I had a 3rd degree tear with my 1st baby. Is my current pregnancy considered high-risk? скачать в хорошем качестве

I had a 3rd degree tear with my 1st baby. Is my current pregnancy considered high-risk?

First off, you mentioned that you're pregnant, you just found out, and congratulations on that! But you have some questions about what happened at delivery and how it might affect the future. Specifically, it's about lacerations. Now, lacerations are very common when a woman has a baby just because, let's face, we have something this big [showing the size of a baby's head] coming out of something this big [showing the size of a dilated cervix], and usually something has to give, and it's the tissues in the woman's perineum - that's the area between the vagina and the rectum. And when a woman tears, we grade it on a scale from 1st degree to 4th degree. And 1st degree is the most shallow, 4th degree is the most involved and the deepest. And when we're talking about grading it, it's not about how long the tear or incision is if you had an episiotomy, it's about deep it goes, how many different layers it goes through. So a 1st degree is the most shallow - sometimes they don't even need to be repaired, because they're not a big deal if they're not bleeding, the doctor doesn't need to repair it. 2nd degrees are probably the most common type of tear. And if you have an episiotomy, this is what it would be - it would be a 2nd degree, usually not a big deal. Women heal easily form these. The stitches are put in, they dissolve, the doctor checks them at your 6 week postpartum visit and makes sure everything has healed nicely, and usually there's no problem. 3rd and 4th degree lacerations are much more involved. They go deeper into structures like the anal sphincter. There's some degree of involvement, and so this definitely has to be repaired. And these women can go on to have fecal incontinence issues, not all, but some do. So if you had a 3rd or 4th degree in the past, and you notice that you're leaking stool, or bowel movements are abnormally painful for you, something just doesn't seem right, make sure you talk with your doctor. They'll ask you more questions about it, perform an exam, and then decide if anything needs to be done about it. Now for future pregnancies, it depends on how severe the involvement was in the past. Sometimes a C-section is recommended to prevent further tearing and problems that might arise in the future if you have another vaginal delivery. So I recommend talking with your doctor, and based on their knowledge of your past circumstances, they'll be able to decide what's best for you - trying for another vaginal delivery or having a C-section. They'll also be able to answer any questions you've had about unusual symptoms. Hopefully you haven't had any, but if you have, do talk with them so that it can be addressed. Good luck with everything, and if you have any other questions for me in the future, feel free to ask them on our Facebook page at   / intermountainmoms  , and recommend us to your friends and family too.