Charming!

Right… that’s why with my two waterbirths I had NO tearing, only slight irritation of my perineum.

It’s great the doctor’s goal is for women to birth with an intact perineum, but it’s ignorant to say that waterbirth would increase that risk.

Pretty sure that having a waterbirth reduces the risk of tearing. Hence my 10.5 lber not tearing me.

I’ve heard that if Mom spends a lot of time in the tub, it can increase tearing because the perineum absorbs water and is less elastic, which makes sense to me. But if she gets in just before the birth, tearing is reduced.

In any case, it’s not like the doctor can prevent her tearing out of the water if she were going to tear anyway.

I’ve heard that if Mom spends a lot of time in the tub, it can increase tearing because the perineum absorbs water and is less elastic, which makes sense to me. But if she gets in just before the birth, tearing is reduced.
That might make sense – I tore with my first, a 7lb 5 oz waterbirth; but not with my second, a 9lb “land” birth. I was in and out of the water with my first, so although I got in the water when I started pushing, I had been in the water for several hours total in the preceding 9 hours.

I figured the water was WHY I didn’t tear…first labor, I was in the water for 2 hours before he was born (pushed for just over an hour).

water doesn’t absorb into the skin and cause tearing. the skin is pretty water proof, which is a GOOD thing. think about how pruny you get when you’ve been in water for a while. it does, however, help to soften tissues and provide gentle counterpressure to the perineum which helps prevent tears. besides the bouyancy of the water helps influence the mom to move into whatever position is best for her and frees her up to use her own hands to provide her own perinial support as needed, leaving her even less likely to tear. the doctor probably didn’t know that and didn’t like not being able to clearly see what was happening.

If water didn’t absorb into the skin, we wouldn’t get pruney in long baths. Ina May Gaskin and Pamela Hunt were the ones who told me this (I was at The Farm this summer) and said they’ve seen it a lot.

A famous CPM who wrote a book on VBAC said this same thing to me. It turned out my perineum tearing was the least of my worries as my son suffered brain injuries from being beat up on my pelvis. I believe to this day that had I stayed in the tub it would have been an entirely different outcome.

I don’t know… with my first I was in the tub for about 5 straight hours, got out for 15 minutes and pushed her out in 3, no tears. My second I was in the tub for an hour and pushed her out in 1 minute, minor tear. My third I was in the tub 2 hours, pushed her out in 30 seconds and no tears. So for me it seems the longer I”m in the tub the better…

Warm/hot water and/or compresses help, because they bring blood to the surface and increase elasticity in the perineum. I don’t understand why so many OBs and CNMs insist on episiotimies. I didn’t get to use the birth center but my CNMs said it’s better to heal from a tear than it is a cut. By the way my sister has had 7 home births and and has never torn….

My waterbirth was my worst tear. The midwife was unable to reach me to massage and didn’t coach me to slow down. Actually she was probably the main cause of this because of that. She said, “You’re going to have to push sometime,” as she watched me take it carefully, and I tore pretty badly.

Am I the only one whose thought was that when the OB said “can’t protect your perineum”, he meant “can’t cut your perineum”? Given that so many doctors seem to think episiotomies are actually protective…