Perineal Massage/Tearing

[lilimama]

Are there any dedicated perineal massage ladies out there who experienced little or no tearing? I'm interested in this and any other ways to prevent/miminise tearing. I'll hopefully be in the water, which is said to help, along with not pushing forcefully but rather allowing the pushing reflex to take effect in it's own time. But any other tips/feedback/experience? I'm 37 weeks and have massaged nightly with about 65% dedication for a couple of weeks, and wondering if I will find motivation here to step it up to a couple of times a day for longer at a stretch (no pun intended!) haha.

Have basically just been reaching around the back and stretching from just inside vagina towards anus, feels a little uncomfortable stretchy feeling which means I should prob do it more and for longer. does anyone have any more tips?

thanks! don't want to tear!

lili

I didn't do any perineal massage at all but gave birth in the water to huge baby without tearing. I think that what saved my perineum was

• the water
• keeping calm state of mind
• keeping upright
• moving around when things seemed to slow down (before I got in the water)
• good midwife

I had no control over the pushing - my body went into auto-push, but the mw controlled it by getting me to pant at certain times.

that's really interesting and helpful elasticwoman, thankyou for sharing.

sounds like you had a really good and certainly natural and tuned in birthing experience.

was it your first and how long was the labour, if I may ask?

The one I was talking about in my last post was #3, after 2 previously natural births - a great help to calm frame of mind, although I thought I made quite a lot of noise: not so much screaming as soprano coloratura; it takes a trained ear to hear the difference . The student midwife about whose neck I clung (before getting in the water) recognised me 6 months later in a shop and told me it was the calmest birth she'd ever been at! Labour took about 9 hours, with a very gradual start.

The birth before that was much quicker - about 3.5 hours, the last 45 mins or so in the water and i did have some superficial perineal damage which required stitching, but I had no pain or other problem with it afterwards.

I have heard some women say, both on here and in RL that they were stitched up without anaesthetic after birth and it hurt a lot. I am sure that is not necessary as I never felt being stitched (pudendal block must have been used).

Hi.... I did a small , and i mean a small amount of massage, you need to do it until you feel the sting and hold it for 10 seconds, each time stretching a bit more....
But , I have JUST had my first, (36 yrs old) , Water birth, then dry land delivery ( as got me out to check dilation and i couldn't get back in , i was 10cm and wanting to push) LOL....
No tear at all....i agree with elastic woman, good mw tells you to pant at the right time to slow the speed of the coming down head, just listen to her, before that push like hell.... Water was excellent, needed gas just for the pushing part. Just stay relaxed as the muscels work better when relaxed ( pain free). DROP YOUR SHOULDERS, UNCLENCH THE BUTT CHEEKS !!!!! LOL
All the best xXx

Two more recommendations to max your chance of a good birth:

rest (take daytime naps as and when you need them, esp if not sleeping well at night)

exercise (gentle and preferably fairly horizontal)

They seem mutually exclusive, but it's a question of balance.

thanks for your comments and advice everyone. Very useful tips. And elasticwoman very good advice esp re naps which I am really bad at, as seem to have "doing" and "getting stuff done" programmed into my nervous system. off to force myself to lie on the couch. thanks again.