Do you get pain anaesthetic for 1st/2nd degree stitching?

[PSL1990]

Did you get anaesthetic for 1st/2nd degree stitching? I've heard so many people say no and that it became the most painful part of giving birth. Can you demand it?

God I'm horrified to read so many women weren't offered anaesthetic! I had local both times - the injections were painful but short and I felt nothing during the stitching, I think I dozed off. So sorry to those of you who were treated so badly

I had something cold put on the area before stitching, not an injection, maybe a spray or something out of a bottle applied with cotton wool. Being stitched wasn't too bad, I've had far worse experiences.

Yes - injecting the local isn't particularly nice (stings) and it only blocks pain so you can feel the thread moving "down there" which is a very odd feeling even if it doesn't hurt!

With my first baby I didn't and it was barbaric and traumatising. I begged for her to stop and she said 'you've just had a big baby, you can do this' and carried on. Horrific :( this was in 2010.

I had one so wasn't too bad but did puff on the gas and air I never did in birth!

The Dr was already in the room and stirruped up as they were worried he was distressed so she was threatening me with an episiotomy and suction but managed to get him out whilst she was prepping.
Didn't feel very pleasant I must say, especially when she slid her finger up my arse twice to check for internal tears 🙈

How utterly fucking barbaric to suture someone with no pain relief. You'd never hear of this happening to men. It's akin to assaulting someone to do that. Women get treated like shit medically in this country - stitched with no or minimal pain relief, expected to endure GYN procedures with no pain relief, shithole postnatal wards.

No, I didn’t. But I was helpfully told to stop complaining and making a fuss It was excruciating. I hadn’t been very compliant in labour so I suspect the midwife was taking advantage.

Unless a woman has an effective epidural, there is no excuse at all for not providing local anaesthetic prior to repairing a tear.

It’s absolutely unacceptable to expect women to put up and shut up. I genuinely don’t understand why any midwife or doctor would do this.

I made such a fuss when they were examining that they decided to do it in theatre with an epidural, although it did turn out to be a 3rd degree

No idea with the first. I'd had an epidural though. It was all a bit of a blur. It amazes me when people can remember so much of their labours.
The second time the tear was very close to my urethra and I remember the midwife doing it without a local as she said the injection for that would be worse! I'm a nurse myself. I don't know who she was trying to kid.

I didn't have any anaesthetic and wasn't offered any (and didn't have any painkillers during the birth either). It was honestly horrendous and far more painful than actually giving birth. I felt every fucking stitch and was made to feel like I was making a massive fuss (which tbf, I was) because I literally screamed the place down.

Looking back, I should have complained but I was just so grateful to be out of hospital with a healthy baby, I didn't care. It was only a few years later that I thought back and wondered how wrong it was.

SparkleUK Tue 03-Mar-20 15:00:45
I had one so wasn't too bad but did puff on the gas and air I never did in birth!

The Dr was already in the room and stirruped up as they were worried he was distressed so she was threatening me with an episiotomy and suction but managed to get him out whilst she was prepping.
Didn't feel very pleasant I must say, especially when she slid her finger up my arse twice to check for internal tears 🙈
........
The last sentence really made me wince, is it usual to do that? I didn't have it.

I sincerely hope she told you what she was going to do before actually doing it and that she used some lubrication.

I laughed at your reference to gas and air. I didn't have gas and air during labour but was given it for stitching and it made me all giggly and silly. Would be nice to have something like that at home sometimes - just for a giggle :-).

Anyway my small episiotomy didn't take long to stitch, thankfully, and the area was numbed with something cold so not traumatic.

I think some of you on here have been to Hell and back when having babies and those of you who went on to have more are extremely courageous. The experiences of post natal wards are pretty horrific too.

If you ask for an epidural it can be topped up before stitches. If you don’t then they have to rely on local and that may or may not work.

@Lynda07 it's normal to do a rectal exam after suturing, to check there aren't any internal tears and that no stitches have pierced through into there - impossible to see from outside. It should of course be explained at the time and yes, they'll use lube. They'll quite often also put in a painkilling suppository at the same time. I had it done both times.

Thanks for the info, SockQueen. I'm still very glad I didn't have one but had it been 'the thing' at the time and it was explained to me, fair enough. It just sounds so horrible.

I had local anaesthetic injection plus gas and air. I found it very unpleasant and uncomfortable. Possibly worth than the birth but only because you're aware and remember every second of the stitches, whereas the birth you're running on oxytocin and adrenaline