Anyone suffer a third degree tear??

[LucyB.]

Just a few questions for anyone who's had a third degree tear, how long did u still feel tender for? I'm still feeling tender when sat down and standing up for long times! Also how long before ur stitches dissolved? I'm too scared to look at mine cos I'm squeamish like that ha ha! I'm just really uncomfortable and when we go out places I just feel really swollen down there after I've walked! Anyone else had similar!xxx

 

[MrsT2011]

I had a second degree tear and feel exactly as you describe! I'm only 11 days post birth though. I asked midwives about it and they said it was a positive sign everything is healing x

 

[Loula]

I had an episiotomy and couldnt actually sit down on my bum for 2 weeks after birth or walk.. Nothing was wron was just healing so the midwife said.
Stitches take anything from 10days to 3 weeks to dissolve and the first few times i went ut i had heavy pulling sensation... it gets better xxx

 

[mrsterror]

I had a 3rd degree tear 17 weeks ago and was uncomfortable for about 3 or 4 weeks. I was really scared of looking but its not as bad as you imagine. It all gets better soon.x

 

[tinkerbell86]

I had a 3rd degree tear and it took about 2 months to feel normal but I had other issues (not related) so might have felt like it took longer to heal for me. I also didn't look for ages I just couldn't!!!!!

 

[jennyfur]

I had a 3rd degree tear too (11 weeks ago now) and it did take about 4 or 5 weeks to feel ok but now eveything is healed, the stitches are all dissolved and it's no longer painful, we even managed sex at 8 weeks which I never thought I'd be up for when I first had the tear!

I would agree that having a look is a good thing though- just feeling the area made me terrified of what I would find but when I finally plucked up the courage to look it was much less scary than I thought and actually made me feel better about it all.