Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Childbirth

Share experiences and get support around labour, birth and recovery.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

Once you've had an episiotomy, would you need one next time?

42 replies

KHR1 · 18/09/2019 14:04

Basically, I had an episiotomy when j gave birth to my DD and wondered, if I was to have another child, what are the chances of me needing an episiotomy again? The episiotomy itself didn't bother me, however the blood loss was quite high and left me feeling really unwell and unable to get out of bed without fainting, for 24 hours.

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Grasspigeons · 18/09/2019 17:42

I had one with my first but not eith my second. The one with my first was a painful revovery. The second i had a tear which healed quicker, with less pain.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 18/09/2019 17:47

I had one with ds1 - basically I had been pushing for 90 minutes, and the senior midwife felt that, if I had it, I could give birth without forceps/ventouse - and she was right.

With ds2 and ds3, I didn’t need an episiotomy - I had very minor tears (they called them grazes, if I recall correctly) that didn’t even need a stitch.

Original poster

KHR1 · 18/09/2019 17:47

@ShippingNews I'm not sure why I bled so much but the midwife made out it was due to the episiotomy, however it's reassuring that this isn't a normal outcome judging by everyone's replies - must have been bad luck!

@Azure83 Thanks for the statistic! That's not nearly as high a chance as I thought!

@Babdoc from what you said, an episiotomy definitely sounds better than a bad tear! In fairness the healing seems to be going well and it wasn't particularly painful after the first week, it was more the idea of the big blood loss again that worried me, but if that's not necessarily normal with an episiotomy then I feel less worried about the idea, should I need another in the future!

Thanks for all your replies!

OP posts:

TequilaMockingbird0 · 18/09/2019 17:48

@DobbyTheHouseElk you should absolutely never be told afterwards, you should only be cut with your full informed consent. If that happened to you I would be making a serious complaint.

cosytoaster · 18/09/2019 17:52

I had one with both of my DCs, if it's any comfort I was extremely anaemic after the first birth but absolutely fine after the second so the two things aren't necessarily linked.

DobbyTheHouseElk · 18/09/2019 19:09

I was told afterwards, I remember they said we have given you a episiotomy and your torn. I asked what an episiotomy was because I didn’t know. I was horrified when they told me. So no, they didn’t ask for consent.

Chickydoo · 18/09/2019 19:22

Had one with all 4 kids :(

bengalcat · 18/09/2019 19:25

Usually not . Possibly a small tear that will require suturing though .

Walnutwhipster · 18/09/2019 19:35

Had a full episiotomy with DC1&2 but not even a stitch with DC3.

Mammyloveswine · 18/09/2019 21:20

I had one with my first, I tore with number 2 but healed a lot quicker

Original poster

KHR1 · 18/09/2019 21:47

@cosytoaster that does help! Thank you! I was really anaemic too, it was awful!

OP posts:

cosytoaster · 18/09/2019 22:39

I know, it is ad it took me ages to get back to normal. Second time around was fine - good luck!

TequilaMockingbird0 · 19/09/2019 07:35

@DobbyTheHouseElk I'm so sorry that happened to you, if you think it will help to process and deal with it I would absolutely book a birth debrief and ask questions about how that was allowed to happen.

SprogletsMum · 19/09/2019 07:37

I had an episiotomy and a tear with my 1st, my 2nd I had a tear, my 3rd was breech and huge but no episiotomy or tear and neither with my 4th.

kikibo · 20/09/2019 22:12

Had one with first, but not with huge second. Possibly because my ob is decidedly hands-off. I tore, but I can't remember more than two stitches. Recovery was sooooo much better. No pain. At all. Compared to at least up to two weeks proper healing for the cut and two months later at post-birth check-up I was still complaining it hurt when straining.

Re the fainting: it may have been blood loss, but feeling faint is also common after giving birth without major issues. It's to do with the huge change to your vascular system, my midwife says. First, you got rid of the baby which removed a who chunk of your blood flow and then you got rid of the placenta, resulting in a massive wound that's bleeding profusely for the first 12 hours or so. The two together obviously mess with your blood pressure and iron. But the blood pressure is the biggest problem, IMO.
Our house has 18 steps to the front door and my midwife was going to bring me home as we don't have a car and taxis are not reliable outside working hours. My husband was going home on foot with our daughter, but midwife said he needed to be home as she didn't want to run the risk of me collapsing on the stairs... i didn't take her seriously until I got home and we went up the stairs together, she holding me by the arm. I barely made it to the sofa. It was amazing what an effort those steps were. Problem went after 24 hours, though. So it can't have been iron as I was still mildly anaemic after 7 weeks.

galvantula · 20/09/2019 22:20

Not necessarily.

Dc1 was emcs, dc2 was forceps with episiotomy and dc3 was born v fast as I arrived at hospital. 😅

Smurfy23 · 22/09/2019 23:29

Had one with my first (with forceps).but had waterbirth and no need for one (or any tears either) with second

Flip

1 2