I didn’t submit this, but my OB said exactly the same thing to me!

And yes, if one of your “Reasons To Cut An Episiotomy” is “Mother is a first-time mother,” then yes, by definition, all first time mothers will require one. *dislike*

I call BS!! I didn’t have one, and only had a tiny tear (which may not even have happened had I not had the threat of ‘push him out now or get a c-section’ looming over my head).

Your beliefs are noted, Doctor Stabby-Hands!

Interesting. My first birth I didn’t tear. 7lb 10oz baby. 2nd birth, STILL didn’t tear. 9lb 5oz baby with 38cm head.
3rd birth, 6lb 1oz baby… huh.. no tears. I would ASSUME that would mean I didn’t *need* an episiotomy either.

“I believe all first time mothers need to be charged for an episiotomy…and the resulting repair. Controlling women by performing unnecessary procedures on their body without medical indications helps maintain my delusion that I am a god. And since so many mothers bow to my infinite wisdom, my delusions are only confirmed. Now, lets begin the first of many unneeded pelvic exams.”

My first was 7lb, 13oz, with only a small tear that didn’t require stitches. Thankfully my CNM never even said the E-word. It hurt to sit & burned when I peed for about 10 days, but after what my SIL described going through healing from an episiotomy, I’m more than happy with my tear!

First baby was 10.5 lbs. 2 hours of pushing. 2 stitches for 2 superficial labial tears.

Yeah, um, except they don’t, so buh-bye.

I second the bullshit call. I didn’t have an episiotomy with my first birth either. I did tear, but that was under threat of “push the baby out or I have to cut.” While I was sitting there listening to my body on when I should push.

Don’t even bring the sharp instruments in the room Dr. Stabby hands. Just don’t.

I third the BS call! My first was 9lbs 4oz and I had 2 VERY superficial tears. Second was 9lbs 12oz and while I did tear it was because of her huge head and with my third it was a result of being dehydrated and the speed with which she decided to enter this world.

“Oh, really?” she says as she roots around in her purse and pulls out this: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7722862/ “What do you think, doctor? Is the rest of the world lying or is just you that is?”

What a load. Ironically, many doctors think second-, third-, etc. etc mothers “need” them, too.

I did tear during my first birth but it was only a first degree. An episiotomy would have been a guaranteed 2nd degree. I probably wouldn’t have torn if not for the purple pushing the OB insisted on.

Run away….run far, far away from this OB!!!!

What a steaming load of crap. I tore naturally with my first and third births (2nd degree both times), and had a tiny tear that didn’t need stitches with my son. *My* ob/gyn, who is fabulous, says that my perineum looks GREAT.

I had only a small tear with both my 6 1/2 lb baby and my 8 lb baby.

I believe I wouldn’t have torn with either if I had pushed as my body told me instead of being coached to purple push (first birth) or encouraged to “get it over with” (second birth) instead of being reassured through the fear and the overwhelming feelings of an EXTREME NEED to push when my water broke combined with the uncomfortable on my back position and the owie owie get it out feelings, LOL.

When forced to lie in the lithotomy position with that oh-so-necessary epidural to ease my pain, stagger my labor, and reduce my effectiveness in pushing, the threat of a C-Section if I don’t have the baby in time for your 4 o’clock tee off, and most if not all of my wishes silenced either by your arrogance or sheer ignorance of anything having to do with a natural birth, yes the episiotomy is required.

I am the one the OB said this to. I am happy to say that after I heard this (and DH was there too, and his eyes bugged out!), we ran FAST to the MW and had a beautiful, intervention-free, episiotomy-free birth for our first child (minor tearing, no biggee).

For our second birth, we went the Homebirth route and had an even less invasive birth.

The only reason OB’s cut an episiotomy is to fit their hands in there…where they don’t belong in the first place, for the vast majority of births!

Here’s the Backstory:

My DH and I both heard this OB say this to us in a routine consultation. This conversation was the tipping point that made us RUN to the midwives – and we had a beautiful, intervention-free, episiotomy-free birth of our first child.

