perineum care

[coco4cloth]

Could you share with me how your cared for you perineum after homebirth? I know I need a peri bottle but what else did you have to help healing?

[liseux]

Sitting 3 x a day in a sitz bath (in the bathtub) in pretty warm water, with herbs and without. I had bad tears and healed very well doing this every day for 3 weeks.

[MaT]

Comfrey Root.
Dried Comfrey Root you can buy at a health food store, kind of expensive but so worth it. You make a herbal rinse to use in your peri-bottle. About 4 tblsp. for a big pot (8 cups.water) boil for 20 min., untill water is dark brown. cool down and use in peri-bottle after each bathroom visit. Store remaining in the fridge, as it will ferment outside.the comfrey root takes away swelling and knits tissue back together.
I had a 2nd degree tear with my first and did not want stitches, after about a week, i could not urinate due to excruiating pain. our midwife reccommended the comfrey root and the relief was pretty much immediate!

all the best to you and your new babe!

[coco4cloth]

Also I am using cloth pads this time so I am trying to figure out how to use ice down there too. In the hosptial they cut open disposable diapers and put ice in. Yuck! I know some sites sell postpartum pads but they were expensive. Like theses http://www.cottonbabies.com/product_info.php?cPath=39&products_id=751

[coco4cloth]

Comfrey Root.
Dried Comfrey Root you can buy at a health food store, kind of expensive but so worth it. You make a herbal rinse to use in your peri-bottle. About 4 tblsp. for a big pot (8 cups.water) boil for 20 min., untill water is dark brown. cool down and use in peri-bottle after each bathroom visit. Store remaining in the fridge, as it will ferment outside.the comfrey root takes away swelling and knits tissue back together.
I had a 2nd degree tear with my first and did not want stitches, after about a week, i could not urinate due to excruiating pain. our midwife reccommended the comfrey root and the relief was pretty much immediate!

all the best to you and your new babe!


I will get some. We have a herb store right by us.
http://www.cherylsherbs.com/
:thumb

[rikiamber]

I use this tea tree oil based vaginal wash...its wonderful and very refreashing *very*, you get use to it, but I was told that its a good thing to add a little to your peri bottle and use that helps a bit. The comfrey compress is great and great to use before birth as a compress and or sitz bath, you can also put the vaginal wash in a sitz bath. As for inexpensive pp pads, a friend of mine gave me a dozen birds eye flat folds, I am not to skilled with using them (I am going pfs) but i foldede them in half length wise then folded them again from the short end to make a pad out of them, I will be making a few frozen ones with a comfrey compress under a few layers for the first few days pp, then I can use them with my luna pads, they are long and asorbant and wash easy, plus I dont have to buy more long pads for pp, they are a tad expensive. I just have to wash them myself since I know dh would be totally grossed out by it. But thats an idea for a cheaper pp pad.

Also I was wondering if anyone has some good recipies for preparing the peri. area. My skin is not so stretchy and I have informed my birth team to incourage me to let my body do the work and not to push to fast so I dont tear too badly, I am prepared for a tear I kow it will happen I started getting stretch marks early on, I scar real easily, my skin is terribly fair.

[LianneM]

I used the herbal cord care powder for the baby, mixed with water, and soaked pads and froze them. They were WONDERFUL for the first few days. Every so often I would just go get a frozen pad from the freezer and put it on until it melted. (Sit on a chux or towel, just in case)

I used plain water in my peri bottle, and I liked it lukewarm. I had witch hazel on hand that I used a few times, but mostly I wanted plain water. I had to spray with the peri bottle when I peed the first few days, because I had tiny splits *up* that burned when touched by urine. I didn't tear though, just skids and those tiny splits.

[busybusymomma]

I did... nothing. :o I did have water in a peri bottle for rinsing after using the potty but that was it. The first time I had a horrid episiotomy and could have really benefited from some herbal stuff, but my OB didn't recommend anything and I didn't know about the various sitz baths and such. Healing was long and painful.

The second time I gave birth in a great position in a waterbirth and didn't tear. I had a tiny skidmark that didn't even hurt the next day. :D I quit bleeding quite quickly too.

I'm using cloth postpartum pads too... I wonder how that works if you want to soak/freeze them like people do with sposie pads?

