Episiotomy and stitches, who normally does the stitching?

[Kardelen]

Hi everyone,
my last birth the doctor did an episiotomy. Was in theatre so they stiched me up.

however, this time I’ll be having early epidural and will be in a room I’ve been told. So in this case does a midwife do the stitches?

heard horror stories so not sure if I should just go for c section instead. If any midwife’s stitched you, how was it?

Was the forceps delivery in your room or in the theatre? If the former, there's a chance it could have been a midwife after you'd been assessed. But more likely to be an obstetrics registrar or consultant. Definitely an obstetrician if the delivery was in theatre.

I had a second degree tear. My midwife hadn't been signed off yet on suturing, and no midwife was available to observe. So for expedience, a senior reg was brought in to do them. She did an excellent job. Healed quickly, and the only set of skin sutures I've ever had that didn't go on to get infected.

3 tears, 3 repairs:

First time - midwife, not great but not nearly as bad as some I've heard of.
Second time - can't remember but whoever it was fixed the issue caused by the 1st one.
Third time - midwife looked at it and decided to call the registrar who did what the midwife described to me after he'd left as "a beautiful job". I did have problems afterwards with numbness but I think that was from the damage rather than the repair.

Ex midwife here , I used to stick , had lots of training.

*stitch

Midwife did it, & showed their student the procedure. They then asked a doctor to check it, who wanted another doctor’s second opinion. Second doctor also had a student, so all of a sudden there were five people peering at my nethers. Luckily I still had the entonox pipe and didn’t really care! Healed perfectly though, & like others have said, why would you not want a midwife doing it? They’re the experts, not some sort of less qualified doctor.

First time doctor - find.

Second time midwife - local anaesthetic didn’t work and had to resort to gas and air to get them done. No problems after.

Second degree tear both times. First was sutured by my midwife, though she called her supervisor in at one point to check she was putting it back together right

Second time the midwife did it, but then I had a haemorrhage a few hours later, and some of the stitches got pulled out while they were hoiking clots out of my uterus. Then the registrar redid them. Bit awks as we worked together and had done our first registrar night shifts together (I'm an anaesthetist) but she did an excellent job.

Thank you! Gives me some hope

Ohh, what happens when they stitch tightly?

Omg sounds so horrific so sorry 😭

As a rule of thumb midwives stitch grade 1 and 2 tears and grade 3 and 4 are done in theatre. I’d be much more relaxed about this than compared to c section stitching!

Omg you
managed without pain relief or epidural? How painful was it?

Wish a midwife did mine. DD is 17 and it still hurts.

Senior midwife did it. However, she had returned to the maternity hospital after 15 years in the community and I was her first hospital birth after her return. I had 3x 9 stitches, she sewed me up far too tightly. I had horrendous pain for 2 years until I had corrective surgery.

I was told by a (midwife) friend that I was unlucky, as mostly midwives are much more experienced than surgeons at sewing as they do it all the time.

First birth - 2nd degree tear, gas and air, done by student midwife, I swore and cried lots.

Second birth - 3rd degree, opted for surgery under an epidural, was lovely. Had ongoing issues for years afterwards however.

@SockQueen my midwife asked DH to check whether it looked right 🤨

While I was down there 😁

Thank you so much for this, I didn’t know. So if you deliver in delivery suite, they’d take you to theatre if it’s grade 3/4 tears.

i also had bilateral vaginal tears, not sure what this is.

would midwife’s also do forcep delivery or would that only be doctorsv

1st birth I had episiotomy and the consultant and a student midwife stitched me up (he did the tricky bits, she did the rest. I had an epidural so was happy to let her practice). 2nd birth the scar held perfectly but baby came so quickly the rest of me didn't 😂 that one required a consultant to do it because the tears were at the urethra and clitoris so the midwife wouldn't do it. No issues healing with either of them, couldn't tell I'd had a baby 2 weeks after both times.

Always get the midwife to stitch if you can. They do it far more frequently.

Registrar did mine after double episiotomy. Needed to be redone twice due to their botch job. Was actually told by repair consultant we knew it wouldn't be a midwife who did this!

Consultant. Poor job as stitches didnt hold and came appart by 1 week 😳. Two years later cant really see the scar unless you really look. Deffo cant feel it.

Student midwife did my stitches, was fine, I didn't even notice tbh!

Episiotomy stitches in theatre by doctor. Second time, a bad tear and stitches done by the midwife in delivery suite.

If you have a 3rd or 4th degree tear at home, or in a birthing centre, you'd be transferred to hospital to go to theatre to get it stitched up.

Bilateral means both sides. So you had a tear on the left and right side of your vagina. Hope you're healing (or already have healed!) up nicely.

Only doctors do forceps ime. Though my experience is solely with the big beefy salad tongs in theatres.

Thank you!