Avoiding tears - is it possible?

[buliej]

I've been reading some of the labour stories to educate myself in advance of my own January (fingers crossed) labour. I am wondering if anyone has learned anything about avoiding tears? I've also just started reading about perineum massage - does this work? are there other things that one should do - or discuss with their OB - to lessen the chances of a bad tear? thank you

[Visitor7]

Positioning during birth will help. Try avoid delivering bub on your back, try on all 4's, standing, or on your knees. A lot more natural for bub to move down the birth canal then you being on your back.

[onthefly]

There are ways of managing the birth that can reduce the likelihood of tears, but there are no guarantees.
Avoid lying on your back to birth, instrument deliveries and episiotomies if you can.

[ShootingStar]

I had an episiotomy with my first pegnancy and just tore with my second.. however.. i have read that you can try and make it not so bad by massaging the area a few weeks before the birth.

[Hayden_Sam_Adam]

agreed with Jodi about the postioning all though i also agree with trying extremly hard NOT to push to hard and just letting your body do the work i pushed like hell with my DS and even though i did the massages and i was standing i still suffered a 4th degree tear. sometimes its just inevitable but good luck with your birth i hope everything goes to plan for you Xo

[LionsandBears]

I hadn't started perineal massage in time for when Leo was born. He was breech and I birthed him on my back. He was prem but also a good size (3.3kg) I pushed with the contractions and I pushed hard. I ended up with a "nick" that didn't need stitches, but that seems to be more luck than anything. The OB also had her fingers in holding things open wider as he slipped out, so that may have helped.

[meow]

A few things I have found as I am hoping to avoid tearing this time:

Kneel in warm water
Have a 'hands off' labour
Don't push- you may feel urges to push so going with these as gently as possible, not overdoing it, stopping between contractions and trying to breath through (not push through) crowning should help
Taking vitamin e beforehand (I think? I need to look into this more)

[allycat06]

Tearing is sort of like stretchmarks, there are lots of things you can try but unfortunately no fail safe method for prevention.

Perineal massage, pelvic floor exercises, active birth positions are very important, avoid any kind of position that goes against gravity such as lying on your back but even some positions like squatting can make you more susceptible to a labial tear. Coached pushing is also not recommended, try breathing your baby out. Your body knows what to do In a few birth videos I've seen midwives apply pressure to the perineal area (with a folded towel or similar) when the baby is crowning to help reduce tearing. Labouring immersed in water is also supposed to be good to soften up the skin. Do your reading, the power or knowledge can minimise lots of interventions in childbirth!

[YoYo]

I tore and had stitches with DS but didn't tear with DD...

I birthed her on my side, DIDN'T push hard (just let my body do the work) and I can also thank Pre-natal Yoga a bit I think. Doing squats and stretching the 'nether regions'

[Loula]

Tearing is sort of like stretchmarks, there are lots of things you can try but unfortunately no fail safe method for prevention.

My MW said that women who get a lot of stretchmarks are at more risk of tearing, do not how much of the truth is in that but she would see more than I

[black_rose]

I had internal tearing because I dilated so fast and dd was determined to come up so my body wasn't ready. Not sure I can avoid it this time, but the labour I'd progressing slower so I might be lucky.

[OceanPrincess]

Talk to your MW and/or obs about it. I let mine know I was worried about tearing with DS and they helped with positions to try and also applied a warm face washer to the perineum as I pushed, which really helped with the burning but I still tore.

I tore along my old episiotomy scar but also the other side tore as well. Possibly because DS was a bit of a big bubba! Having said that, my tears felt more natural than my epi (logical I guess) and they have healed better.
When I tore it felt like a big release of pressure, didn't really hurt much at all!

[black_rose]

I tore pretty badly in the birth canal with dd2, it was a fast labour and we think i wasn't fully dilated. No one was expecting me to push so we don't know for sure. She was very little at 2.75kgs.

This time my waters broke on their own and we knew it was going to be fast so the midwives were prepared and could see I was fully dilated. I was able to deliver a 4.4kg baby with no tear this time.

Making sure your body is ready and that you relax into the ctx rather than tensing up seems to make a big difference.

[jlk]

with my last bub I had a 2nd degree tear, but my second stage was only 2 minutes, so nothing had time to strech gradually, lol. I had stiches, but healed very quickly!