recovery time following 2nd degree tears

[cherubess]

hi ladies,

I'm at a loss whether or not what I am experiencing is normal or okay.

I am 9.5 weeks post-natal.

I had my son vacuum assisted and sustained 2nd degree tears internally.

AF stopped 3 weeks ago.

I had my 6 week check up 3 weeks ago and after the internal examination (which hurt to bits) I experienced light spotting.

I wasn't worried at the time as I would assume that the healing tears were irrirated by the examination.

But since then I sometimes feel a niggling sensation where I tore internally. It doesn't hurt or sting. I am doing my keggels exercises every day, I don't know if this contributes to it.

However after I feel these "niggles" I notice minor red spotting on TP. This doesn't happen all the time. Maybe one day a week here or there.

DH and I have not resumed our lovelife as yet so that isn't the cause.

I would like to know if this has happened to other women and this is normal, all part of the slow healing process or should I contact my obgyn?

[bobandjess99]

NORMAL!!. Well, this isn't the same as you, i had 3rd degree tears (although with vacuum-assist, i wonder if yours weren't 3rd degree as well)...and it took me 10 MONTHS to be completely healed....after about 12 weeks, DH and i attempted sex, and it would hurt like hell, we kept trying about once a month and it always hurt very bad until about month 7, it did not hurt as bad, so i thought that month 8 was going to be better, but ti wasn't, it hurt worse than all the other months, I had to make dh stop i was crying so hard, I could not take the pain....and then month 9, i was so scared, but it was much better and then wham, month 10 no pain.....now it is month 12 and we have beeen having weekly (more or less) relations since month 10 with no pain..except when i was dilating for my period, but that always hurts very bad for me...I think the whole "you are supposed to be recovered in 6 weeks" thing is CRAP made up by men who never had to push a baby out of their vagina! at the very least, I would give it several more weeks to heal......I was just discussing this with other moms...some were completely healed and raring to resume relations a couple weeks after their baby....others weren't healed several months after..I think it is really individual, but again, i would wait at least 12 weeks post partum before worrying........plus, if you had a 6 week check, your OB would have mentioned something "wrong".......

[Undercover Hippie]

I had a second degree tear back and more tearing on the left side of my vagina and labia. It took a long time to really get back to normal. At first I did have occasional bits of red on the TP, and sometimes I could feel the areas that had torn because they were so sensitive. My OB said at 6 weeks that it all looked like it was healing great, but it didn't feel that way. I agree that male doctors have no idea what they're talking about, maybe everything looks healed by a certain time but there is a lot more to the process than just "looking" healed!

Other friends who've had similar problems have had hormone creams prescribed to them (to apply vaginally) or have had to have scar tissue removed from the area of the tear. I never did anything, just waited it out. Sex was possible by 3 months and I finally stopped having any discomfort/spotting during sex sometime after 13 months. After my second baby I didn't tear at all and got back to normal much quicker. The areas of the old tears and stitches were the only places that were sensitive. Maybe the vaginal dryness that BF'ing hormones create is also part of the problem...

Anyway my MW told me after my second birth to take homeopathic hypericum until I had no tenderness during intercourse, and that I could resume taking it if the tenderness returned. It is supposed to help with nerve pain. It was a huge help to me, when I ran out I noticed how much more tender I was even after just wiping with TP, and when I took it again I felt better. Maybe you could look into that?

[thepeach80]

Just b/c everything looked o.k. at your 6 wk appt, doesn't mean it is. I had a 3rd degree tear after Evan was born (he was an emergency forceps delivery) and things looked good at 6wks pp. I did have several spotting episodes that I blamed on hormones since DH couldn't see anything wrong, but I bet that's what it was from. I ended up having to go back to the OB to have the area cauterized b/c it wasn't healing right (too wet to heal or something, I don't completely understand). After (well, after it stopped burning) this, things were SOOOO much better! I didn't have the rash issues I was having (TMI, :shy ) and sex was so much better (though between 2 kids and bfing, it's only happened a few times) b/c it didn't hurt like heck anymore! Good luck, but I would have it checked out sooner than later. Next time I definitely won't wait if it happens again.

[USAmma]

It took about 6 mos for me to recover from my 2nd degree cut with dd1, including in the bedroom.

[MrsAngelic]

Someone may have already suggested this not sure, too tired to read everything, but herbal sitz baths helped my 2nd degree tears heal much faster with my 2nd labor. Though I tore naturally that time, Uriah came out with the cord wrapped around both hands and neck twice (think someone talking on 2 cell phones at once sorta lol). 1st labor I had an episiotomy :( and the doc didn't even sew me up right :angry and a couple of the stitches came out (way more painful than labor) but I was breastfeeding so would not take any heavy duty painkillers. Anyway, some herb stores have herbal sitz bath mixture ready to buy, some you have to ask them what would help. Sorry I can't remember what was in mine.