Episiotomy infection window

[fee1234]

Hi, I had my 2nd baby 11 days ago - she was delivered by mid cavity forceps so I had an episiotomy. I had the exact same delivery including forceps with my 1st baby 13 months ago and last time I had a horrific infection in my episiotomy cut 5 days PP which led to sepsis.

I've been very careful with this one with cleaning several times a day and not overdoing it, but I keep getting scared at the thought of another infection like last time. I'm just wondering when I should be out of the danger zone with regards to infection? It's been 11 days, I'm not 'aware' of the area being as sore, but it does still look a bit raw and I can see the stitches. Hoping it heals up soon

Hi OP

I've no knowledge of infection windows but I would say (from my own experience) you are most likely to get an infection earlier on, when the wound is new and you are still in hospital, than later on - as long as you keep doing what you are doing to keep it clean. I'm sorry I can't be if any more help, I remember the misery of an infected episiotomy all to well.

@fee1234 bless you !
I’m 4 weeks pp. I had an episiotomy & mine burst open. Lucky no infection but it’s still not fully healed & I’m neurotic. Literally obsessed! It’s really getting me down & I constantly worry about it.

Thanks for the replies. I'm the same, constantly worrying it will get infected like last time. Giving birth with forceps was nothing compared to the pain of an infected wound.

Almost 2 weeks PP now and it's still tender with visible threads but getting better.

I had a very bad episiotomy experience and was ultimately looked after and repaired by the head of the uch post partum repair team - amazing gynaecologist with extensive experience doing gynae repair work in Sudan etc (horrible birth injuries) as well as posh Harley st practice.

She advised bathing twice daily in a very clean bath with just some salt added. Then patting dry and leaving to air dry as much as possible - get a loose midi or maxi skirt and wander around with no pants on as much as possible. I know that this is hard to put into practice! I had c section second time round and it was MILES easier recovery.

I would also add not to over wash it - wounds dont like to be kept wet. I think I did one 5-10 bath a day with as PP said just a bit of salt and then I showered (gently!) after a poo (which is still the most horrific post partum memory I have)

@Endlessmizzle can I ask what the issue was with yours? Infection ? Wound breakdown?

Badly done after traumatic labour, should have been offered a section, whole of care during late labour was really atrocious bordering on negligent (witching hours of sat night to Sunday morning). The badly cut and stitched wound eventually burst open, multiple infections including MRSA.

The amazing miss sohier elneil saw me privately once, she was so horrified by the treatment I received at uclh (which had included the pp trauma clinic telling me there would be a three month wait to even be seen) that she asked me to go back in to uclh the next day, tell them miss elneil had told me I needed an appt immediately (which of course suddenly materialised as she was very senior in clinic) and she treated me through there. We got it to heal and then she reopened it and restitched it properly under general six months later, again via uclh. If I hadn’t had health insurance from work and been able to book that first private appointment I don’t know what would have happened to me. I really had atrocious pp care until a friend recommended seeing miss elneil. My lovely GP suspected I had PTSD and memorably described the effects of the labour on my body as equivalent to having been in a car crash (which bizarrely really helped! As otherwise the dissonance of me thinking ‘I am a rational, sensible being and I think this is really awful’ and the hordes of midwives and NCT teachers going ‘oh, you’ll be FINE, it’s just BIRTH, isnt it’ )

A midwife actually said to me during the clean up of said horrific birth ‘but you should be very proud. You have given your husband a son.’

@Endlessmizzle Bloody hell !!! You poor thing, that sounds so horrific. Anyone would be traumatised after all of that.
I’m 4 weeks pp. My stitches burst about day 5. Luckily, I’ve had no infection so far. It does look a lot better then it did, but it’s still not healed. I’m so down & depressed with it. The skin still hasn’t pulled together properly. I’m hoping i don’t end up with any major issues & it does heal ok eventually !

@Johnson10 if it's any help mine also burst but it has healed very neatly and is completely painless. I dont k ow of this is true but my dr said that sometimes stitches can cause tightness which then doesnt go away whereas if it heals naturally that doesnt happen.

It was awful tho, and my midwife describing it as 'a gaping hole' really didn't help matters either.

@OhToBeASeahorse thank you for the positive story. It was an absolute car crash when I first saw it. I was hysterical. It has improved a lot. But I just feel like it’s taking forever. It was a gaping wound at first. It’s now got lovely pink tissue under, but skin is still apart, with a bit of a gap. I guess it takes time. I’m practically pain free now tho, the first 2 weeks I felt like it ruined my special time with my son. X

Oh I remember that. I sobbed when mine broke down..I was watching an episode of Orange is the New Black and there was a comment about childbirth and I broke down again. I was particularly resentful as it was infected so I needed antibiotics which then led to thrush for both me and my baby. It was a horrible time.

BUT - I would say mine had healed within 7-8 weeks of birth. You'll get there. Just keep it clean, keep.changing the pads, dont slip up on good habits because that could set you back.

You'll be fine but be kind to yourself - i remember how you are feeling like it was yesterday x

@Endlessmizzle so sorry to hear about your experience. It's crazy how a seemingly 'small' procedure can have such an impact on the whole birth and recovery. I almost gave up breastfeeding my 1st because I couldn't sit, or even lie comfortably to feed him. I kept being told feeling rough and sore was normal after the birth, little did I know if I'd left it a day or two before getting help there might have been a much more sinister outcome for me. Sepsis had set in and my wound was infected, (TMI) but I was filling a maternity pad with pus from my cut every 2 hours.

I still feel pain and twinges in the old scar, which in comparison is so much bigger and longer than my new episiotomy. 1st one is at 4 o'clock and much longer on to my bum cheek, and my new one is more at 5 o'clock and much smaller. Who knows what it will look like once it's all healed down there.

@Johnson10 hope yours heals up soon.

Aw you are all so nice and luckily I had an elective section for my second (consultant said that any issues with a vaginal birth would likely just rip through all the old repair work). Bizarrely even then after all the ‘natural birth’ stuff I had bought into I still didn’t think that was a good enough ‘excuse’ but then I had placenta previa and so decision was taken out of my hands.

Also a lot of people i know had a lot worse actual injuries than me, it just pissed me off because it was as if we should just be grateful to be alive. I like my nether regions, I had reason to believe they could be in a lot better state than they were left, and I was right. The wonderful talented hilarious miss elneil patted me on the shoulder before surgery and said ‘it’ll be like plastic surgery for the vagina darling, it’ll be better than ever before’ which I know a lot of people would be po-faced about, but it made me laugh, and do you know what we are allowed to want and to have the very best-repaired and functioning tip-top wonderful vaginas and you can bet your ass that if it was men’s genitals affected by birth it would be the most medically advanced and best funded section of the medical world.

Anyway, it all worked out in the end!