Episiotomy/tear healing help at 6 weeks

[Lucasmummy2021]

Hi

I had my little boy 6 weeks ago today with forceps and episiotomy which was very traumatic and I'm so confused about what I keep being told by different health professionals about my healing.

My midwife kept saying my episiotomy and 2nd degree tear was healing but slowly. I ended up on 3 lots of antibiotics because the midwife and gp said I looked infected but swabs always came back clear. I was told to book a nurse appointment when the antibiotics finished for a review. She said part of my episiotomy wasn't healing and there was a hole (5 weeks pp). She spoke to a gp who said to go to A&E. Really couldn't face that so ended up phoning MAU who told me to go in and be checked by a doctor directly. The doctor said that the episiotomy wound had healed, but not come together right, so I have inside skin exposed that needs to harden and become outside skin but there was no risk of infection and it would take months to stop being sore. He laughed at the hole suggestion and said there was no hole. This was a week ago. I then had a private women's health physio appointment 2 days ago. When she looked she started sighing and said 'this hasn't healed'. She sounded really concerned and it really scared me. She thought the tear looked worse than the episiotomy, when the midwives and nurse had all said the tear had healed to the point of a graze. At first she said she thought i should go back to gp but then after looking looking more she changed her mind and said I should give it till 12 weeks. She took a picture on my phone to track progress.

I'm in so much pain. The pain feels surface level but it's like a raw radiating pain, Stings like hell when I poo or wee still. I'm 6 weeks today. I've been so down, crying every day both about the pain and just feeling like I've completely lost myself and will never feel better. I'm so confused how I've been given so many different opinions, I don't know who to believe and I'm just so worried.

Any thoughts/advice/reassurance of anyone who has still been this sore at 6 weeks?

Thank you so much!

Hi. Sorry to hear you're still in pain and not healing as fast as you should.

I don't think I've got much good advice for you but maybe my experience will help. My own episiotomy split during healing, well the stitches broke I think and so it looked like a hole/open wound and I had a lot of pain sitting down. It took a while to heal and I got quite upset as I never thought it would. I can't remember how long but it was still going on post 6 weeks.

That said, if you're worried you should ask to see a different GP and get a second opinion. Try and see a woman if you can. You can push to be referred if you're not satisfied.

I think from your post this is your first baby, the shock of what childbirth does to your body, especially down there, is something I found really hard to get over the first time. I cried a lot too. To try to help with the pain when going to the loo I'd keep holding a sanitary pad or flannel against the wound and adding some pressure so it doesn't stretch too much which should help.

Hope you heal up soon.