under consultant care after 3rd degree tear

[Unmumsymum94]

Hi fellow mumsnetters.
I am currently 10 weeks with baba number 2 and midwife has put me under consultant care after 3b tear with ds1. Although I healed quite well and quickly, I do experience some incontinence when sneezing, being sick, coughing ect. I am scared of doing more damage with another VB but I am also terrified of having to have an epidural for a c section. No win situation here.
So I am just wandering if any of you have gone on to have a natural delivery after having such a bad tear? And if so how did you find it? Thanks in advance

Hiya,

Yes I had a 3B tear and ended up spending the following 6 months after delivery seeing physio to see if there was lasting damage. I too healed better than expected but still experienced similar incontinance issues as you have described. When I got pregnant with my second also saw the consultant due to been pregnant soon after I had my first.

After much discussions and examinations it was deemed that I had a good chance of having a baby vaginally. Was very afraid and nervous and drove myself insane thinking about it through the 9 months. Once in labour I asked the midwives if they could keep a eye on my tear. I had a great midwife who held the area as I pushed and also guided me through pushing. I did end up with a grazes and was so over the moon that I cried after birth!

Please do speak up and make sure at every appointment you have an opportnity to discuss your fears. The more vocal you are the more help You will receive. I had many scans down below to assess the damage and to see If I stood a chance of pushing another baby out. That gave me the confidenace to try and the midwives were well aware as I kept banging on about on through the contractions lol. Good luck x

I don’t have experience of grade 3 tear, but did end up needing an epidural (which I was terrified about) so they could attempt a manual rotation of my back to back baby. The experience of having the epidural was absolutely fine; I was terrified about having it placed but don’t even remember it hurting, and I didn’t notice any lingering side-effects either. So if your fears are (like mine) “oh god, I’m useless with needles and I can’t face the idea of it”, you can probably dismiss them.

Good luck whatever you decide. I had an extended episiotomy and tearing but have also been left with prolapse, so suspect I’ll be facing similar unanswerable questions about the best birth option to avoid damage if I’m lucky enough to conceive again.