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Hi Ang, when i had my daughter who just turned three, i had some tearing. Her shoulder got caught. I thought i was dying, i was sooo afraid. She weighed 6lb and 14oz. just two ounces from 7 lbs. even. The doc, he st_tched me up and the stiches came out on their own. Basically, i had to run a bottle of warm water on the st_tches. It made it feel a lot better. They felt a little tight. I'm having baby number 2 in two days due to induction. So i'm hoping it will be a lot better this time around. It took about 2 weeks of recovery time. Because i had an epidural i did not feel the tear itself, all the bleeding is what scared me.

had to have more than 40 st_tches with my first (8lbs) I went all natural and the tearing feels like really horrible burning. I tore again with the second (9 lbs) all natural again, the tearing was not as bad at all and I only got like 6 - 10 or so. Shaletta was right you just have to run water over it and I had to take sit-baths to heal fater/ better. The swelling was pretty nasty for about 4 days and since you have to wear monster-super Pads for the bleeding they might be uncomfortable to sit on for a while... but maybe you are lucky and dont tear at all, my advice - dont let them cut it wont heal as fast and they might cut more than they have to.

My doc really wanted to give me an episiotomy (sp) but I was very vocal in my "NO's" on that one.. and thank GOD!! My first child, 7#2oz and i just had a little tearing in the front.. my new doc says I should have had 2 or so stiches per, but my old doc didn't think I needed stiches at all so I didn't get any. It was hard to pee for a long time, as mine was in front and it burned, but really, it wasn't that horrible. I have the same plans for baby #2.

My Dr asked me during labor if a epis. was ok b/c she knew other wise I was going to tear-Plus my baby was in distress and needed to get out so she gave me an epis. It took a couple of weeks to completly heal.

Also forgot to mention that my Dr said a tear was much more painful then epis.???

In my parenting cla__ses.. the midwife spoke to us about tearing, because that was a fear of all 8 women who were there. She told us that tearing is more likely when a baby is being delivered by a doctor, and that doctors perform episiotemys on more than 80% of births... She told us, that when a baby is being delivered by a midwife, the rate of tearing is very slim, and that only 7% of women need an episiotemy. The whole cla__s was confused about how these stats worked. She told us, that Most doctors hurry the actual delivery up. They dont give the woman the time to stretch naturally (she blames this on a health system which is completely understaffed, and bursting at the seems, like it is here in sydney.) Midwifes take more care in the actual delivery, while the delivery takes a little longer, 80% of women arent tearing. These are the stats at our hospital(one of sydneys best) Maybe you can talk to your doctor about some of these things. If your paying your doctor that much money, im sure he can give you the extra time, to ensure you stretch and deliver as best you can. Just a thought. But I know who I want delivering my baby now............

Hi ang, I had the baby, a girl, December 3, on the same day i answered this post of yours, I am the first one on the reply here. I had her at 11:10pm, she weighed 8lbs and 3oz. I received a tear and had to get the st_tch AGAIN, i'm in a lot of pain. The worse are those cramps from the uterus trying to shrink back to size. They feel just like contractions. Good luck guys and keep us posted.

I had tearing with my son who was born on the 11.11.05, and i was up and walking only a few short hours later. They are just uncomfortable.

I had an epis with my first bub because I was starting to tear towards my bottom which isnt good news. I was told by my mum that been cut doesnt hurt... all i can say is SHE LIED!!!...lol.. she was in the birth and I remember giving her the death look... It was the needles that they gave me before they cut that hurt the worst... sorry if too much info.... I had st_tches but I must say that they really werent that painful afterwards just if you sat in the wrong spot it made you jump.... I was expecting that with my second that I would have to be cut again.. something that I wasnt looking forward to but low and behold I didnt and didnt even tear.. I was Very very happy about that for sure...

i read an article the other day about a woman in texas who had an episiodomy. it got infected and she died a short time later. left her husband and her new baby behind. episiodomy's are NOT always necessary, and if you don't want to have one, make sure you have a BIRTH PLAN and are very specific w/ your doctor. in order to prevent tearing, if this is your first child, you should have a perineal ma__sage (basically get some olive oil & have your husband (or yourself) ma__sage the area b/t your v____a and a__s). have this done daily for a couple of weeks prior to birth. it can also help during labor. you should also be doing kegels (basically squeeze the muscles that would stop you from peeing) 10 times in a row (work your way to holding them for 10 seconds at a time), and do them several times a day. last, but not least, waterbirths SIGNIFICANTLY reduce tears. :) hope this helps!

i had 2nd degree tear 5 weeks ago, about 1 week after i felt fine, now i feel totally normal

ps i didnt even feel the tear

ok - thanks for the input.

I had a 2nd degree episiotomy-my baby was stuck, heart rate was falling rapidly, and they had to get her out immediately! Anyways, it wasn't too bad recovery-took about a week and a half. It did hurt though!