Labial tear advice please - ow ow ouch...

[Tamashii]

Ok, so I had a "labial tear" plus a "graze" after a VERY quick birth which the MW said would heal by itself but was bleeding quite badly so she asked for it to be stitched. I had 4-5 stitches (it was agony and I had to keep on with the gas and air while getting stitched) right up next to my clit...

Anyways, it's only been 2 weeks but the stitches are so sore due to being in such an awkward place. All clothes seams tend to rub that area even with a big thick maternity pad on. I have a herbal spray and cream which have a local anaesthetic effect but don't last very long once sprayed on and I also have some strong painkillers now which are fantastic.

I am just wondering who else ended up with stitches in this area (right at the very front as well ouch) and how long it took to heal up... Also, once the stitches heal are you left feeling a bit numb because last time I had a major episiotomy with loads of stitches and i have a scar up to the side of my bum which is totally numb and sometimes kind of pulls if you know what I mean so i am concerned that the stitches at the front might end up leaving me numb in such a sensitive area...

Thanks in advance for your advice on this...

 

[Mrs Treacle]

Hi, I also had a quick birth and had grazing and a small labial tear but only 3 stitches. They were really sore for a couple of days but uncomfortable for ages due to where they were! After 4 weeks I hardly noticed them any more and now 7 weeks on I can only feel a little bit of a lump where the stiches were. I have no pain at all and no numbness.
I agree about how much the stitching hurt - it was almost as bad as the labour!

 

[blinkybaby]

I didn't have a quick birth but still had a LOT of grazing in this area and my labia ripped in half. I was later told this should have been stitched up. It took a good month or so for it to fully heal, I've since found out that grazing can often be more sore than having an episiotomy due to the fact that it's an open wound that isn't closed up with stitches and rubs against clothes etc. It really hurt. I feel for you! Where I have grazed it hasn't gone numb.xxx

 

[stardust599]

Okay major TMI alert first!

I didn't have stitches but I have severe labial grazing. The midwife said it look like my labia had been gone over and over again with a cheese grater and there was nothing there she could manage to stitch! It actually healed pretty quickly - by about 3weeks it was mostly gone.

To stop clothes rubbing I put on a big thick fluffy maternity pad, no seam pants/shorts (£4 for two from Tesco - so soft and luxurious) and no jeans as the crotch bit will rub. Everytime I put a dry/clean pad on it was agony to sit down so I sprayed myself with Savlon and sprayed the pad a bit too, smeared my labia in Vaseline with aloe vera. I pour a jug of water over my bits to pee for ages and eventually found an angle that didn't hurt.

I was also advised to seperate the labia gently every morning and night as it can "fuse" together meaning a big operation xx

 

[Caroline:-)]

Hey, I had 3 horrible tears - an internal vaginal tear, a labial tear and a tear right up to my urethra... Really bad - they thought they'd have to take me to theatre to sew me up, but in the end the surgeon agreed to attempt it in the delivery room... They gave me another epidural so I wouldn't feel it thankfully... And I had to have a catheter while they stitched me (to make sure they didn't accidentaly sew up my urethra ) and for two days afterwards...
TBH, because I've beem so sqeamish about what they did down there I've not looked... or felt it too much... or even let OH look yet!!!! So I don't really know exactly where I tore or which were the worst tears!!! But yeah, it was pretty painful at first, then uncomfortable... probably until around 4 weeks?!?!? Fine now though, except there is a sort of tightness/pulling feeling when I have a wee... The joys of childbirth hey

 

[Tamashii]

Thanks for all the replies. I really feel for you all because you sound like you have really been through it but it's good to hear you get feeling back in the area because I was a bit worried about that...

Also, I will def get more actual maternity pads. I couldn't find any in the supermarket so just got extra long thick towels but they really catch the end of the stitches at the front of my lady bits (eeeeeeek even typing that makes me wince in pain) and they have a seem along the outside that maternity towels don't seem to have.

