Nov 6

“…It’s A Trophy From The Birth…”

“Oh well, it’s a trophy from the birth.” – Family Practice Doctor commenting on a hole in her patient’s labia that was not repaired by the OB during the patient’s last birth.

21 people dislike these words.

There are 9 comments to this post.

Ashley F. had this to say, Nov 10, 2009 @ 7:22 pm (Quote)

Ho-lee shit.

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Alice had this to say, Nov 11, 2009 @ 6:19 am (Quote)

I have an unrepaired tear in my labia. I like to think of it as a battle scar, personally.

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Dawn had this to say, Nov 11, 2009 @ 11:37 am (Quote)

This was me. I ended up with many stitches all over my labia and a huge hematoma. I was in labor with my second and the nurse delared me at 10 cm. My husband could see I was a bit tense with no urge to push, but in that tranistion phase. He suggested I drop my jaw and my shoulders and breathe like the nurse in my first birth had me do. (I only had one stitch with that birth). The nurse this time pushed my hubby back and said, “let her push with her body” then they pushed my legs up and had me curl up and yelled at me to push. I pushed hard and out came my little girl. I tore in what the OB said was a sunburst tear. She kept commenting about all the blood and oh this is bad and that maybe she should have cut me. It took forever to stitch me up, and I was shaking on the stirrups. In six weeks I was still unhealed in places and had silver nitrate on the open scars. I didn’t realize I had a hole for a while…I was so swollen with the hematoma and sore after the birth. It was actually quite depressing to me since after my first birth the OB declared at my six week appointment that I still looked like I hadn’t had a baby at all. It was all such a mess. Had the nurse let me push naturally instead of forcing things, I would have had less tearing, I’m sure. My little girl only weighed 7 lbs 9 oz. She was a short, tiny thing.

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Amy had this to say, Nov 20, 2009 @ 11:24 am (Quote)

Honestly, what did you expect the doctor to do about it at that point? Unless you were at the plastic surgeon’s office, which you weren’t.

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Kat had this to say, Nov 20, 2009 @ 1:49 pm (Quote)

The point isn’t that there was something the doctor should do, the point is A) it was a botched repair job, and B) that’s a really really weird thing to say about an injured body part.

I guess if a guy had surgery on his privates, and the stitches caused it to look strange after, we should tell him it’s a trophy… right?

Just doesn’t sound right. If the mother later decides to feel that way about it later, fine, but the doctor doesn’t get to decide that for her.

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mimi had this to say, Jun 27, 2010 @ 2:51 pm (Quote)

The same kind of tear happened to me, two years after the birth I was fed up with it and asked my family doctor to refer me to plastic surgeon for it, she took a look at it and said she could repair it herself. And guess what? She did an awesome job. I can’t even see a scar. I love my family doctor.

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Serene Reply:
September 1st, 2010 at 9:13 am Serene(Quote)

Mimi I love your doc too! I had to see a specialist surgeon it was that badly butchered

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Heather had this to say, Jul 5, 2010 @ 9:50 am (Quote)

The same thing happened to me, doctors screaming at me to push harder, harder, and I tore so bad. I still have a ‘loop’ in my inner labia and a fold of skin in back that was never repaired correctly. 6 years later and it still hurts.

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Serene Reply:
September 1st, 2010 at 9:08 am Serene(Quote)

Heather, Dawn, I been there. Slightly different manner of getting there, but I had a very drugged out (OD on pethidine) forceps delivery and botched episiotomy that ended in a 4* tear and copious stitches that were done very poorly. I ended up with a skin fold in my vagina (lovely – blood would collect in it), nerve tissue caught in the scar tissue, a flap of skin hanging below my anus (which regularly re-tore) and pain when I sat, sneezed, exercised, and no amount of Kegels would help it.

4 years later I was still in pain from this hack job, so I went to a different Gynae and had a repair done. The skin fold in my vagina was repaired and I nolonger experience pain from sitting, which also means I dont need Cepacaine before sex . Everything was fixed. It was the best thing I ever did. Loook for a doc that specialises in either vaginal reconstruction (cosmetic type surgeries) or posterior and fistular repairs. Most Gynaes do not have the surgical prowess to perform these type of repairs after the tissue has “healed”, especially if there is nerve tissue caught up in the scar.