Painful sex 6mo after giving birth.

[MissMarjoribanks]

DS is 6mo old tomorrow. Vaginal delivery of a 5lb 5oz baby, on gas and air, with a episiostomy (sp?) and two stitches. Then had to go to theatre for manual removal of the placenta under epidural. Episiostomy, etc was because he was born at 33 weeks and they didn't want to mess about getting him out as his heart rate kept dropping. After birth it didn't sting when weeing, and the first poo was also entirely unproblematic.

DH and I have had sex precisely three times since. It hurt every time - first time expected, but it gets worse each time. It also stings when I wee afterwards for at least 24 hours. We have plenty of foreplay, so its not vaginal dryness that is the problem. It feels almost like I've been stitched up too tightly.

Will this ease off in time, or is it something that I need to put up with?

Thanks HMHB, am just pissed off with it all tbh, dh tries to be sympathetic instead of frustrated but doesn't really 'get' it.
OP/HMHB/others in pain- please go back to your GP and get them to refer you to a gynaecologist. Suffering in silence is no life. It killed my relationship with exp, and def causes issues at times now

I watched an episode of embarrassing bodies recently and the girl had the same problem. The consultant prescribed her a cream with progesterone in it and she was fine after a few weeks.

Well I'm going to suggest to my GP the adhesions thing... Mine absolutly feels structural too

Seriously, I wouldn't get anything too drastic done until you stop breastfeeding. I also felt like I was physically different, was tight and painful, and just plain sore. But I really did get back to feeling normal (physically and libido) as soon as hormones were back to normal. Obviously get checked out by gp in case there is an obvious physical issue, but don't panic if they can't diagnose anything.

when i went for my six week check, the internal was very painful and the doc said everything looked a little inflamed, so i think the problem that I had was that everything was aggrivated and swollen due to hormones, as it all cleared up so quickly when i stopped breastfeeding.

avril - interesting cure!

skymonkey - i hope it is related to breastfeeding. I think the breastfeeding definately lowers my libido which makes sense when you think about it. No periods either.

Looking forward to DD dropping a couple of feeds .

I had the same, and it did get better naturally; turned out my scars needed stretching. Lubrication not an issue.

However I found it all went back to normal - eventually - after baby was 12 months. Have faith, 6 months is not a long time - you were pregnant longer - and don't forget all your bones, jionts and insides moved as well and won't be normal yet either.

You have my sympathy, the last thing I wanted at that stage was someone else poking around down there; I'd had enough of that!

exactly Lucy85!