How many of you needed stitches or other hospital care after giving birth to your first?

[Horehound]

Im pregnant with my first and quite like the homebirth option. But i live in the country and not sure if its silly of me. I would like to know how many of you needed treatment/aftercare after giving birth to your first.

Wow 45%having to be transferred is pretty high.

I think I'm leaning towards a midwife led unit for now.
Thank you all for sharing your stories. :)

Dc1 perfectly smooth and uncomplicated vaginal birth in a MLU. I could have had him at home easily, but of course I didn't know in advance how it would go! No tearing, no stitches.

I had my first at the local MLU I ended up with an episiotomy and 2nd degree tear they were stuck and there was talk of ventose, but midwives were fab and called consultant down from labour ward which was upstairs to assist. Was allowed time with baby and husband to bond but with help on hand when I struggled to feed.
My second was a straight forward home birth tore again and was transferred to hospital for stitches.

I tore very badly with my first and had to lie with my feet I stirrups whilst a succession of people tried to stitch me up and stop the bleeding. Seemed to take forever. I lost about 4 pints of blood so had to then have a transfusion

The only member of my NCT group to opt for a home birth had a power cut during the birth plus complications so ended up being transferred to hospital.

First baby, laboured really, waterbirth.

3B tear, took to theatre shortly after DD was born for the consultant to stitch me back up. Had a spinal block first!

I had stitches with my first but firmly believe that these might have been avoided had I been in an environment where I was not rushed to deliver.

First baby = episiotomy and stitches.

I had a 15 hour labour but my contractions where every 5 minutes all the way through so by hour 10 I did have to give in and have some pain relief. That had all worn off by the time I had to push. Dd was born hands first so o had a lot of tearing and needed stitches I was monitored for a couple of days because they thought I might need a transfusion. I think that everything bar the transfusion could have been done at home though and I didn't need one in the end.

First baby - stitches
Second baby - stitches

Had both in hospital but looking back really wish I'd had them at home.

If I could do it all again I would

Waterbirth after a very quick labour, 2nd degree tear but ended up being classed as 3rd degree purely because my body was shutting down due to pain. Had to have proper people (don't know what they were called, I was half out of it) doing my stitches because they had to give me a spinal just so that they could even see if I needed stitches.

Being classed as 3rd purely meant I had to sign a form stating I agreed to the other people doing the stitches not the midwife etc. So my notes say 3rd but really I wasn't.

Oh, and we were a 30 min drive from the hospital. Had we not gone in when we did, I'd have had a home birth and then needed to be blue lighted to the hospital to sort me out. I reckon I'd have been worse had that happened.

I was aiming for a homebirth, had a very long labour especially the early stage A lovely visit from a community midwife about half way through,had to go for a late scan because I was overdue and I decided to stay. Things continued to go very slowly and ended to with a section. I think it depends whether you’re a home birth at any cost or we’ll see what happens. I was told you can opt for a home birth and go to hospital at any point but not the other way round.

First baby I had normal labour with no pain relief and just a couple of stitches.

I’ve had a home birth and it was lovely

3rd degree tear and proper surgery for the stitches but he was an absolute beast, almost 12lb with a 29cm head so 🤷‍♀️ it was always going to happen! I measured big and had extra scans plus testing for gestational diabetes so if you've none of that could be ok? Good luck!!

First baby. Failed ventouse, forceps delivery, episiotomy and third degree tear. Luck I chose a hospital birth.

I had a spontaneous labour no pain relief just gas and air- baby not in optimal position couldnt push out so into theatre for spinal block and episiotomy for forceps narrowly avoided EMCS.

When I say forcep delivery most people assume I was induced and/or had epidural or something. Was low risk pregnancy.

Stitches, an episiotomy and tear both times, but big babies, fast births and small hips.

2nd degree tear which needed to be examined and stitched under spinal block in theatre as there were concerns it was a third degree tear. Tbh though I'm convinced it was my fault for pushing body out after the head without a contraction but who knows. Going for HB this time and it's the only thing I'm a bit worried about, but trying to avoid coached pushing this time.

First baby. Internal and external stitches. And piles [I think they were a free gift!].

If you are 1st or 2nd degree tear it's done by the midwife but 3rd or 4th is done in theatre with epidural. The dont tend to tell you how many stitches you need for 3rd/4th..guessing it's more than you want to know.
I had 3rd degree tear but I was induced and once labour started it was pretty quick and we all have giant heads so the odds were against me! I would have loved a home birth but my husband was a bit worried about the idea and in the end I had to be induced anyway.

Episiotomy, forceps delivery in theatre (prepped for CS in case the forceps didn't work), lost 2 litres of blood, 2nd degree tear (although the midwife I saw postnatally queried this and thought it might have been a third degree tear), tear repaired in theatre, also had an infection afterwards (although this cleared up fairly quickly with antibiotics). Fun times!

I had a very long early labour (4 days). I was having contractions from 40+2 but the head wasn't fully engaged so things weren't progressing. I was offered a sweep at 40+ 3, but declined as I wanted to see how things went. Nothing happened so I had a sweep at 40+5. I went to the birth centre that evening, had my waters broken and gave birth at 40+6.
After I needed a some stitches and was told I lost 600ml of blood. But apart from exhausted after 4 days of contractions I felt fine.

First labour I had stitches they were internal so not too bad had gas and air while being stitched.

Second time round placenta was stuck so needed it to be manually removed after birth ,had an epidural because I wasn't able to be put to sleep as I had ate and not enough hours had gone by. Not the best having someone's hand up your foo foo whilst your awake, anyways I got stitched up whilst there so didn't feel a thing and these were internal also.plus side I was cleaned out good so hardly bled afterwards.

My midwife suggested a home birth for my second but Id had rather have been in the hospital incase anything went wrong although I would of preferred to labour at home with my second birth as I was due to be induced but they said I was already in labour when I got there so they let me progress normally and wouldn't let me home.

I never really thought about if midwifes do the stitches if you have a home birth I presume they do.

I did have tearing with my first but I had a doula too. She said she thought the way I was being pressured to push at the end caused the 3rd degree tearing
Second baby I tuned out all the shouting to push at the end and focused on breathing, no tearing! (Possibly also cos everything a bit more stretched lol!!)

Thank you all for your stories of experience!
So there is a theme of people feeling pressured to push and tearing when pushing. That's something I'll keep in my mind and remember when I'm in labour hopefully!

Baby wasn't having the best time in the birth canal so I pushed like mad for 20 minutes then had an episiotomy.