Tmi ish postpartum question

[violetbaudelaire]

I had a baby last Monday. I ended up with a second degree laceration from an episiotomy. Does anyone have any experience with how long this takes to heal? How long before you could run or do your choice of exercise? I went on a walk and it was harder than when I ran a marathon!

I'm cleared to start running in 4 weeks but my ob said walks are ok now. But with the episiotomy recovery it's hurting to even walk up the stairs.

I checked the stitches (shudder) and nothing looks infected or swollen more than it should be.

[mrshandy]

Congrats! I don't have particular experience with a 2nd degree laceration. But my personal advice is that if it hurts to walk then you should be resting as much as possible.

I'm a little surprised by your OB's advice. My midwives encouraged me to rest as much as possible for 2 weeks. No childcake, cooking, cleaning for first 2 weeks to recover fully. I tried to adhere to this as best I could with a 3-year old and I definitely felt pretty good after two weeks.

With my DD, I took my first run at 4 weeks. My MW said that whenever I stopped bleeding would be a good time.

Give it time. Running will be there whenever you're ready. Rest your body as much as you can. I wouldn't start walking until you can walk pain-free. Have you told your OB how much walking hurt?

[violetbaudelaire]

Jul 28, 2014 7:19:49 GMT -5 mrshandy said:

Congrats! I don't have particular experience with a 2nd degree laceration. But my personal advice is that if it hurts to walk then you should be resting as much as possible.

I'm a little surprised by your OB's advice. My midwives encouraged me to rest as much as possible for 2 weeks. No childcake, cooking, cleaning for first 2 weeks to recover fully. I tried to adhere to this as best I could with a 3-year old and I definitely felt pretty good after two weeks.

With my DD, I took my first run at 4 weeks. My MW said that whenever I stopped bleeding would be a good time.

Give it time. Running will be there whenever you're ready. Rest your body as much as you can. I wouldn't start walking until you can walk pain-free. Have you told your OB how much walking hurt?

He said I could walk/do yoga as long as I felt good. I haven't, so I have been resting. I felt ok actually before the walk, but since it didn't go well I stopped. I haven't done the sitz baths or ice packs as much as I should. My plan is to call ob after a few days of those if it is still bothering me.

It doesn't hurt as much as feels like there is a ton of oressure there - almost like last trimester pressure w baby being so low.

[jamalynn]

I did not have an episiotomy, but had a 3rd degree tear with DD and 2nd degree with DS. The 3rd degree was brutal. I did light walking almost immediately and then around 3-4 weeks, started doing weights/circuit training. Didn't run until 6 weeks. With DS, it was a breeze. I was run/walking 2.5 weeks after he was born. I am guessing the episiotomy makes it worse, maybe similar to my 3rd degree. So I would take it easy. At my 6 week pp appointment, it still wasn't healed enough for DH to go near it. He had to wait another 2 weeks. In hindsight, it might have been the circuit training I was doing. Ooops.

[lovelyshoes]

I didn't have the same experience, but my ob told me to rest if anything hurt. I felt a pulling type of pain for a while, especially when I sat down. I took it as easy as you can with a screaming newborn.
Good luck, I hope you heal fast.

[violetbaudelaire]

I'm thinking (TMI again) hemorrhoids are also playing a part in this. It's definitely hard to wait to get back into shape but I really don't have a choice but to rest - the discomfort kind of dictates it

I did do a warm bath and ice packs, and try to sit with good elevated.

I just wanted an idea of how long it took people to heal - I did not think a week later it would still be this sore!

[osulori]

I wasn't healed enough to even think about exercise until 3 weeks but the damn bleeding was sticking around a bit so I started running at 4 weeks. The pain from my tear and the resulting stitches was gone by then.

[ktzmoh]

The pain from my tear and stitches went away after about two weeks with both pregnancies, but the hemorrhoids caused much more irritation and took longer.

Give yourself time to rest - and don't neglect your pelvic floor! I'm finding out how important that is now , and I'm 3.5 years post partum!

[2doxies]

Jul 29, 2014 0:09:49 GMT -5 ktzmoh said:

The pain from my tear and stitches went away after about two weeks with both pregnancies, but the hemorrhoids caused much more irritation and took longer.

Give yourself time to rest - and don't neglect your pelvic floor! I'm finding out how important that is now , and I'm 3.5 years post partum!

