3rd degree tear recovery

[KCN2020]

any positive stories? No horrors please!
I am 4.5 weeks post Partum and feel like I have healed pretty well but obviously haven’t done anything massively strenuous. Interested to know peoples recovery times :) thanks

I had a 3rd degree tear with my 1st who was born in posterior position. I had a month or so of infections, baths with Epsom salts etc but I got through it. A distant memory now. As long as you have a good midwife & dr keeping an eye on things for you I'm sure you will heal well. You sound well on your way to recovery which is good. DS was 4th degree tear & a different story! 😱(I'll not bore you with the details!!)
Enjoy this precious time with your baby 👶

Had one with my second (shoulder dystocia) and had to be repaired with surgery. Was looked after by the consultant that patched me up afterwards - follow up appointment about 2 months in? I don't find it particularly worse in recovery than my episiotomy with my first but it was a good 4-5 weeks at least before I felt more normal. Fully recovered with no issues.

I'm 2 years on from a 3b tear and honestly it's a distant memory! Healed with no issues. Dtd was a bit sore for about 8 months but now is absolutely fine. No continence issues to speak of although I did have physio afterwards which probably helped.

I got a bad tear with our 3rd as she came much quicker than expected whilst the midwife was out of the room. I healed up really quickly but the skin is a bit thinner on the scar so gets irritated much easier. I've carrie twins to 38 weeks since then and 9wks pregnant atm. I do powerlifting in the gym and had no problems from my scars from the tear. I also have a cesarean scar, that can be a bit tender for a day after heavy deadlifts but otherwise I forget it's there.

Mine (3b) healed well. I was pretty much recovered in a few weeks. The residual issues (discomfort dtd, passing wind when squatting down) went away completely by 6m or so.

I went on to have DC2 vaginally 3 years later (after some investigations) and all was fine. I had one tear that was just a 2nd degree tear and some 1st degree tearing.

A friend had a very similar experience to me.

I had a 3d tear too as DS1 was a big baby who came out fast!
I used the spritz for bitz stuff which I totally thiught would be useless but was acfuslly great.
Healed up fine and I'd say 6 weeks on it was pretty much okay. I've had another big, fast baby since then and I only had a 2d tear.

Congrats OP x

Thank you all for responding. That gives me some hope.
I have my follow up in a couple of weeks, any idea what to expect at the appointment? x

I also had a follow up appointment. She had a root around in there, as seems par for the course as a reproducing woman! Then advised some pelvic floor exercises and diet advice to help ensure any poos were soft and therefore easier to pass. I never knew that bananas were particularly clogging and had been eating them like a mad woman so that was useful I suppose.

@KCN2020 I has a gynae follow up about 10 weeks later and it was just a lot of questions about whether I had any issues, he asked if I'd managed to dtd too. There was a junior dr observing and he asked if she could examine me and do a smear (that was fun, also had to be repeated a few weeks later due to inconclusive results )

Hi all
Just reigniting this thread. I’m now nearly 14 weeks and still experiencing acheyness if I do a bit too much exercise (long walk with Pram etc). Does this ever go away or do I just need to take it easier, getting impatient now ☺️