Healing after

[Honey693]

For those of you that tore or had an episiotomy how long did it take to heal? I have dissolvable stitches and the ones in my labia tear are driving me insane.

[Sheryl1678]

I was very sore for 5 solid months and somewhat sore for about a year.

For what its worth, my medwife was in a huge rush, didn't even want to numb the area and I believe her botch, rushed repair job contributed to the long healing time more than the episiotomy itself.

[caenach]

I had a small labial hematoma and a labial tear that required stitches. It took not-quite 2 weeks for the stitches to dissolve to the point where I couldn't feel them any longer. We DTD at around 3 weeks post partum without any pain on my part. To be honest, I am still able to sometimes feel, not pain, but, I guess, discomfort in the place where the tear was. I hope it goes away soon!

I remember, though, that first week...itchy and weird feeling and painful all at the same time. It does get better! My midwife advised hot compresses after the first 48 hours of cold compresses and that was helpful. She said to soak a pad in a comfrey-based sitz mixture and zap it in the microwave for a few seconds.

[nataliej99]

I had 4th degree tears (probably b/c I had an epis. and it tore from the cut) and I couldn't comfortably sit down for 8 weeks. I sat on a boppy pillow when I had to sit up, that helped. And pain medicine, unfortunately. The sitz bath did nothing for me. I had to go back to work at 10 weeks, so by then I was okay sitting for a full day. I never expected it to take so long to heal--my friend with a C section healed much quicker than me. I hope you heal quickly!