4th degree tear and secondn pregnancy

[Itwhatitis]

So I had a 4th degree tear with my first 3 years ago thinking of a second next year.
I was going through my paper work and on my examaination 8 weeks after it states I had reduced muscle tone of the back passage.
Im freaking out a little this may be affected or made worse if if get pregnant again. Any advice experiance. I was so mentally not coping at the time I missed the actual information and I don't think the doctor really said. If I remember right he was like well you ain't pooping yourself so you're good !

Hi - sounds like your 4th degree has healed nicely if you’re not having issues with incontinence, that part probably won’t get worse with pregnancy alone but there would be a risk that another vaginal delivery would cause another tear and/or make things worse. Normally you’d have a discussion with an obstetrician during any future pregnancy another whether you have a vaginal birth or a CS next time. Where I am we’d routinely offer CS for someone who has had a 4th degree before to try and avoid the extra risks but there will be extra things to take into consideration (not least your own wishes, but also size of baby, circumstances of previous year etc). Best of luck :)

also - you’d maybe have an option to see a gynaecologist or urogynaecologist for another review prior to next pregnancy if you want - your GP may know if this is available NHS or whether you’d need to go private. Sometimes they would do USS to assess the muscles/sphincter also but I’m not sure it would make a difference right now if you’re not having any troublesome symptoms, and may or may not make a difference to planning for next delivery.

Thank you so much !