Skip to main content

My episiotomy healing journey was tougher than expected

Let’s face it. We mummies are such selfless creatures. We load up on prenatal vitamins when trying to conceive. We go to great lengths to craft the right diet, prepare the nursery, and scour books on parenting during our pregnancy. Our focus is almost entirely on preparing our body for the baby and how to be the perfect parent when the baby comes.


As a first-time mummy, what escaped my attention was the focus on self-care and healing, especially in the immediate post partum period, when we are the most tired and vulnerable, physically and mentally. I had many surprises in my own experience with the post partum period, the biggest of which was the harder-than-expected recovery from my episiotomy.


What I wish I knew about episiotomies

I had an episiotomy performed during my normal vaginal delivery. Because I was on epidural, I only had a vague awareness that my obstetrician was stitching me up after I had delivered. While busking in the glow of being a new parent, silly me thought- meh, the row of stitches seems pretty short, shouldn’t be so bad, right? My doctor had also said it will dissolve on its own in 2 weeks and mentioned nothing more. Boy oh boy was I in for a ride.


By the time the epidural had worn off several hours after the delivery, the tightness and pain around the stitch site set in. There was a constant background pain and soreness with episodic bursts exacerbated by movements,  coughs, and sneezes. Doing anything in the toilet was nothing short of a nightmare. It was painful when I showered or when pee trickled down the stitch site. Pooping was the worst— I dreaded pooping in the first two weeks because it was just So. Darned. Painful. Think sharp pain + feeling like the stitches will give way.


The pain subsided very gradually over two weeks. But thankfully by the end of week 3 it had morphed into a mild discomfort. I didn’t really start to feel “normal” until week 4.


What helped me

Things that were absolutely essential to help me mitigate the pain were:

  1. Sitting on a donut cushion 
  2. Using cool perineal pads (Very soothing for the pain. When I ran out I wrapped ice packs with a towel and placed it down below)
  3. Perineal spray- I used this earth mama spray (see link below!) which smelled good and made me feel refreshed and soothed down there (haha). I absolutely love earth mama and use a few of their other products.
  4. Taking stool softeners!!! Sooooo important. The hospital provided me with some Laxarol on discharge (which is also available over-the-counter).
  5. Splashing cool water around the area after toileting.
  6. Taking prescribed painkillers regularly.


Although I did not use it, I was told sitting in a sitz bath helps to alleviate the discomfort.


I don’t mean to scare anyone with this post. I just want to establish realistic expectations surrounding my own experience with healing from an episiotomy, and what helped with some of my discomfort. I felt like I couldn’t fully enjoy my baby in the first two weeks because I was partly stressed and tired out by the pain. Not everyone will have the same experience as me, but if you do, there are things you can do to make the recovery process smoother!


Links to helpful products


Donut cushion:

https://c.lazada.sg/t/c.YheLES


Earth Mama herbal perineal spray:

https://c.lazada.sg/t/c.Yhe8KN


Sitz Bath:

https://c.lazada.sg/t/c.YheJ2y



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Help, I've got no breastmilk!

I had read online that colostrum may kick in the last weeks of the third trimester, but it didn't happen for me. Well, guess it'll start coming right after I deliver, right? Wrong. After I was induced at 40 weeks and delivered, I had no breastmilk for the baby. No amount of nipple or boob massaging while I was still in the hospital stimulated any milk production. The nurses could only shrug and reassure me it'll come soon. They taught me how to massage my boob and get into the right position for a good latch. I'd dutifully let my newborn latch me for 15 mins per boob in the hospital, but it did feel quite silly letting her suck when no milk was coming out. I felt bad that she was doing all that work for nothing! After 30 mins of trying, I'd buzz the nurse and request for formula to feed the baby. (We did cup feeding in the first two weeks, that deserves another post of its own haha). After we got home from the hospital, we continued cup feeding the baby formula beca...
Post a Comment
Read more

7 Things I Did to Boost My Breast Milk Supply

Image by New Africa Studio from Canva In the early days of breastfeeding, I was a low supply mama. It took about 2 weeks for me to produce sufficient milk to support bub's needs for an entire day and build up a freezer stash. Having trawled the internet and turning to fellow mamas for advice, here are the things that helped to boost my breastmilk supply: 1. Pump/ nurse regularly This is by far the single most important and effective thing, trumping any diet or supplement you can take. Pumping or nursing regularly helped to increase and maintain my breastmilk supply. I usually did it every 3-4 hourly while I was on maternity leave. However, this schedule was not sustainable after returning to work, where I could only pump 4-5 hourly. As a result, my breastmilk supply took a hit and we had to increase the number of formula feeds per day.  2. Drink lots of water Since the body is producing milk, it is key to keep ourselves well hydrated! I made a habit of drinking a glass of wate...
Post a Comment
Read more

Juggling full-time work and breastfeeding

I  haven’t blogged in a while because it has been hectic juggling full-time work and an infant. But now that I have a little pocket of free time, I thought I’d share my experience about keeping up with breastfeeding while working. I am quite determined to continue breastfeeding because of the many benefits breast milk. Minimally, I aim for 6 months of breastfeeding, with a stretch goal of 1 year. Thankfully, my workplace has a few nursing rooms that allows me to pump comfortably.  My pumping schedule Unfortunately, work can get quite busy for me and I only am able to pump once while at work. Here is my nursing / pump schedule for an average work day-  12am- pump at home (~150ml) 4am- nurse (if baby wakes) 7am- pump at home (~200 ml) 11.30am- pump at work (~200 ml) 6pm- pump at home (~200 ml) 8pm- nurse (part of our baby’s bedtime routine) The toughest portions of the day is when I don’t get to pump for a long stretch between 11.30am-6pm. Engorgement did set in for me a nu...
Post a Comment
Read more