Would you / have you refuse(d) stitches and what was the outcome ?

[tonttu]

I had a little discussion with a friend of mine , who is expecting her second child .

She had a natural delivery with number one and all went normal , except for ( from what she said ) a nasty episiotomy , that didn´t heal well , because her health care provider didn´t do a good job repairing it 

This time , she said , if she tears ( she put in her birth plan that we will not have another episiotomy ) , she does not want to have it repaired  

I am not familiar with just letting things be , so my question , has anybody ever done that and did you regret your decision and why or would you do it again , if you had to make the same choice ?   

[pure]

I refused stitches with my 9lb 11oz baby, 2nd degree tear. Healed fine. Absolutely no problems. I also refused stitches with my 9lb baby 1st degree tear. He is only 12 days old, but I feel perfectly fine. Thses were my second and third children. The tears were well approximated with no swelling and very little bleeding. My first baby I had a jagged second degree tear with more swelling on one side then the other and I had it repaired due to that.

[JamieCatheryn]

It would depend on the extent of the tear for me. I had a midwife who told me she never stitches anything not significantly into the muscle, and much of that really she'd transfer a client for. Maybe a first aid glue would be good to fix up something borderline, and no walking around for a while. But I never have torn in fact, well barely a skin split inside, healed in a couple days.

[Mamabeakley]

I had 1st degree tears (so very minor) with both of my first two births.  I did have stitches the first time, but they were supposed to dissolve and didn't, so the midwife had to remove them at my 6 week pp checkup, while I held my cranky baby on my chest.  Very yucky experience.

So the second time (baby was born posterior) I declined stitches and I healed just fine.

My third birth I was in a different position with a baby who'd been anterior the whole time, and did not tear.

I'm pregnant with my fourth and do not think I would accept stitches unless I had a higher degree tear for some reason.

[gremlinsmummy]

I had one tiny stitch for what was not much more than a graze after my twins, my midwife said she wouldn't have bothered but I think the OB was trying to justify his fee as the midwife delivered both babies. I had quite a bit more discomfort than with the unsutured graze I had with my first baby, so when the OB was trying to push stitches for a first degree tear after my last baby I declined them. It's healed up nicely, no pain altho I did have to take extra precautions to keep it clean during healing by spraying with water/titree oil every time I went to the bathroom.

[TiredX2]

When delivering DD, the "medwife" (fill in for mine, who was on another birth) kept trying to convince us to have an episiotomy, saying the baby WOULD NOT fit.  She then said I needed stitches.  My midwife was there by that time and said I didn't (she was trying to make it appear she was right that I "needed" to be cut).  Didn't have stitches, didn't have a problem healing.  Did tear a little bit (again, no stitches) in the same place with #2.

[tonttu]

Wow , haven´t thought of it from this perspective ! I will be sure to pass the answers along .

And if I ever have another child , I think , I will refuse them as well
 

[dannic]

I tore in a y pattern with my first and was stitched, no tearing with second, tore again on the same pattern though not as badly and midwife said it was my choice, but rec'd against the stitching.  I was told to just keep my legs straight closed til it healed.  Well, it took forever to heal and my preferable sitting style, lol, it cross legged, "criss cross applesauce".  I didn't tear with the fourth, but if I do with this one, I will def. have stitches as I feel it didn't heal correctly.

[Quinalla]

I had a 2nd degree tear with my first (silly girl with her hand by her face, I'm sure I would not have torn much if any otherwise) and I did get it stiched. It took a long time before everything felt right down there at the stiched area, but it healed up fine. I'm not sure how many stiches, seemed like it took awhile, but the OB was also showing a med student how to do it, so that may have been part of it (and I didn't mind that, if I did, would have kicked him out.) I think stiches were the right call, for a minor tear I would consider refusing stiches, but anything else I would likely get them. I just feel better that everything is being held in place while it heals so I don't have to worry about reopening the tear.

[gremlinsmummy]

Ouch Quinalla, my last had her hand by her face too and I tore worse than with any of my older kids, but she was also born very quickly and wasn't 'caught' as such so not sure if that affected the tearing.  It wasn't a bad tear tho, hence my decision to skip the stitches. Also, the OB was in theatre and wasn't able to do the stitches until 4 hours after she was born, by which stage I wasn't keen to have anyone messing around down there!

[CountryMommy]

I had a third degree tear with my first, a tonne of stitches and pain but it healed 100% fine. I had a second degree tear with my second and was stitched up again but I blew a few stitches and didn't get it corrected. It didn't heal completely closed. If I have another child and tear second or third degree I will get stitched up again and really make sure I don't move around too much and blow stitches again.