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I had the exact thing. I gave birth to my little girl on valentines day (17 days ago) and i just now started feeling better and was able to be on my feet for longer than 5 mins. (since sunday, its friday now). to make matters worse I had 2 large hemorrhoids to deal with too! I will still have pain once in a while if i have been upright for too long (body telling me to relax). my suggestion to you is stop taking the ibuprofin if you can (your body will feel better if you can tell the pain is subsiding) and do kegel exercises when you can. this will strengthen the muscles making it easier for you to stand up for a longer period of time. It will get better I promise! If you have any other questions, let me know!

Hi Kerri, I only had 2nd degree, but I can tell you even with that I didn't start to feel better till 3 weeks after. I could only lay or sit on my side, and I could put absolutely no pressure on my bum. My problem was going to the bathroom. I also had hemroids and couldn't BM till 7 days after (with stool softener and laxative). I found that the feeling of heaviness "down there" went away by the third week. You'll feel better soon! and Congratulations!

I had a bad, bad 4th degree tear with my first baby that took the entire perineal shelf, and the pain lasted for quite a while, like nearly 6 weeks. I think I took 800 mgs of ibuprofen every 6 hours for 2-3 weeks to control it. It was 10 weeks before I felt like fooling around with hubby again! Sitting down to do those 20 minute sitz baths, which really do help, was painful. Do your kegels while lying down to take the pressure off. You might not be able to feel anything while doing them, but they do help and eventually feeling returns. They also help with that feeling of everything falling out (!), but that didn't go away for me for months, and that has recurred for me after two more pregnancies. It does get better :) Meanwhile, your job now is not taking care of the house, it's taking care of that baby and yourself! Someone else should be doing the housework and cooking; you should only have to sleep and nurse.

I had a 3rd degree tear also. I found that wearing one of those really tight girdle/biker shorts things (found in the lingerie section) helped ALOT. I was able to get up and walk around really well after a few days- plus it helps your tummy shrink back to normal sooner (at least it did for me!). Just as an FYI...s_x is going to be pretty painful for the first few times, but it will get better. I was horrified the first time afterwards cuz I thought I was ruined for life, but now all is back to normal at 15 weeks PP.