For those of you who have had a birth with an epidural and episiotomy and spent over an hour pushing...how long were you sore "down there"? Ten days after Ben's birth, I'm still tender, esp. toward the front (not so much where the actual episiotomy happened) and looking for assurance that this is normal for the physical trauma I endured. :o

Thanks for sharing. :) (Feel free to pm me if you want to be more graphic than you think the public forum would allow.)

I didn't push nearllllly as long as you...I only pushed about 5 minutes! However, I had a level two episiotomy and an epidural at the very end....no pain killers.....
I was VERY sore for about two full weeks and then still noticably sore, but not having to sit on a blow up donut sore for about a month total....car rides and stairs and sitting long periods aggravated things for awhile though. It takes awhile. Definatly no fun!

I had both with both of my children and as best I can remember was only sore for maybe a week or so...but I was never real sore. I took lots of Sitz (not sure if that is spelled correctly or not :wink: ) and those made me feel so much better. I tore bad with my son (he was 9 lbs 7 oz!) before they cut me so I was more sore with him.

Best of luck!

Stephanie :D

I had a 26 hour labor with over 1 hour pushing. Because of my BP & Sons heartrate, they decided to use forceps... OK never again on the forceps. Anyway I had third degree tears & was sore, but the sitz bath was a comfort. I think I would have felt more, but my DS was sent to Children's Hospital, so my pain disappeared. I had 2nd degree tears with DD, but healed up in about 2 weeks. They gave me some good stuff in the hospital.

Hope you are back to norm really soon.. just be patient. Your body tells you when you have overdone it... just remeber to listen to it!

I had an epidural and episiotomy (so much for a 'natural' birth I had planned on. NOTHING WENT AS PLANNED.)

Anyway, i didn't feel hardly anything, but I was really weak - for the first day. I could sit fine and everything. After the second day my ENTIRE PERINEAL area was BLACK AND BLUE. I mean SERIOUSLY bruised. It didn't really bother me a lot except when I sat on a hard chair or something. I had no problems with pillows or the couch, and I laid down a lot and rested. It was no big deal. After about 2 weeks I was fine... but sitting for a LONG TIME would still make me sore.

Of course I still made DH do the hard chores (laundry etc) until 6 weeks had passed. ;) I didn't have to do anything, so I healed pretty quick. DH did any heavy lifting etc. I did a little bit, but i moved slowly and took frequent breaks even if I didn't think I needed them.

I kept my stitches super clean. I would spray them with warm water after peeing or anything until it was completely healed... I also changed my pads every few hours and sprayed again, to clean it up. They say like every 4 hours, but I did it more often to keep it clean. Also to let it get some "air" once in awhile LOL... you do NOT want to get them infected, that is for sure.

I had problems with not being able to hold my pee for about 3 months though... actually still when i sneeze hard LOL... it is getting better though i'm not wetting myself all the time - that was embarrassing when that happened. it also burned when I went pee for about 2 weeks, but that was a UTI, i just drank TONS of water like the doctor suggested. I probably got it because the nurses were idiots when they put in my catheter and messed it up, pulled it out, and put it back in (a few times) after getting blood on it.... my DH was mad about that. Anyway it went away and was healed.

So yeah it was about 2 weeks of the worst of it... then not too many problems. I had a hemorrhoid from pushing but it went away like 2 months later and hasn't made an appearance since. Sorry if that's TMI.

I also had a sore spot on my back from the epidural, but it was a tiny bruise. It went away. :)

I had two second degree tears from having DD, and I pushed on and off for an hour or so and then really had to push a lot fast to get her out in the last 30 min, which is why I tore so badly. I actually had tears (little tiny ones) in my urethra from her 9lb 11 oz body..LOL!
It hurt to sit for a long time. I had a homebirth, and most midwives don't stitch too much, so I only had four total, two on each tear, and two of them pulled out, so that made it more sore. I can remember it burning to pee for about two weeks, and since the tears were in my urethra too the peri bottle didn't help. Sitting wasn't too bad, it was the getting up and down that hurt me the most, and I think it was sore for a week or so, and very tender for a long time....maybe two or three more weeks. Honestly though, I still get sore on my scars down there when I squat or BD. I couldn't squat for probably 6 months or more at all it was so painful, but now it just feels like my tissues are swelling pretty badly. It may sound bad, but really it wasn't that bad. I am a bit fearful of what my scars will do with this next baby since they healed pretty tight, but the Lord knows my pain already, so I take comfort in that! ;-D

