Hi guys,

I had a quick question, i read in another thread that John's mommy (congratulations by the way, he is adorable) had to get 20 stitches after delivery, and right away i started to worry, because i already have to kids, 1 1/2 and a 3 yr old. with both I had to get stitches. and i remember my last pregnancy, i couldn't move for about a month. I am pretty sure that my doctor had cut me, because while i was pushing, i heard her say 'scissors'. and after that hard push my daughter was already out, with only one push. and of course the doctor stitched me. she wouldn't answer my question totally, when i asked her if it was a bad tear. she just said its not that bad but was stitching me forever. ( i only remember the day after of the delivery that i heard her say scissors).

so my question is, what if i get pregnant again (which i want really bad) and i tear again.... how much can the skin 'down there be stitched'? should i worry at all....or not?

Hi! I don't think you need to worry at all. I also had 20 stitches with my first. I am already feeling alot better down there from John and he will be 2 weeks on Tuesday.

I had stitches with both my girls too. The doctor didn't cut me though, I just tore and he stitched me up afterwards and I honestly felt NO pain whatsoever in recovery. The nurses couldn't believe I didn't need some pain medication afterwards. With the first birth I had a second degree tear, but with the second birth it was just a first degree tear. I don't think you have to worry. If you are worried about tearing though, there is a massage you and your partner can do to the area and it supposedly helps!

I needed stitches with both of my deliveries, but I never asked how many and they never told me! Things are so busy the first min after childbirth, that you barely notice them stitching you up!

I've only had one baby (my DS ) so I can't exactly speak from experience, but I had like..10 stitches, and I can tell that there is a little scar tissue, so I imagine that there would be residual scar tissue if you were to have more episiotomies (sp) (Idk if that's what you did, but that's what I had done, it's better than tearing!)
But I can't imagine that you would have any problems, I mean, think about those polygamist women who have 20 kids..they seem to be OK..(or are they??)

I had a third degree tear (this is 10 years ago btw!) and had to have stitches (obviously!) and I remember afterwards that I was hobbling around for weeks and it was very uncomfortable.

However, all mended up perfectly - the body is a wonderful thing and great at healing itself.

I wouldn't worry.

I had only had 3 stitches with my 1st, C-sect w/staples on 2nd & none on my third (VBAC). It was actually more painful the get the anesthesia shot before stitching. Some places weren't meant for needles.

Looks like I was lucky compared to some of you. When I moved to a nearby state, my new Dr had even heard of my old one & commented on his reputation and low surgery rate.

Maybe it was the choice to go with a midwife with doctors hospital set up. Midwives are less likely to do episiotomies & thus wind up with more serious tears. Now that I recall, we actually changed OB's during my 1st pregnancy after my old doctor told me that up to half of all new mothers 'need' episiotomies. The midwife group I was with had few 2nd & 3rd degree tears. One of them had had less than 10 medically necessary episiotomies in over 3000 deliveries - a whole lot less than 50%.

Feel free to ask your doctor direct questions. Most medical plans allow you to self choose/refer your OB, so you should be comfortable with the care they will give you.

I've read that episiotomies (spelling?) stitches are becoming more & more unnecessary...I have one myself & with my next child I'm going to opt for NOT having one. Your body heals faster on it's own without the stitches.

Originally Posted by DyME_A_DOZiN

I've read that episiotomies (spelling?) stitches are becoming more & more unnecessary...I have one myself & with my next child I'm going to opt for NOT having one. Your body heals faster on it's own without the stitches.

Just So.
But you may have to be selective with your doctor to lower your chances. A doctor who says 'most women need one' may just be used to doing them. I wouldn't count on changing habits that are already set by years of practice.

I had stitches done after I had DD#1. (Thinking about that still freaks me out) and I was in pain for about 2 weeks and I didn't really feel it being done until they were practically done doing it. They had my DH talk to me of how good I did during the delivery and how beautiful she is. When I went for my 6 weeks appt with OB, everything looked fine and that I could start having intercourse again with DH. But with DD#2 and my 5 month old son, I didn't get any stitches for either of them. Thank goodness.

I had stitches after my daughter I tore quite bad - my poor partner was down the action end when it happened - he said he was watching our daughter been born then all of a sudden there was lots of blood - the stuff of nightmares huh? I also had an internal graze as my daughter had to be turned last min - the graze was a hundred times more painful!!!!!
I don't want to sould like a pervert but there is something you can do to help prevent a tear.....
If you stimulate the section of skin between your vaginia & anus - this can be done by massarging - apparently doing this often will help toughten the skin. I learnt this at one of my pregnancy classes & i remember thinking "thats discussing, I'm not doing that" after an hour in surgrey it didnt seem such a bad idea...

i had stitches, my funny husband joked that he could put an extra one in for good measure...my male OB/GYN and him actually were joking during the whole process. i'd rather have the stitches then have the stretching anyday.

I don't think you should worry, I guess stitched skin can always be stitched again. I think enough time has passed for the skin to be healed enough to endure another delivery.

Originally Posted by KC1984

I don't want to sould like a pervert but there is something you can do to help prevent a tear..... If you stimulate the section of skin between your vaginia & anus - this can be done by massarging - apparently doing this often will help toughten the skin. I learnt this at one of my pregnancy classes & i remember thinking "thats discussing, I'm not doing that" after an hour in surgrey it didnt seem such a bad idea...

It's called perineal massage. I didn't do it (and it wouldn't have mattered if I had, since I ended up with an emergency c-section), but they talked about it in my childbirth prep class. The doula who was leading the class said she had always been skeptical about it, but that her clients who did it had really good results. I think it's more about literally stretching the skin as opposed to toughening it up. Here's a link I found about it: http://www.babycenter.com/404_how-ca...iotomy_1955.bc

I have never been a fan of this perineal massage business, i'd never heard of it until i bought one of those pregnancy and birth books, it came with pictures and everything, to be honest, i was grossed out like you wouldn't believe it , also during one of our birthing and parenting classes, we were actually shown one of those inflatable balloon like devices that you put into your vagina and then inflate to help stretch the skin to prevent tearing... the only thing i could think of sitting there in the class was "what the hell..."

I didn't do any of those either and it didn't matter for me, they had to use the suction caps to get my son out quick because he had his umbilical cord wrapped around him so there was no time for my skin to stretch, i was given an episiotomy that led to a second degree tear, i got several stitches but they were all dissolved and gone by the end of the second week.

I think how well you heal from episiotomies depends on what degree of tear you end up with.