Vagina 4 1/2 months postpartum

[BabySV]

Just need some advice please-gave birth nearly 5 months ago and had a difficult time delivering baby; I tore and was cut and it took an hour to stitch me up. Healing has not been great, took 14 weeks to start to heal after I had antibiotic cream to heal stitches and saw 2 physios and a gynaecologist. I had another hole down there (at 14 weeks) and gynaecologist used silver nitrate to fuse together. I thought this had worked but I started to do light exercise and now I am bleeding down there again after opening my bowels. I have also plucked up the courage to look down there and my vagina does not look anything like it used to. One of my flaps seems to have completely disappeared and the hole where the baby comes out is massive too. I expected it to be a bit bigger but honestly it’s now 10 times bigger. It’s completely ruined down there. My baby only weighed 7lbs 2oz so it’s not like I even had a massive baby. Has anyone experienced anything like this? I’d really appreciate some advice please! I don’t know what to do about it x

I finally built up the courage to take a look after a cut and tear about 3-4 months afterwards and honestly I wish I hadn't. It sent me to a really bad place and I lost so much confidence. I'm now nearly 2 years PP (and pregnant again) and although things aren't the same, everything is a lot more 'closed up' and I'm feeling more like myself again. It took a long time to build up the courage to look again, so not sure when it improved though, sorry. Hang in there.

Thank you! I’m hoping it will heal more over time too. I feel it’s just so bad I’ll never have sex again x

You probably won't need it, it I did look into some options and there are some surgery options available of it's really bad. It's worth keeping that in mind if you still feel the same later on.

It really does take a long time for our bodies to heal and readjust after childbirth, I was so unprepared for that! I read recently it takes around 2 years for hormones to stabilize too, which is a bit mad in itself, and probably doesn't help healing either!

Thank you for your response; I really appreciate it! I’m EBF so I assume that will have an impact on my hormones. I’m just panicking as I read a post the other day and everyone was saying how their vaginas have gone back to normal if not are tigger than before and mine is nothing like that x

Wow, that's a bit mad! I mean it you don't tear too badly/have a cut then maybe excessive pelvic floor exercises could do that?! I dunno. I was EBF for 15 months too, so that could definitely be a factor actually!

I just keep reminding myself excessive tightness is a sign of pelvic floor dysfunction to help myself feel better, which is what I had before childbirth and I always had a bad back! No bad back now at least... Every cloud and all that!

I’m going to see a doctor again about the blood from my stitches and hopefully they can give me advice about whether it is likely it will improve with time.

Glad your back is better now x

I had fissures for a while, that was absolutely horrible. That and piles could be contributing to the bleeding rather than a tear reopening, but definitely get things looked at! I was on laxatives for months to help everything heal so maybe make sure you're not having constipation too, my GP seemed to think that was my main problem.

If you've not already, you can get a probe put up there to check for any damage and see if tears have healed fully and muscles are working as they should, not pleasant at all but can help check what's going on. Gynecology referred me for the scan and it seemed to be fairly standard protocol after a third degree tear so worth pushing for.

Hopefully you get some answers soon to get an idea of how recovery is going to look for you x