Tearing

My doctor did some weird thing to prevent tearing he like stuck his finger in me while I was delivering, I delivered and only needed 3 stitches @Ellie 💕

I've read the following: - Perineum massage from 34 weeks - Warm compress on Perineum during pushing - Try to make your birthing experience as relaxing as possible. Practice mindfulness or hyponobirthing, and plan lots of oxytocin stimulators. - Practice progressive muscle relaxation to teach your body how to relax on demand, especially your jaw

My Accupuncturist said it can be prevented with Accupuncture at 38 weeks. Anythings worth a try!

Staying calm and trusting your body is the main one. Work with your body. Baby knows what they are doing. Also trust them. Water is another one that will help and keep moving.

Perineal massage and breathing exercises to help lift and lower your pelvic floor are supposed to help. But if it’s 1st baby I’d recommend also just try to accept that it might well happen and that’s ok, you really won’t care at the time and it won’t be your fault for not doing something now. If you’re worried about pain, think about pain relief options carefully. I had an epidural and it was AMAZING. They did an episiotomy and I didn’t feel a thing, the pain afterwards was totally manageable with some painkillers, I didn’t even need those frozen sanitary pads or anything! If you want to chat to someone about epidural pain relief, I’m happy to tell you my experience because I know there is LOADS of scaremongering against them online. If you tear or need an episiotomy, get a peri bottle for going to the loo, that’s the only time it got a bit uncomfortable for me. It didn’t impact on intimacy either.

Do at your own pace and I did alot birth exercises and massages

A doula recommended this to me but when your crowning breathe and when you breathe out cough 6x then repeat

What helped me not to tear was only pushing when I felt the urge to. Don’t just push as hard as you can, you tear that way. Let your doctor when your body is ready to push.

I tore and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Only had 2nd degree tear though and birthed with an epidural. The stitches healing was the worst part for me. I’ve heard there isn’t much you can do to effectively prevent. Kind of just one of those things that happens if it’s going to happen. You can try perineal massage. Trust your body and push with contractions

Evening primrose oil starting at 36 weeks. Take orally twice a day, and insert vaginally right when you lay down for bed. (Make sure to poke a hole in the gel capsule)

@Alexis ooh wow. Never heard of this. Thank you

I tore with my first & it only hurt because my epi wore off so it burned

Recovery wasn’t bad, I used the dermaplast spray & used the peri bottle forever

I’m going to be trying the evening primrose tablets too! Got mine ready to go … worth a try and makes sense as it’s an oil so will soften everything