Next time around, we chose an even less-interventionist route and had a fantastic homebirth. You can see it on youtube (we were on “A Baby Story”) Here:
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtLyOyfHkZY
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ux9xlvqGuUY&feature=related
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur5Urr_e1r0&feature=related
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15J778FO3i4&feature=related
Bonus: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVoPHJwq7RI&feature=related

My first was 8lbs even and her shoulders got stuck on the way out. So I had my 8 pound baby and my midwife’s whole hand inside me and I only had some minor labial tearing. No internal tearing. 2nd baby was 8lbs 3oz and absolutely no tearing. Crazy OB.

I just don’t get the whole “I’ll cut you so you won’t tear” thing.
Isn’t a cut just a tear on your terms, doc?
Even forgetting the whole first degree, second degree thing (just for a second), you’re saying you’ll prevent me tearing by cutting me?
It’s like saying, “I’ll run you over good and proper in case you get hit by a car today”.
*shakes head*
(Same as doing a repeat section to prevent uterine rupture. A cesarean is just a definite uterine rupture, but controlled by doc and on his/her schedule and terms, really. I’m sensing a pattern…)

You must have trained with Joseph deLee himself and have never opened a book or a medical journal since. And you call yourself a safe option for birthing women? puhleese

Something that has always made sense to me that I heard before I was ever pregnant with my first baby was that if you tried to rip a bedsheet without a cut in it, it would be difficult but once you cut it it is far easier to tear it and tear it much further then what has already been cut. That is often what happens with an episiotomy. Even someone who tears will likely not tear as much if you just let them be. If you cut, you are much more likely to tear even more.

I had an episiotomy with my first, it was an induction, with an epidural, and purple pushing. Everything I absolutely did not want. I was exhausted from starting the induction, with cytotec (scary stuff) the night before. I was not in active labor then but I also could not sleep. I was induced due to preelcampsia, at 37 weeks. they cut when they decided to use the vacuum extractor because I was exhausted and not pushing effectively. I tor beyond the cut and it was horrible. She was exactly 7 lbs.

I tore worse with my second (4 lbs 10 oz) because she came so fast, but I healed much easier with just the tear. My third was 3 lbs 14 oz and I did not tear a bit but I didn’t have an epidural and I was able to move around and push the way I wanted (even though I was in the OR because he was 9 weeks early) and it was a wonderful experience. I am hoping the baby I am expecting now will wait longer to come and be bigger but I believe that I can do what I did with my last if am am allowed to move around and push as I would like. No episotomy for me again. It’s not so ironic that I only had one with my first.

Gee I thought 1/3 of first time moms were getting a c-section instead of a vaginal birth. Do they get episiotomies TOO!!! What a scary thought!

OP I’m glad the doctor’s flappy mouth got you the heck out of there and you had wonderful births sort of as a result.

Wow. My vag only sustained a second degree laceration. Felt like a yeast infection when I peed, but no cut “needed”

And I believe that this is not going to work out. You’re fired.
This is exactly why I have always brought in my birth plan in the first half of my pregnancies. That way I have time to find another OB/MW that is a better fit for me.

Doctor, you would be perplexed then by my utter lack of tearing with my first child – skid-marks only, although I followed that up with a huge (external) tear thanks to my son’s big ole’ head the second go round.
(I don’t think my partner will ever be allowed to forget how big our son’s head was – just like Daddy’s big head!)

You gotta wonder how any FTM ever gives birth on the side of the road, or at home, or anywhere she’s not around a surgeon…

I’ll b perfectly honest in saying that this is the exact issue that pushed me over to the “will home birth no matter what, first baby included” side of the fence. I was 17 at the time, and didn’t have a baby until 6 years later. but I knew about the cut (my mom had one with EACH birth) and feared it more than I feared birth itself. meeting a woman who had a home birth and no episiotomy revolutionized my entire life.

Oh dear god are your serious? I had a 9lb posterier little boy for my first. I didnt tear at all.