[QueenOfThePride]

I just found out that my OB for my first birth cut an episiotomy and never told me!

: She told me I tore. So I just gave birth to my second baby and my midwife said that I tore down my old episiotomy scar. And I'm like, "I don't think I had an episiotomy. Well, my doctor never told me that she cut me, but it was always in the back of my mind that maybe she did..." I'd have to get my old medical record from the hospital to know for sure, but I won't bother because it's really not that important to me. But my midwife said that the scar where I tore again this birth was a perfectly straight line straight down my perineum, and it really looks like an episiotomy scar.

She knew I did not want to be cut, even told me that she only cuts episiotomies if the baby is stuck. Then when the time came, she didn't ask my permission or even tell me. Ugh

:

 

[nascarbebe]

that happened to me too. I was pretty clueless about what to expect with my first birth and didn't even know what an episiotomy was. My ob/gyn has many years of experience so I trusted him completely. The next thing you know he was sewing me up with a huge needle and thread right after delivery. I asked him if I tore and he said no, that he just needed to sew me back up. DH later told me he saw him cutting me with some scissors and he about passed out. For this baby I switched OB and on the first appt. I told him I didn't want an episiotimy unless it was absolutely necessary, like the baby was in danger. He was shocked when I told him DS was under 5 1/2 lbs. he thought that seemed unnecessary. My new ob is young and I think more open to things. It took me a long time to recover from the episiotomy. It sucked.

 

[desertgirl351]

I had the same thing happen with my first! I said over and over if I tore fine but don't cut me! So she did it anyway, then it tore much worse and it took her 45 minutes of PAIN to sew it up. I was so mad! She said it was all tear, but when I got my records it said she did cut. And I could tell by looking. The first part was perfectly strait and to the back, not normal for a tear. And then to top that off, the top layer of it reopened. I think because she had so much trouble sewing it up. I never had it fixed but it seems ok now. I then had a bigger baby at home and had just a little skid mark.

: I'm sure it would have been the same the first time if she had left it alone! But I didn't know then what I do now. Got to love homebirth!

:

 

[SublimeBirthGirl]

THat sucks. I've had women tell me they had 4th degree tears and I always tell them to go back and look at their records if they can, because docs seem to cut w/out permission an awful lot. I would be very angry!

 

[QueenOfThePride]

How can doctors do surgery on a patient and not even tell them???

 

[SublimeBirthGirl]

Arrogance? Total lack of ethics? I can't think of any GOOD reason.

 

[Tofu the Geek]

They use scissors and just snip??? OH MY!! Could they only get away with doing this without your knowledge if you had an epidural? Just asking because I had no epidural and could feel EVERY single bit of skin down there during the birth of both babies and a I would have screamed if I felt a pair of scissors down there! Or is it somehow possible to do this to you with a drug free birth as well?

Sorry, this happened to you.

 

[laurata]

It is possible to do this during a drug free birth as well. Because when you are pushing and the babe is crowning, all the blood seems to drain out and the skin is very thin. While some women have a ring of fire, others almost feel "numb" down there. :-( It makes me want to cry to think about it.

 

[Tofu the Geek]

Quote:

Originally Posted by laurata It is possible to do this during a drug free birth as well. Because when you are pushing and the babe is crowning, all the blood seems to drain out and the skin is very thin. While some women have a ring of fire, others almost feel "numb" down there. :-( It makes me want to cry to think about it.

Thank you for explaining this. Oh ya, the ring of fire....that's really my most dreaded part of labour.

 

[mamabadger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by QueenOfThePride How can doctors do surgery on a patient and not even tell them???

I have seen countless clients get cut without their consent, without their knowledge, or even in the face of their direct refusal. I'm not sure if the law varies from one region to another, but here, if a woman enters the hospital in labour, and signs a general consent for the OB to attend her birth, she has consented to any procedure which is considered usual during a birth. If a lot of doctors do episiotomies, it's considered a normal part of obstetrics, and the OB has been granted consent to perform one.

 

[Mothra]

I would not have noticed if I'd been cut during my two unmedicated births. I did, however, tell the doctor who delivered my second that I would sue her if she cut me. She was actually amazing, and it never was an issue. (I tore a little with my second and third, had an episiotomy after my first.)

These stories always make me mad.

 

[Ms Ladybug]

During labor my OB said, "I'm going to help you out a little."
Well, who wouldn't want that? But Dh said, "what do you mean." She told him she was going to cut me and she started getting the lidocaine ready. He said,"no. She doesn't want that."
She said, "that's up to my judgement. I'm the doctor. She's just the patient." At which point he told her NOT to do that. She looked at me and said, "would you rather tear?"
I said, "yes!"
She literally THREW DOWN her needles and lidocaine and started yelling at me! About how she's been doing this for 30 yrs and knows more that we do, yadda, yadda, yadda. Meanwhile my dh is yelling at her, "this isn't the time to discuss this..." and I'm PUSHING, my doula is telling me what a good job I'm doing. It was like a circus... The nurses in the room where speechless.