[Attached@TheHippie]

rikiamber- i noticed in your siggy that this is your first baby and i wanted to tell you not to EXPECT to tear. i am like you, also fair skinned, got a TON of stretch marks very early on, and scar pretty easily.. but i didnt tear!!! i thought i would since i have a scar from an old episiotiomy too, i thought it would come open since that area is pretty much scar tissue and not too stretchy. i didnt do anything to prepare, but during the pushing phase (which was quite long) my midwife used some oil and did massage. i didnt even have any skid marks! anyway, i just wanted to share that with you since a big fear of mine last time was tearing. i was terrified to push because of it. so, you never know whats gonna happen. dont plan on tearing!! :lol :thumb

[phatchristy]

Hmmm, I actually didn't do anything this last time and the first time. The second time a doula in training had some comfrey soaked maxi pads in the freezer. Even though I didn't tear I did feel bruised for a couple of days after the birth...those initial maxi pads after I took my shower felt really great on the bruising (though it was long enough after the birth that I don't know if it actually helped me to bruise less or not...).


I'm with the other ladies, don't plan on tearing :wink . I think birth position makes a HUGE difference!

[AmazoniaBelly]

I won't go into details but I had about 55 stitches after giving birth....My midwife didn't want me to take a bath until I was a bit more healed. My partner was remarkable during this time and I owe my recovery to his persistant treatment. We used cold packs...at least a new one every hour. But...more than anything I recommend fresh air on the vagina. :shy In the first day or two after the birth I wanted to be snuggled up under the covers with my baby. On day three my midwife got rid of the blankets and told me to wear a night gown or t-shirt. I t was amazing to see the rapid increase in healing. I also took pulsitilla (D 12 ).

[rikiamber]

Thank you for the incouragement. I know I shouldnt think these negitive thoughts I try not to, but on the other hand I am prepearing for this too. I am going to ask my DH if he will massage my peri with vit E and I plan on talking to my Doula and MW about preventions. I am all about the position and wanting to use a birth stool or squatting position. The only reason I say that I feel I will tear is because well (this is kinda embarassing) I tend to get small tears on my labia during intercourse. We arnt the rough and tumble type eather but I know if I dont use lots of lube I am hurting later. So this is why I feel this way. But I know that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure so I am working on that ounce. Thank you again for your support, I can say enough how much I appreciate the Mothering Forums and all the mothers here.

[CrunchyKat]

I also used comfrey root, but I just dumped about a tablespoon into a hot bath, with some sea salt and soaked every night. I also used a peri bottle with warm water to rinse it, dermoplast after every single urination, and Tucks pads lyed directly on my underware. The coolness of the dermoplast and the tucks against my skin really helped to numb the pain. I bled for 2 months after I had my daughter Jade! I also took Arnica Montana tablets.

[Emilie]

Healing down there was so much easier after my homebirth- NO EPISIOTOMY! My mw rocks tho- and does not do them- she gets out breech babes and twins with no tears- including my friends first which was a 9 1/2 pounder!LOL!
She mixed up some herbs into a tea- then had me pour that on my privates after peeing- and I could put it in the bath too. It was super nice. I can ask her about it if you want.
Sounds like the moms here have the info tho!
Em

[SusannahM]

I just used water in the squirt bottle. I didn't tear, but had the normal abrasions that needed healing. After a few days, I started to get a little oozing that didn't smell good, so I put Neosporin on, and no more troubles after about a day of that.

I just wore the disposable underwear for a few days, that was way better than pads for me. I had them because my water broke about 20 hours before I had Phoenix, so I kept producing and leaking fluid, I told DH to go get me some Depends. Ended up, it was a great thing to have during the healing period!

[gemelos]

I used some iodine diluted with water in a squirt bottle and used it everytime I used the bathroom. That helped keep it from burning when I peed. I started taking salt water baths every day, with tons of epson salt (at least 2 cups) and that helped alot, too. My midwife recommended the comfrey root compress but I found it to be cold and yucky. Next time I will have to try it in my peri bottle instead. I didn't really research much ahead of time but I may do things differently next time. I had a second degree tear and I have to say I didn't notice the healing to really accelerate until I started the epson salt baths.

[grace's voice]

Last time all I did was a peri bottle and frozen pads (with just water on them). It was no where near enough!
This time I bought the Earth Mama Angel Baby Postpartum Recovery kit... it looks sooo heavenly!
http://www.earthmamaangelbaby.com/postpartum_recovery_kit.html