree tear.
I lost over 1 litre of blood and was stitched up on labour ward by a consultant (after 5 hours of waiting) :(
In the weeks after it was obviously painful down there!
Now 9months on I still have pain eg I have to constantly stand up because sitting hurts and I have also had “poo urgency” and urine incontinence. I visited my GP and I have a referral to gyno but not for another 2 months!!!!
Has anyone else experienced this?
Is there anything that can be done to resolve it??

Hi OP, I'm sorry you're going through this.
A woman's health physiotherapist is the professional you need. They will assess your pelvic floor and recommend exercises.
Pain sitting down is probably coccyx pain. Your pelvic floor muscles are attached to the coccyx at the back so if they're too loose (for which you need daily pelvic floor exercises) or too tight (you'll need the physio to "massage" internally to relax the tightened areas + learn how to relax all your pelvic floor after each series of exercises) it can cause pain. I'd recommend buying a coccyx cushion (flat cushion with a hole at the back). I don't recommend a ring cushion as it can disrupt the blood flow to the area. You can take paracetamol 4 times a day for as long as you need (do check with your GP first).
When you do your pelvic floor exercises, start by squeezing the bottom end then to tv each front. The physio should explain all that when you see one.
All of this should help with both bowel urgency and urinary incontinence. Depending on your progress they may recommend other treatments.
It takes a while for things to get better. My coccyx pain is now chronic (I manage with a coccyx cushion at home and for driving) but 15 months postpartum there was still improvement in the level of pain I experienced.
Have you had a follow up rectal scan to check the extent of the damage. Normally this takes place around 3 months postpartum.
I hope this is helpful.

Hello! Sorry to hear you are still in pain and you’re having to wait for referrals. I had a 4th degree tear in February 2016 and a long list of complications as a result. I completely agree about the coccyx pain. I had this too, but didn’t know how to describe it at the time and thought it was normal but now realise that was where a lot of the pain was coming from. I guess I was lucky that I had referrals set up with gynaecology, urology and the colon team pretty quickly so I had a lot of support and physio which has helped and I now feel completely healed (so much so, I’m pregnant again!) The urology team were particularly helpful and I’d recommend trying to get seen by them too if you can?
I hope things get sorted for you soon.

Hi. Sorry you had a bit of a crappy time after. 5 hour wait is awful!!! I personally had an episiotomy so was obviously much more controlled, and I know I was lucky - just wanted to jump on here and suggest a few things. When you need to go to the toilet - does it help if you gently press some rolled up toilet paper/cotton pads onto the area? Might help discomfort. My mum also went and bought anti bacterial soap that is specifically designed for 'down there' and it was amazing!!! Hope you feel better soon