But, I say all that to say... she was pissed about not cutting me! I don't get it!
I did tear, and the whole time she was sewing me up she was mumbling about how difficult it was and I should have had an episiotomy. Then she was done and just walked out of the room. Not saying, congrats or ANYTHING. My husband went after her so they can "talk" in the hallway...

She discharged me over the phone and I haven't seen her since.

 

[homemademomma]

i will say that many tears are straight, and once healed up the scar can look similar.

 

[arismom1029]

See I had the opposite experience. My doctor tried *really* hard not to do an episiotomy even when he was putting the vacuum on, but had to because it wouldn't stick (the vacuum) for some reason. He cut a small 2nd degree episiotomy just enough to get it on, and nothing more. And then once we were done, he was demonstrating how to stitch one up to a med student, and he did a hell of a job with it.

I'm glad he tried so hard not to do one, and he was just the doctor on call during my pushing, but he apparently read my birth plan, and did everything that I had requested.

 

[Juvysen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ms Ladybug During labor my OB said, "I'm going to help you out a little." Well, who wouldn't want that? But Dh said, "what do you mean." She told him she was going to cut me and she started getting the lidocaine ready. He said,"no. She doesn't want that." She said, "that's up to my judgement. I'm the doctor. She's just the patient." At which point he told her NOT to do that. She looked at me and said, "would you rather tear?" I said, "yes!" She literally THREW DOWN her needles and lidocaine and started yelling at me! About how she's been doing this for 30 yrs and knows more that we do, yadda, yadda, yadda. Meanwhile my dh is yelling at her, "this isn't the time to discuss this..." and I'm PUSHING, my doula is telling me what a good job I'm doing. It was like a circus... The nurses in the room where speechless. But, I say all that to say... she was pissed about not cutting me! I don't get it! I did tear, and the whole time she was sewing me up she was mumbling about how difficult it was and I should have had an episiotomy. Then she was done and just walked out of the room. Not saying, congrats or ANYTHING. My husband went after her so they can "talk" in the hallway... She discharged me over the phone and I haven't seen her since.

??

I did have a small epis because my dd's heartrate was dropping and she wasn't close enough to popping out on her own... BUT I felt ok about it because my midwife was REALLY respectful! She said "Now, you didn't want an episiotomy, right?" and of course I said "not really" and she said "ok, well, the baby's heartrate is dropping and she really needs to come out soon, so I'm going to give you a few more pushes and if she's not out, I probably need to cut a small episiotomy." I really appreciated her giving me a chance to do it myself (of course, it didn't happen, but still) and fully informing me of her reasons behind it and presenting it to me as a choice. It was a really small epis, too, when I asked her how many stitches, she said there were 7. As much as I didn't want one, I think in that situation it was warranted (although in retrospect, she prolly could have suggested my changing positions

), and left it up to me.

NOT asking me would have been grounds for a kick in the face, I think.

:

 

[onlyboys]

Quote:

Originally Posted by homemademomma i will say that many tears are straight, and once healed up the scar can look similar.

I was just going to post exactly this. I saw a tear the other day that literally ran exactly straight. It was a super easy repair, too.

I'd say get your records before you decide what happened. It's possible that you were cut without your knowledge, but perhaps you weren't.

 

[QueenOfThePride]

Quote:

Originally Posted by onlyboys I was just going to post exactly this. I saw a tear the other day that literally ran exactly straight. It was a super easy repair, too. I'd say get your records before you decide what happened. It's possible that you were cut without your knowledge, but perhaps you weren't.

Wow, that's interesting. Hmmm....

 

[Romana]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ms Ladybug But, I say all that to say... she was pissed about not cutting me! I don't get it! I did tear, and the whole time she was sewing me up she was mumbling about how difficult it was and I should have had an episiotomy.

Well, there's your answer, right there. A nice, clean cut (provided it doesn't extend into a deeper tear, which of course there's a substantial risk that it will) is much easier to sew up than a tear. She wasn't trying to help *you*, she was trying to help herself have an easier time sewing you up.

 

[AugustLia23]

Well, when I had my first baby, I tore straight down my peirneum(they said it was a perfect cut, just like an episiotomy), and since it was my 1st birth, there was no previous scar tissue there to re-open. So it's not a guarantee that it's from an episiotomy, but I wouldn't put it past an OB. Though, wouldn't you(or your partner, etc). have seen the episiotomy happening?

 

[QueenOfThePride]

I had my eyes closed for most of the pushing, and DH would not have known what to watch for. But one time I opened my eyes and saw her putting down an instrument on the table.