Second baby after 3rd degree tear

[Shazzzzz]

Hey,

Basically im 16 weeks pregnant with my second and when i had my first born 3 and half years ago it ended with a 3rd degree tear.

Im seeing a consultant soon and i really dont want a section but also im worried about ending up in theatre again... so im just wondering if anyone could share their own experience of second labour after a tear?

My second labour was very fast and I did end up with another 3rd degree year. I had to go to theatre again to be stitched up. I found the recovery much easier second time around though. The first time I had an episiotomy and forceps so I think it left me in a lot of pain compared to my second labour.

@Baboutheocelot i had forceps too im just so worried about this incase it happens again but id prefer to not have a section!

Did they check your scar while you was pregnant?

I had a third degree tear with my first, had scans afterwards and was told the tear had repaired well. It was 4 years before I next got pregnant and was desperate not to have a section however my second measured large and was breech. Attempts to turn the baby so I could try for a natural delivery didn't work and in the end I ended up with a planned section. Despite my fears it was actually a really pleasant experience (first birth was very traumatic) and I actually recovered much quicker second time around. I really worked myself up over having a section and it absolutely would not have been my first choice but in the end it worked out ok. (Also my second was actually nearly 2 pounds smaller than my first!)

No, nobody looked at my scar. I was sent for an appointment with a consultant but he seemed to have no idea why they had sent me really. I wish I could be more helpful but I can’t remember what he told me about the odds of having another 3rd degree tear. He didn’t seem to think there was a case for recommending a c section.
I was definitely worried about it happening again but I think it helps that you have been through labour before, your body is a bit more loose so to speak. A midwife did say that the scar tissue is less stretchy so that’s partly why I tore again. My second birth was so fast that I didn’t have a midwife with me, so nobody to tell me to pant or try and slow things down. With all that said, the moment of giving birth wasn’t actually that painful and I haven’t been left with any lasting problems from either tear. So fingers crossed for you.

I'm pregnant with my second, and with my first it was horrific and took 6 months for things to start healing. Even now 2 years later I still get bother from the scar monthly, or randomly. I'm petrified of giving birth again. Midwife just brushed off my fears saying my body know what's to do now so I'm less likely to be cut or tear again.

I had a 3b tear after a shoulder dystocia with my first baby and opted for an elective c section with my second. I went into labour in the night a week before the date and gave birth vaginally as there was an emergency section being carried out when I arrived. I only pushed for about five minutes. Whole thing was about three and half hours from first niggle to baby being born. I did have a couple of small tears but the midwife stitched them herself. I was home before he was twelve hours old and driving the next day. The midwife offered to be more hands on at the point of birth and I think that helped to make sure he didn’t fire out too fast and turned properly on the way out.

I am going to be brutal and graphic because I wish I'd bloody asserted myself at the time. This is obviously JUST MY EXPERIENCE.

