Those who have the experience of delivering in England , I have a question ..
Regards Episiotomy ( giving a cut to avoid ugly tears )
I have been advised that I should insist on getting one as soon as baby starts coming out.. If i dont ask for one or insist for one, chances are I will get ugly natural tears that might lead to muscle issues later on …
I was also told that doctor/midwife dont give it initially and only make their decision once the actual tears start coming , but by then its kind of too late coz some of the damage will already have been done..
I need to know what the course of action should be? is it best to let them decide on wether to do the episiotomy or not .. and when to do it?
i havent delivered in england but the problem is the same worldwide i think...
from waht i read (and my own experience), you should never ask for an episiotomy. a tear is much better than a cut (which cuts through all 4 layers of muscles.)... a tear could be a simple one or 4 degree.
imagine if you would have torn naturally .. having a first degree tear... but cuz you insisted on an episiotomy, now had a 4 degree cut. ouch.
let nature take its course.. midwifes and drs know what to do.. usually if they see a vaginal delivery going wrong.. they cut themsleves to ease the delivery.. and from habing the patient tear herself really bad... USUALLY.
i had a first degree tear the first time i delivered.. imagine if i had just insisted on an epi upfront.. id have to deal wtih more pain.
i had delivery in England, my midwife suggested to let it happen naturally. if there are problems with babies head not comming out then they will make a tear. its better to let it happen naturally as most of the times the tear is not that deep.
As the ladies have already mentioned…don’t insist on a episiotomy. There are plenty of women who give birth without tearing at all…and many who have 1st degree minimal tearing. From what I’ve read and heard from doctors/nurses…a episiotomy usually takes longer to heal compared to a natural tear (something about the clean cut makes it more difficult). On the family planning board on makeup alley, I’ve seen women mention over and over how natural tear is more preferable than a episiotomy.
Here is an medical article I found that seems to support this (scroll under FAQ’s). Of course, I would also urge you to do a search and find more info. on your own.
Again, exactly what Khawateen said. Much better to tear naturally(1st to4th degree tear) than get an episiotomy (straight to 4th degree). There's also something called a perineal massage that u can do at home in order to stretch out ur perineum...it will help u A LOT and u'll end up with minimal to no tearing at all.
Yep I was also told by a colleague ( whose mother was a midwife back in the day ) to ask for episiotomy because that's the best way to do it..must be an old school thing! I never asked for one neither do I believe that they would give me one! Imagine f I had asked for one and then had the c section? Ekkkk double the pain! Go with the flow!
i lived through that pain with the twins!!! Thing #1 gave me major tears (tore through my cervix to be exact) and I had to be stitched up, while Thing #2 was delivered via emergency c-section
thanks so much ladies , this has really helped me .. so the general consensus is that I should go with the flow and let them decide if I need the epi or not ..
Inshallah will do that ... Hope all goes well ..
With the horror stories of tears that I have heard , It just sort of sounded scary !
Those who have the experience of delivering in England , I have a question ..
Regards Episiotomy ( giving a cut to avoid ugly tears )
I have been advised that I should insist on getting one as soon as baby starts coming out.. If i dont ask for one or insist for one, chances are I will get ugly natural tears that might lead to muscle issues later on ...
I was also told that doctor/midwife dont give it initially and only make their decision once the actual tears start coming , but by then its kind of too late coz some of the damage will already have been done..
I need to know what the course of action should be? is it best to let them decide on wether to do the episiotomy or not .. and when to do it?
no no no no NO. i don't know who advised you that, but you need to stop talking to them immediately. i mean, immediately.
episiotomies are bad. bad, bad news. anytime they have to cut you for anything, its bad. they don't even do many of them here now because they're bad.
if you tear naturally, its ok. your body will heal quicker and cleaner, MUCH more so than if you get cut.
do NOT ask to get cut. let your doctor make the call for you. in fact, if anything, you should be doing perineal massage and insisting on NOT having an episiotomy done.
CB, just try and take it easy, as they say there is one baby born every minute!! I’ve had 3 babies in England mashallah! I have nothing but praise for the NHS staff. They really do know what they are doing and whatever intervention you need I’m sure you will get it at the right time inshallah.
You know all these birth plans are well and good, but when the time comes and you are experiencing the pain of your lifetime , all the plans go out of the window!
I was lucky, my labour time with all my kids was never more than 3 hours. And I didnt have epidural with any of them, just took gas and air which works like wonder!
The thing is, we human beings love talking about our bad experiences in life. Thats why most of you poor mums-to-be get to hear from women who have had difficult labours and obviously you get to hear all the gory details . Those of us, who have had uneventful labours don’t have much to tell you so maybe we are the silent majority. Just remember its not so bad with everyone.
Just be positive and inshallah you will be one of us!
Thanks SGC and MissF , yeah after reading advise from every single one of my friends here, I am definitely not going to be asking for the epi Thank God I asked the question here !
I don't know about tear but cut ouch it's really bad, I got a cut n 8 stitches n it took me 3 months to heals n after cut using washroom was most difficult and I was not able to stand, sit or walk,
as everyone said natural tearing will be better, n if circumstances required they will give you cut themselves.
Usually u dont tear the 2nd etc timearound cuz your muscles are already used to stretching...unless a bigger baby is being born, than the prev one.
Very few women deliver the first time around without any tears.
slight off-topic, i know, but yeah, i only know two girls who delivered their first babies without tearing. one of them was a guppan and credited perineal massage to not tearing; the other one actually had an unplanned home birth(!!) i.e. baby delivered on living room floor with no pain meds, and she didn't tear either.
, all the plans go out of the window!
. Those of us, who have had uneventful labours don’t have much to tell you so maybe we are the silent majority. Just remember its not so bad with everyone.
Thank God I asked the question here !