On birth tears or; The Many Ways to Use Comfrey

[norwegian_wood]

As some of you know, I had a second degree tear with Fiery's birth. It didn't hurt at all, and I didn't have the whole 'ring of fire' experience, so I wouldn't have even known that I tore if I hadn't looked. After I discovered it, I was pretty freaked out, because I didn't know what I know now about healing. So I share this in hopes of empowering

Comments

[sillyboho]

i was actually formulating a post for unassisted birth re: waterbirth and tearing and oil application during labor.

1) sex in water is bad. water is bad lube. why then, is a waterbirth touted as preventing tears? i would think that the lack of lube and presence of water woudl make the head 'catch' more.

2) oil application in your vagina or birth canal is supposed to ease childbirth and help prevent tears. i would ASSUME that the oil would speed up the crowning process, making you more likely to tear. therefore, wouldn't an 'ideal' birth be in a semisquat or other good position dry, with no oil/water/perinial massage?

[norwegian_wood]

re:
1) water makes the tissues 'soggier' and stretchier...for instance when stretching my ears, soaking in the tub and/or doing the stretch under water was dramatically easier and less damaging to tissues than it would have been dry, or with only lube.

2. i don't think lube makes it faster but instead smoother and less damaging to tissues...you have heard of the 'road rash' feeling women get on their labia? that can be prevented/eased by using a lubricant. i don't think it speeds up crowning, which is largely affected by descent, not size of the exit, if we're talking about utilizing the fetal ejection reflex. but yes, i agree, IMO birth in a good position with no *nothing* is the best way to go.

thanks!

[sillyboho]

hmm. i'm really debating getting a birthing pool at this point.

i think i may just get it for labor, and birth dry.

Re: thanks!

[norwegian_wood]

one more thing about waterbirth/tearing statistics...they are gathered by midwives and birth centers/hospitals that use them, and as i said in the post, my theory is that the main reason it helps prevent tears is that it gives the mom a bit of a barrier - a circle of safety - from many interventions.

[jan_andrea]

Damn, I wish I'd read this before Sophie was born (2 years and 8 months ago)... would have saved me some stress. I had a little skidmark that turned into a tear as it reached my inner labium, and that tear never really healed -- I have a bipartate labium on that side. Luckily it stopped hurting about a year post-birth, but I was certainly doing too much just after she was born.

Maybe next time... if there is a next time...

[mercy_rain]

Do you think there's any correlation between women whose perineal areas are prone to tears, and women who get lots of stretch marks? Both seem related to inelasticity.

[altarflame]

I have often wondered this, as well as whether the extremely stretch marked might have more or less of a proclivity towards rupture in a vbac.

[norwegian_wood]

?? how would the two be connected at all? the rupture would be internal, and organ tissue is different than dermal tissue.

[norwegian_wood]

yes, i have heard of that possible correlation! though i ended up with lots of stretch marks and a tear, darnit!

[eiretamicha]

Hi, I'm one of your journal lurkers. :)

I just want you to know how much I appreciate you posting this. I have never read a more detailed account on healing naturally occuring birth tears! Tearing has always been one of my lingering birth fears, and I 100% more confident after reading this.

Thank you so much for writing this! :)

[norwegian_wood]

my pleasure, i've been meaning to for a while now :)

[altarflame]

Slightly off topic, but -

Everybody always talks about their first time popping their cherry lately. I popped my own cherry masturbating way before I ever had sex, and the first chick I ever talked to about this had done the same thing. Neither of us had a hymen when we "did it" for the first time. So I assumed that was common, or at least heard of - especially when I read some things afterward talking about how you can damage or destroy your hymen in all sorts of ways - like falling on the bar of a boys' bike, horseback riding, etc etc.

But now I realize that much of bethrothal and aristocracy in years' passed depended on that little flap of skin, and that many a romance novel is based around it, and I keep hearing people reference it...sometimes I wonder if Grant wonders if he was REALLY my first time, seeings how there was no blood or pain involved.

[norwegian_wood]

you know what's wild is, after vaginal birth, you can see the remnants of the hymenal ring...it's pretty neat! like ruffles 'round the love shack!

my first time didn't hurt either, but that's because it was with an irishman ;)

p.s. most people don't masturbate by having sex!

[altarflame]

Is putting something up in there considered having sex? o_O What the heck is an orgasm without penetration, anyway - you see, this is why I could never be a lesbian!

Clitoral junk is good, but clitoral + other stuff is grrrrreEAT. Or something.

[norwegian_wood]

i was making a joke, implying that you weren't a virgin before grant. har har i'm so funny, i have to explain my jokes!