Just had a look "down there" and it aint pretty! (sorry if TMI)

[coffeechat]

Gave birth to DS2 5 weeks ago - he was a big boy at 9.6 and had cervical tear plus 2nd degree tear. They seem to healing ok but just had a look and I have what i can only describe as muscle hanging out of my fanjo. Anyone else had this? Will it go back? I'm trying to do my pelvic floor exercises - will this help? Or am I just worrying to soon!

I was the same. I had a 2nd degreee tear that the MW decided to leave unstitched. I looked with a mirror every once in a while and was quite fascinated by the way it was healing back together but then it seemed to stop.

When I went for my 8 week check, I had a look before I went and thought it looked like it had improved a lot so I didn't get the GP to have a look.

But then it seemed like it still wan't quite right so I got the nurse to have a look when I took DS for his 16 week jabs. She said it was fine and looked very healthy and that after 2dc it will look a bit different

I would keep doing your exercises and perhaps get it looked at at your check with the GP just to put your mind at rest.

I felt really quite sick and wobbly when I thought about it at the time, thinking there was something really wrong and that my mangled fanjo was never going to be the same again. DS is 5 months now and I haven't even thought about it for a while - until I read this.

Thanks pinkspotty - its not so much the tear i'm worried about, more what appears to be bulging out! Is it possible to also give birth to your pelvic floor muscles?!
I will get the doc to look at my 6 wk check but like you i feel actually sick when i think about it too much. Worst comes to it maybe i could save up for one of those "designer vaginas"!!

i had a 3rd degree tear and was also shocked as mine looked a bit frankenstein's monster for a while! baby 12 weeks now and things a lot better. the muscle could be the back wall of your vagina. mine does the same but is getting better. my obstetrician told me to do 100 x pelvic floor exercises a day the slave driver. i do 10 each time i think of it and that has helped a lot. see what doc says at 6 week check but it's still early days yet.

My mw told me to have look after ds1 & a 3rd degree tear & really wish I hadn't. Ignorance IS bliss.

I was too scared (squeamish?) Luckily it all fixed itself after nasty episiotomy. And when DS2 arrived (much less traumatically) it didn't even tear.

Wow - some of you ladies are brave. I just had visions of passing out, hitting head, and having to explain self in A&E.....

i know it is a bit pathetic!

17 months after dd (who was my second) I BIG episiotomy and I 2nd degree tear and my fanjo is well and truly mangled, I have vowed never to look again.

It feels fine and it works, nowt else matters I have decided, but it will never win a Miss Fanjo contest.

at Miss fanjo contest!

Thanks ladies. 100 pelvic floor a day!!!??? I barely get around to , guess I better pull my finger out (so to speak...!)
Can you imagine the miss fanjo contest....dont fancy my chances in the swimsuit section!

i think it's the back part of your vaginal wall showing, i had this/have this, altho it's not as bad as it was. I had 2nd degree too, and tears and grazes bloody everywhere, dd was tiny but was stuck, then shot out.

I think the opening, if it stretches just shows more of your vagina, iyswim? I took a long long time to come to terms with it.

Thanks ipratetheif - have they said to you they can do anything about it?
does anyone know if this affects your sexlife?

You are a braver woman than me. I had a 4th degree tear and episiotomy nearly two years ago and have never taken a look.

Are you doing PF exercises? They help a lot with getting things more back to normal, by increasing blood flow to the area and tightening up the area.

It can be a shock though, believe me I know. My own ragged fanjo is not going to be used on any GCSE biology textbooks, but it doesn't like quite as freakish now a few months after DS2.

DONT LOOK! Dont ever look! I did with dd and was so shocked I thought I had been stitched wrong!

So long as everything is ok ie sex not hurting its fine.

I am expecting dc2 in January and will not be looking or feeling this time!

Sounds like a prolapse. Pelvic floor exercises will certainly help loads, but if you don't see any improvemnt, you can insist that your GP refers you to see a physiotherapist who deals specifically with women's health issues. Where I live, this happens automatically if you have a 3rd degree tear/an episiotomy/ventouse or forceps delivery, but you have to make a fuss otherwise.

They will be able to tell you is you are doing the exercises correctly, and check whether you need surgery (unlikely, but good to know it's an option!)

I wished I'd never looked, 2nd degree tear, it looked like a corss between a car crash and the opening to a tunnel , midwife said it was very well stiched and looked good.

No other advice than that given, PS it will get better

Things do take a long time to return to something like normal! I had been watching Embarassing Illnesses on telly about prolapsed wombs - was convinced I had one and made a blushing young male GP take a look at it. He said it was all fine which made me feel even worse! 2 years on, and number 2 is due any day so I've got it all to come again!

TBH it is probably absolutely fine, I looked (briefly) at my one week old 3rd degree tear stitches and it looked like steak tartare.

On the other hand, there is a minute chance that you could have a bit of a prolapse so I would get it looked at. Don't let your doc be coy with you. I went for my eight week check up at the hospital (because of my tear, not a check on baby at all) and practically had to force the (female) registrar on duty to look. Gynae staff who are funny about women's bits are in the wrong job.

If it is just normal tear related carnage, it will get better. Don't try to have sex yet and do do do do do your pelvic floors. When you think you have done enough, do ten more.