Please thank you if you are reading this. I really want to get this out. I want to know if this is normal. I feel almost uncomfortable asking this, wondering, admitting...
After my first was born, it was really early in the morning (longer labor with my first we were up all night) and I had a first degree tear that was sutured. The midwife stitched me up quickly, and said there were a couple of small areas that didn't need stitching. I take it that meant I tore more than just in my perineum. The few stitches she used were in the perineum.
When the other midwife came postpartum to do a check she looked at my stitches. She said that I had like a small tongue coming out of my vagina and some skin tags. But, otherwise everything looked good.
However, I looked down there, and basically the whole area looks open. It's like you can't tell where the 'opening' is or what. It's just sort of open. Probably too much information, but the inside is tight from kegels, but it's like I can see directly into the vaginal mucosa. I can find tissue tags off to the top, right and left of the opening and of course the 'tongue' next to the perineum.
At first I thought that was normal. I've lived like this for a decade now. However, I happened to see a friend's equipment (cough) and hers looks like it has a defined opening. And, I can see some scar tissue where she had her episiotomy/stitches. Though the opening is a little bit larger than hers before childbirth but it still looks like it is an actual opening. I hope what I'm writing makes sense.
I can feel the area where the 'tongue--what they told me is vaginal mucosa' is hanging out and where it should have been sewn in place if I fold it inward.
I've had multiple other children since and not torn. The last midwife said she might 'try to fix it' if I tore at the last birth, but I did not tear. The midwives I talked to/asked about it basically didn't seem to think it was alltogether unheard of.
I'm wondering, is this a varaiation of normal? And, nope, none of my stitches had 'undone' that was how I was stitched. I feel like I may have opened up a can of worms by even asking. I wonder if the midwife should have stitched more than she should and made sure that all the edges came together correctly.
What should the exterior/entrance to the vagina look like after childbirth?
After my first was born, it was really early in the morning (longer labor with my first we were up all night) and I had a first degree tear that was sutured. The midwife stitched me up quickly, and said there were a couple of small areas that didn't need stitching. I take it that meant I tore more than just in my perineum. The few stitches she used were in the perineum.
When the other midwife came postpartum to do a check she looked at my stitches. She said that I had like a small tongue coming out of my vagina and some skin tags. But, otherwise everything looked good.
However, I looked down there, and basically the whole area looks open. It's like you can't tell where the 'opening' is or what. It's just sort of open. Probably too much information, but the inside is tight from kegels, but it's like I can see directly into the vaginal mucosa. I can find tissue tags off to the top, right and left of the opening and of course the 'tongue' next to the perineum.
At first I thought that was normal. I've lived like this for a decade now. However, I happened to see a friend's equipment (cough) and hers looks like it has a defined opening. And, I can see some scar tissue where she had her episiotomy/stitches. Though the opening is a little bit larger than hers before childbirth but it still looks like it is an actual opening. I hope what I'm writing makes sense.
I can feel the area where the 'tongue--what they told me is vaginal mucosa' is hanging out and where it should have been sewn in place if I fold it inward.
I've had multiple other children since and not torn. The last midwife said she might 'try to fix it' if I tore at the last birth, but I did not tear. The midwives I talked to/asked about it basically didn't seem to think it was alltogether unheard of.
I'm wondering, is this a varaiation of normal? And, nope, none of my stitches had 'undone' that was how I was stitched. I feel like I may have opened up a can of worms by even asking. I wonder if the midwife should have stitched more than she should and made sure that all the edges came together correctly.
What should the exterior/entrance to the vagina look like after childbirth?
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