Amalee
Expecting #2!
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2011
- Messages
- 1,529
- Reaction score
- 0
Hi all - I am a mother of 1 with a second on the way. When I had my first baby, I was a week late and hadn't had any signs of labor. Finally, my water broke, but labor did not get started on it's own. We tried, but I ended up needing to be induced. I was given Pitocin and delivered a perfect and healthy baby boy weighing a whopping 9lb 13oz. I had a 3rd degree tear, and ended up with urinary retention. I was catheterized, and ended up needing an in-dwelling catheter for about 3 months. The urologist I went to was able to determine that I had had severe nerve damage during delivery, and that's what caused the retention.
Now I am pregnant again, and I'm trying to decide with my doctor what the healthiest plan is for me and the baby. I found the tear pretty bearable - it got better week by week, so I knew I was healing. The extended catheterization, on the other hand, got me really down. I had no idea if I would be fine tomorrow, or if I would be stuck with the catheter for years. I've been doing research on the subject over the past 20 months since I gave birth, and the type of trauma I had from my first delivery makes it much more likely that I will have problems with incontinence when I am older - but I have a double whammy, because both the 3rd degree tear AND the retention are indicators of future continence issues. Lucky me!
Anyway, third degree tears aren't too common in subsequent pregnancies, and as I said... It sucked, but it was definitely bearable. So I'm not worried about that. What I AM worried about is having urinary retention for so long again. It seems that prolonged urinary retention due to childbirth is pretty rare - fewer than 1 in 1,000 births will cause it. And I'm having a lot of trouble finding any reputable sources with data about prolonged retention and subsequent pregnancy outcomes. I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with the issue, or knows of any good sources of information that I could read up on.
Thanks!
Now I am pregnant again, and I'm trying to decide with my doctor what the healthiest plan is for me and the baby. I found the tear pretty bearable - it got better week by week, so I knew I was healing. The extended catheterization, on the other hand, got me really down. I had no idea if I would be fine tomorrow, or if I would be stuck with the catheter for years. I've been doing research on the subject over the past 20 months since I gave birth, and the type of trauma I had from my first delivery makes it much more likely that I will have problems with incontinence when I am older - but I have a double whammy, because both the 3rd degree tear AND the retention are indicators of future continence issues. Lucky me!
Anyway, third degree tears aren't too common in subsequent pregnancies, and as I said... It sucked, but it was definitely bearable. So I'm not worried about that. What I AM worried about is having urinary retention for so long again. It seems that prolonged urinary retention due to childbirth is pretty rare - fewer than 1 in 1,000 births will cause it. And I'm having a lot of trouble finding any reputable sources with data about prolonged retention and subsequent pregnancy outcomes. I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with the issue, or knows of any good sources of information that I could read up on.
Thanks!
