Re: Birth Stories
No personal experience here but based on what I’ve seen among friends/cousins, the degree of vaginal tearing seems to make the biggest difference when comparing vaginal delivery to a c-section. 1st and 2nd degree tear recovery seems to be comparable to c-sections…but anything above that changes the game (at least that how it seems to be based on what I’ve heard).
Two close friends of mine had their first babies about 1.5 years ago. One had a planned c-section due to issues with baby in utero and the other tried for vaginal. Unfortunately the friend with the vaginal delivery ended up with a 3rd degree tear. While the friend with the csection was doing good weeks later…the one with the 3rd degree tear was in much more discomfort even 2 months later! She also had to deal with incontinence issues for quite a while which the csection friend didn’t have to deal with. I only know about this specific situation because I’ve heard both of them describe their recoveries in the weeks/months following the birth.
One of my cousins got it worse. She had a 4th degree tear during her vaginal delivery and needed to have a 2nd surgery (where she was put under general anesthesia) to repair the damage. It was several MONTHS before she could sit down/move around without pain/discomfort. It was VERY difficult for her to deal with it all physically and emotionally because the physical pain/pain meds made it very difficult for her to take care of/bond with the newborn. She’s also had incontinence issues since then and despite seeing several specialists/trying out everything she can, it doesn’t look like it’s going away anytime soon. 