I had a very nasty 3rd degree tear when my first was born. I was in hospital for a couple of days and then had to go back in for a blood patch following a leak of cerebrospinal fluid (from the anaesthetic for the repair operation). It was all pretty gross.
Child number 2, and the same thing happened again. Tear from clitoris to bumhole. Another four days in the hospital.
After nine months, when I'd leave the house and look down to find my shoes had filled up with piss because I'd lost control of my bladder and hadn't even realized, and there was constant 'sensation' from my vag, which became outright pain whenever I had sex, squatted, bent down, walked for too long, I saw the GP. I was on the waiting list for a mesh, but the trust that was going to fit it closed - thank heaven, in light of recent events - and in any event I regained some bladder control by which I mean I don't piss myself in the street but always wear Tena Lady pads/pants which is pretty shit for the environment and doesn't do loads for my self-esteem. As to the damage, one consultant looked and said there was a 'small (1cm sq) area of granulated tissue' and said she'd put me on the waiting list, but it'd be at least six months as it 'wasn't very serious'. It'd be a 45 min procedure; I'd be 'in and out'.
Went to the hospital at the crack of dawn one morning in May. Waited most of the day in my surgical stockings. Went into at theatre at four. Came to and saw from the clock in the wall it was ten pm. Thought I'd died! Surgeon came in to see me and said there was 'extensive and horrific' scarring and they'd actually had to call in another surgeon to assist. Horrendous post-op pain. Consultant explained that I'd had a full vaginoplasty and anterior repair and would NOT be able to have a third child naturally. Echoed by my GP when he signed me off for eight weeks (although in the end I recovered quite well and was back to work inside four). Third child furthest thing from my mind.
Like a bloody idiot, become pregnant with third child about four years later. It was a lousy pregnancy as I had hydronephrosis and HG. Went to local hospital explaining I'd have to have a C section, per my notes. Consultant couldn't find notes from the surgery, but opined that two third degree tears didn't necessarily mean I'd tear again and must have a C section. Couldn't believe what I was hearing. Was told with some pride that he knew a woman who'd had a 3/4 tear and had to have a C section this time around and she was actually agitating to do it naturally as if she was some bloody Amazon and I was the limpest excuse for womankind he'd ever encountered. I detailed the incontinence and pain and said that while I accepted I might not tear, I wasn't anxious to blow on the dice for that particular crap shoot because if I did tear there was now so little to work with that my fanny thereafter would presumably be fashioned out of sheep intestine and bulldog clips and I'd fill my Tena pad with every step. I went back twice more and each time they became more patronising to the point I was expecting them to pull out sock puppets called Percy Perineum and Valerie Vulva.
Less than two weeks before due date I went back with a friend who takes no shit and pointed out that NICE guidelines meant I could just insist on a C section and that was that. I met a tired-looking Greek doctor in his 50s and told a deep breath ready to make my case one final time. He held up a finger and said - 'I see your notes. This place is crazy place; I don't understand any of this garbage here in your notes. Of course you must have a C section, it would be very dangerous not to, and I'm thinking the only trouble is now we don't have so much time to organise it so I make some calls. This place is crazy'. I stated sobbing and he silently pushed some tissues over while cradling the phone in his neck. I forgot to take his name or I would have sent him a case of something. He found me a hospital an hour and a half from my home but which could do one the following week. My local one couldn't do it until I was 42 weeks. Hmmmm . . .
I know c sections can be ghastly (my friend couldn't flush the loo for three weeks) but mine went like a dream. I was discharged the following morning and went shopping with all three kids, and to a BBQ on the beach two days after that.
So what I'm saying is please PLEASE don't dismiss the C section out of hand because, swear down, it was nothing compared to the misery of my post natural birth experiences I wish I'd insisted on one after child number three.

I had a third degree tear with my first. Wasn’t offered a c section with my second, four years later. Had an induction the second time and a little tear but nothing too bad.

I had episiotomy and third degree tear with my first. Physio checked me a few months after and said I'd healed well. She said that it didn't increase my chances of having a tear in future.
I wasn't offered a section or any intervention with my second. I didn't see a consultant. I had a 1st degree tear with my 2nd which I barely noticed and healed well.
There were 2years between labours.
Healing from a section will likely be harder than from a tear. It is major surgery after all. Not being able to drive/walk would be hard and I was able to do both of these a week after delivery with both mine.

Bloody hell, @KittyHawke80 thank God for the sensible doctor!

He had sweat marks on his (crumpled) shirt, hair sticking out in different directions, and was quite porky (as am I).

Still the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life 🤣

@funniestpersonyouknow @Baboutheocelot @OnNaturesCourse @StarsOnAMat @KittyHawke80 @sucha @newphoneswhodis @MrsCrosbyNRTB

Thank you for your experiences they are all definitely different so i guess i will just wait and see what the consultant says. This has helped me loads as i can take all these on board rather than just what the doctors say!

@KittyHawke80 wow reading yours has definitely made me think a C section may not be too bad!

Xx