4th degree tear

Hi all, 

i just wanted to share my story with you all. After my traumatic birth in 2011 I googled 4th degree tears and all I found was horror stories about the recovery. Ive been really lucky and wanted to share my experience to offer hope to anyone that's currently recovering from a horrendous tear, as at the time I was recovering I thought my life had been ruined forever! 

I was due on the 21st jan 2011 with my little boy, after numerous failed sweeps I was admitted to hospital on the 31st jan to be induced, on the 2nd feb my contractions started and after, 27 hours in labour I started to push for  almost 90 mins I believe. When the midwife's realised I was shattered and he wasn't budging they wheeled me into theatre to prepare for a forcept delivery with a view to perform a section if the forceps didn't get him out!   

I was terifed at this point never having been in hospital let alone in surgery! After another 15 mins and loads of commotion, my little boy was finally pulled into the world On the 3rd February 2011! After 2 more hours we both went to the recovery room, where the consultant came in and explained I'd had a very bad tear and extensive stitches I was pretty out of it at this point so they came round the following day and explained I'd torn all the way as a result of a big baby (9lb so not huge)! And that I'd need to stay in for a few days and may have incontinence problems in the future.

I felt like an absolute failure! And took weeks to bond with the little fella.

the early days were really hard and I didn't really explain to anyone about the tear etc as I was so embarrassed! Especially as I struggled with incontinence both ends and was very uncomfortable! 

I received physio for a few months to help with the incontinence issue and am pleased to report I have NO issues at all with this! I also no longer find sex uncomfortable and often joke that I have a designer vagina (sorry to be crude) as the consultants did such a good job with my stitches! It's not affected me in anyway and the quality of life ithat's same for any other mum with an active toddler!

My little boy is now nearly 2 and a half and a very cheeky monkey! We are currently pregnant with our new son due in 2 months and we can't wait to add to our family! 

I understand I'm very lucky and some people do not heal as well as I did, but I wanted people to know that not everyone suffers as there are so few 'success' stories on the Internet - so if this comes up in google searches then I hope it helps someone! 

thanks for reading xx