Any similar experiences with post-partum healing?!

[RainbowKitten]

Hi ladies, I gave birth to my DD 5 and a half weeks ago. I sustained a 2nd degree tear on my perinium, and a labial tear right next to my clitoris (deffo the most painful in my experience 😖). My stitches became infected around day 5 post birth and I was prescribed antibiotics. I have 2 issues here...

1. My perinium is healed nicely however its not joined together at the opening where it once was. Its about a centimeter lower than it was and joins at a point rather than rounded like before. Will this join together as the skin seems healed either side where it should be joined. If not will the nhs stitch me back up to where it was? The woman who stitched me said she left it open a bit but never told me it wouldn't join together.

1. The labial tear has over granulated and has produced a thick red lump of painful tissue. The gynecology department are refusing to see me saying it will settle on its own. But its so painful. I've seen on the Internet its usually cauterised however the hospital are saying they don't do this?

Any help, advice or personal experiences welcome. The doctors don't seem to be interested in helping me, and won't give me a time frame for when it should be better 🙄

Firstly congratulations on your new arrival!

I didnt have exactly the same as you but did tear and had an episiotomy, and had similar issues. At my 6 week (which was actually 8 week) check my GP advised me that they wouldn't take any action until at least 6 months. I think the NHS/ internet in general gives stupidly short timeframes for healing but in fact it takes a lot longer!
I hope you feel better soon and any pain and discomfort starts to ease. I would give the healing time a little longer and then go back to your GP x

I had granulation tissue. I had an assisted birth so needed an episiotomy. It refused to heal even 5 months later. Several trips to the GP, being ignored. It was painful. Couldn't sit without squirming, couldn't be intimate with DH. Couldn't pee without burning, Couldn't do number 2 without being in agony. I went to the GP one day and put my foot down and said I'm not leaving until I'm referred to a Gynae.

When I finally saw her which was 6 months later she was surprised they waited so long to refer me.

I did another operation (under general) to remove the granulation tissue (basically they re-started the healing process again). I finally got some relief about 6 weeks after that. Its was an agonizing, traumatic experience and one of the reasons I don't want any more children.

@whosaidth1 I feel your pain 😖 could I ask how much granulation tissue you had? Mines a good half a centimeter raised and they're trying to tell me it will heal on its own? I really do have my doubts. 5 weeks pp and I never thought I'd still be using a jug of water to pee 😕 i was on the fence of maybe having one more baby in the future, but this has deffo put me off for life. My first baby I bounced back no problems, I didn't get what all the fuss was about. But with my second its just horrendous. Traumatising actually

@RainbowKitten I would say it was about the same size. Don't under estimate the size, the little bugger was painful! I used a jug to pee as well, standing up lol, fun days ehhhh!

From my experience I don't get how they say it would go away on its own. I gave birth in May and it was still there in November! I have a strong feeling if it wasn't removed it would have still been here till this day. Its such an easy procedure to get rid of it as well so IDK why they're always hesitant to listen to us. I was given the choice to cauterize or remove it under general. After being traumatized for so long I couldn't stand the thought of the pain of having it cauterized so I chose general anesthesia. Gynae said procedure took only 20 mins and I was discharged a few hours after. 6 weeks later I felt like a new woman :)

Also I had so much discharge and kept getting infections and that was due to the episiotomy not healing properly... I can't count how many rounds of anti-biotics I had taken within those 6 months. I was depressed and couldn't enjoy being a new mom. Just talking about it is making me upset all over again.

Good luck OP, I hope it all works out for you very soon.

@whosaidth1 I'm just hoping they'll do something for me. The gyne department are refusing to see me so I'm going to go to A&E and demand to be seen. I feel like it's not their problem, so they don't really care. I don't know whether cauterising or surgery would be less painful as its directly next to my clit. Like the granulation tissue joins next to the hood. What a place to have a tear 😖😭