Third degree tear after fast birth

[Clairee84]

I went in to be induced on Tuesday afternoon and had the pessary inserted at 4pm (and reinserted at 8pm). At that time my cervix was closed and we got the impression that nothing would happen quickly.

At 10pm my partner left as I was in an induction suite with other women. At 11 I started to feel pains and managed until 12 when I pressed my buzzer to ask for some pain relief. I was offered paractemeol or co codemol. I chose co codemol but this did nothing for the pain. I read about prostin pains and assumed that I was having these as this was my first baby. Over the next few hours I could hear that the labour rooms were getting busy and I wasn’t seen by anybody.

At 4ish the baby’s heart rate was monitored and I could see the numbers going up on the screen each time I had a contraction. I asked for further pain relief and was given more co codemol but I was immediately sick after this. The midwife came to see me and said to see how I got on over the next half hour and she would decide whether I needed something like pethidine.

I was in a lot of pain and trying to stay quiet for the other women who were in the room. At 6am I could no longer stand the pain and was feeling like I really needed to push, I think I actually did start pushing. I pressed for a midwife and she asked if I would like examining. She realised I was 8cm dilated and told me to call my partner back and we set off to the delivery room. I had some gas and air and baby arrived around 20 mins later resulting in a third degree tear. The midwife told me to slow down while I was in the delivery room but I couldn’t.

Am I being unreasonable to think that if I had some support throughout my contractions that I wouldn’t have torn so badly or is it just one of those things?

I had my first baby last week and can't quite believe you did some of the pushing without pain relief! The tearing was probably due to a quick delivery but I'm not sure how it could have been avoided...
Congratulations on your new baby x

I think more support may have helped you manage the labour and feel more in control of how it progressed, but in terms of the tearing, it's very very unlikely to had had any effect.
You can ask for a birth debrief with the hospital to talk through what happened, that may help you come to terms with, and understand better, what happened and why.
Congrats on your new baby

I was exactly the same as you I was left in a bay full of 6 other women and their families in the middle of the day. I had the pessary inserted at 1, back up on the ward by 2-30 when contractions were coming thick and fast literally 1 minutes between them no one believed me I was brushed off again and again that it was the side effects of the pessary, it wouldn't be happening this fast etc etc. He was my 2nd baby also so I knew what I was feeling they still weren't having any of it. I was screaming the ward down they eventually examined me and rushed me down to the labour ward. I dread to think if they had took me down any later I would have given birth in front of all those women and their families. He was here by 5 to 6 within 10 minutes of being brought to the labour ward, out in 3 pushes which resulted in being took to theatre for a 3rd degree tear. I feel the same as you maybe if someone had took me more seriously I could have had pethidine or an epidural that I was begging for which hopefully would have calmed me down and made the delivery easier. Hope you are feeling ok, I'm now 7 weeks postpartum and I've been feeling normal since around 3/4 weeks. Best of luck to you

Thanks for the replies.

@lmj25 sorry to hear that happened to you aswell but it’s reassuring to know that you’re feeling back to normal now! I guess it must be fairly rare for the pessary to work so quickly!

Hello. I had a very similar experience - I almost gave birth in the induction suite a couple of hours after the pessary was inserted. I couldn’t get anyone to examine me and was told I could have pain relief ‘once I was in labour’.

I was so embarrassed and was made to feel like I was just making a fuss in front of a ward full of people, when I was actually in a lot of pain. They eventually checked the babies heart rate and found it was dipping when I had my ‘contractions’ - then the emergency cord was pulled, someone finally checked my cervix, and I was fully dilated. They wheeled me next door and my baby was born within 3 minutes. I tore very badly and felt unsupported, embarrassed and panicked for the whole time.

It seems like a significant proportion of women have a strong reaction to the induction drugs and that hospitals aren’t set up to allow for this.

I should say, I’m fine now. It took about 6 months to heal from the birth but I feel totally back to normal now. And I do appreciate that very few people have the textbook delivery they’ve been imagining. Looking back, I think a fast birth is probably better than a very long drawn out exhausting one. Plus, my baby was absolutely fine and that really is the most important thing.