Any questions feel free to PM me....I have no probs being graphic if you need....LOL

Amber

I had an epidural, no episiotomy, but I did tear (pushed for an hr and 40 min). The first few days I would not sit up at all bec I couldn't stand the pressure on that area and trying to go to the bathroom was an adventure - heck walking was an adventure - I didn't want my thighs to cause any friction in that area so i must have looked like I had just gotten off a 4 hr horse ride or something. After about 2 weeks it didn't really hurt anymore, but I still had to be gentle when wiping or washing and stuff like that.

It isn't fun, but it is normal - your body just needs time to heal itself.

I had an epidural but I also tore and needed stitches. It took about two weeks for the stitches to disolve and I was sore the entire time they were there.

Sara

I had an epidural and episiotomy (so much for a 'natural' birth I had planned on. NOTHING WENT AS PLANNED.) ....

Of course I still made DH do the hard chores (laundry etc) until 6 weeks had passed. ;) I didn't have to do anything, so I healed pretty quick. DH did any heavy lifting etc. I did a little bit, but i moved slowly and took frequent breaks even if I didn't think I needed them....

I also had a sore spot on my back from the epidural, but it was a tiny bruise. It went away. :)

Same as my birth...nothing went as planned. :roll:

Maybe I ought to make myself rest a bit more, but I'm such a doer and hate just sitting around.

One of the first pains to disappear was the epidural bruise.

Thanks everybody for assuring me that I'm not experiencing anything that is not common to woman. :wink:

Yeah, I'd say you are pretty normal.

I should have had the epi....Nothing went like I wanted it to either.....

I ended up with three doses of staydol (don't take it, bad bad stuff), and the light pushing for an hour to get rid of the lip at the top of my cervix. Then, hard pushing for an hour and forty minutes to get her to come out. The right side of the birth canal wouldn't relax at all and stayed tight, prohibiting her descent. It also didn't help that the midwife couldn't get my water to break (she had corked herself in the sac and had no water between her and it) and so she started coming down, still in the unbroken sac. They had to squirt mineral oil up there (trust me, when you are trying to push something out, the last thing you want is something going up). They then lost her heart beat (she got wedged a little behind my pubic bone) so they put an internal monitor on her (that hurt too, but at least that broke the sac). I tore, was given the option of an episiotomy (I had told my midwife I didn't want one, but consented to it, at that point, I was just begging them to cut her out.....) and got second degree tearing, I think my episiotmy took it to a third degree and ended up with somewhere around 20 stitches. The midwife lost count. I used the epi bottle. While I was in the hospital, they had me put tucks pads on my pads to help with the swelling. They never showed me how to do a sitz nor brought the peri light like I they kept telling me they would......Then, they bring this ointment that had something I am deathly allergic to in it. Thankfully I read the ingredient list before using it. I had Hubby take it back to the nurses station and instead of finding me something I could use, they tell him to go to wal-mart and get something.....Like yeah right he's leaving me at that point. It hurt to pee, hurt to sit anywhere, it hurt to get up or move. Then, for the first day at home, the stairs didn't bother me, but then, twice I had to stop on the way up and cry because it hurt so bad.

It cleared up about a week and a half later. The midwife who discharged me said everyone feels better on day seven. Took to day nine. And I was still tender, just not in pain. I even broke down and took tylenol (and I hate taking pills, especially pain relivers). I go back in for my follow up appt. four weeks later, and I was healed, just some of the stitches didn't disolved the way they were supposed to. So, she cut them out. And accidently cut me too with it.....That hurt.

I think the reason you may be hurting so much now (one of the reasons I hiurt so bad too), is because it didn't go as planned, so you had that added trauma and stress which affected you on top of giving birth. I think that is why I was so sore, the birth canal wouldn't relax and all that for me. Give yourself some time. If it is concerning you, call your midwife and talk to her about it. She may have some tips for you.