I am too scared to get a mirror out and look at the whole area but when I am putting the herbal salve cream on the graze it feels really lumpy like it's been all torn up. The labia fusing issue really scared me so I am trying to be brave and separate things gently to ensure that doesn't happen. I wonder why we all get such differing advice from different medical people... Surely that's quite an important thing to point out! I also have diastasis recti but only one midwife diagnosed it because she is interested in post natal recovery and she explained it was likely to be the reason my bump was sooooo low and I was having major trouble holding in a wee towards the end of my pregnancy but she said I needed to do physio exercises after 6 week check and I got a belly strapping thingy to pull everything back in the mean time. She said my deflated football pot belly wouldn't have gone back down on it's own but all the other midwives I asked about it were very nonchalant and just said "Oh, you've had 2 kids... It'll go down eventually" but this midwife admitted it looked like the belly of someone who had multiple pregnancies because my tummy was literally all to the front during my pregnancy so I am sooooooo glad she came to sign me off otherwise I would still be sitting here with my maternity jeans rolled down cos it was too painful to have a waistband cutting into my massive saggy bump!

Sorry - that went a bit off topic. Thanks againfor the advice. It makes a big difference to hear from women who have been there done that. I never even knew you could tear up the front giving birth for some reason - I always thought it was th perineum/bottom area that got the worst of it...

 

[blinkybaby]

Also I found when going to the loo if you touch the floor while you're weeing it gets your bits at the right angle so the wee goes straight down instead of tricking over the sore bits.xx

 

[Barbiebaby]

Also I found when going to the loo if you touch the floor while you're weeing it gets your bits at the right angle so the wee goes straight down instead of tricking over the sore bits.xx

Good advice - this really helped me, I had a urethral and clitoral tear, worst pain ever, didn't take long to heal though, lots of lavender baths helped too and arnica tablets for bruising.

 

[samface182]

i had the exact same as you. my tear is right next to my clit too. i've not lost any sensitivity there at all. i healed in 6weeks. touch your toes while peeing, it really helps. lavender oil in baths works too! you can get it in boots. it's around £6 but worth it!

just saw you are from scotland, me too! where are you from? xx

 

[meow951]

I had a tear right to the top as well.

It really hurt to wee so i poured water over it as i went to stop the stinging.

I don't know if i was lucky but my stitches healed in about 7-10 days and no loss of sensation :thumbsup:

My MW told me to soak the stitches in the bath twice a day, morning and evening. I used some lavender in the bath as well. Also changing your maternity pad really regularly and letting the air get there (not always easy if you're bleeding) will speed up the healing process.

Oh and when i got out of the bath instead of drying the area with a towel and irratating it i used the hairdryer on a warm setting. Gets it really dry and doesn't hurt

 

[Tamashii]

i had the exact same as you. my tear is right next to my clit too. i've not lost any sensitivity there at all. i healed in 6weeks. touch your toes while peeing, it really helps. lavender oil in baths works too! you can get it in boots. it's around £6 but worth it!

just saw you are from scotland, me too! where are you from? xx

Hi. I am in Glasgow. My stitches are sooooo much better now. Took all the above advice and it really helped me.

Thanks to all of you - I really mean it. I never thought the pain would end! Now it's just a bit sensitive and pulls a little bit if you know what I mean. Must be on the mend. Still not really looked at it myself and I don't think I am gonna!!!!

 

[heather91]

I had a labial tear with my first but with no stitches. Its so tender and painful but the pain doesn't last for that long. I just poured water down when I had a wee. My labial tear was up to just under my clit with DD and it tore through completely with DS. I've had no loss of sensation altho down there isn't a pretty sight and I get thrush constantly now. X

 

[heather91]

Also I found when going to the loo if you touch the floor while you're weeing it gets your bits at the right angle so the wee goes straight down instead of tricking over the sore bits.xx

Good advice - this really helped me, I had a urethral and clitoral tear, worst pain ever, didn't take long to heal though, lots of lavender baths helped too and arnica tablets for bruising.

^^^^ this. I had the same. Lavender really helps.