All of this. The external part healed in about two weeks, but the hemmroids and that terrible internal pulling sensation lasted a few weeks longer. Take your time and don't overdue it at first.

And yes to the pelvic floor! That is giving me issues.

[violetbaudelaire]

Ok. This is making me simultaneously feel so much better and so disappointed it sounds like this is normal - the pulling pain is definitely the best way to describe it. I'm just sooooooooo ready to run. Sounds like I need to just be patient.

How do you exercise your pelvic floor? Besides kegels?

[gibbinator]

Congratulations! I had an episiotomy and similar tearing. I still had minor discomfort until about 7 weeks pp. I was able to walk slowly for short distances by 4 weeks though.

[Wines Not Whines]

You're only one week postpartum! Be kind to yourself and listen to your body. I was still in quite a bit of pain 1 week pp, and my pelvic floor was weak. Things got much better each week. I felt mostly back to normal around 3 weeks pp, and I started running (slowly, very slowly) around 3.5 weeks.

[violetbaudelaire]

Jul 28, 2014 8:34:05 GMT -5 jamalynn said:

I did not have an episiotomy, but had a 3rd degree tear with DD and 2nd degree with DS. The 3rd degree was brutal. I did light walking almost immediately and then around 3-4 weeks, started doing weights/circuit training. Didn't run until 6 weeks. With DS, it was a breeze. I was run/walking 2.5 weeks after he was born. I am guessing the episiotomy makes it worse, maybe similar to my 3rd degree. So I would take it easy. At my 6 week pp appointment, it still wasn't healed enough for DH to go near it. He had to wait another 2 weeks. In hindsight, it might have been the circuit training I was doing. Ooops.

Ooommmmggggggg 3rd degree tear!!! My deepest sympathies!

[violetbaudelaire]

Jul 29, 2014 7:16:54 GMT -5 Wines Not Whines said:

You're only one week postpartum! Be kind to yourself and listen to your body. I was still in quite a bit of pain 1 week pp, and my pelvic floor was weak. Things got much better each week. I felt mostly back to normal around 3 weeks pp, and I started running (slowly, very slowly) around 3.5 weeks.

This gives me hope! I'm in "will I feel like this FOREVER!?!?!" more.

[jamalynn]

Jul 29, 2014 7:31:20 GMT -5 violetbaudelaire said:

Jul 28, 2014 8:34:05 GMT -5 jamalynn said:

I did not have an episiotomy, but had a 3rd degree tear with DD and 2nd degree with DS. The 3rd degree was brutal. I did light walking almost immediately and then around 3-4 weeks, started doing weights/circuit training. Didn't run until 6 weeks. With DS, it was a breeze. I was run/walking 2.5 weeks after he was born. I am guessing the episiotomy makes it worse, maybe similar to my 3rd degree. So I would take it easy. At my 6 week pp appointment, it still wasn't healed enough for DH to go near it. He had to wait another 2 weeks. In hindsight, it might have been the circuit training I was doing. Ooops.

Ooommmmggggggg 3rd degree tear!!! My deepest sympathies!

Yeah, it hurt like a bitch!  And she wasn't even a big baby. Eel it made my recovery with DS, a walk in the park.

[derbycitycook]

I had a 2nd degree tear/episiotomy. I walked for 6 weeks and started c25k the day after my 6 week checkup. It didn't bug me too much at that point, but still took a few more weeks to feel normal. I rested, did the ice packs for the first week or so, and did sitz baths every day. They helped a lot!

[violetbaudelaire]

Jul 29, 2014 21:51:21 GMT -5 luckydog said:

You sound pretty normal! Birth is a big deal! Rest as much as you can and SLEEP as much as you can! You'll do most healing while you sleep.

I am still getting over a fourth degree tear. One week out I was in the OB office because it still hurt so effin bad. It was a sharp pain from the outside in, like lightning crotch times a hundred without relief unless I laid on my side. Within a few days of strict rest and h doing overnights so I could maximize my sleep, I felt so much better. I still couldn't sit on hard surfaces for about three weeks. Now at five weeks pp, I still can't sit for long periods and it feels like one pubic hair is being tugged occasionally and my perineum area is still sore when touched or when bearing down. I just started feeling like walking this week.

Considering I also had internal tears, I think I'm recovering quite well! I expected to be a bit sore for awhile even before I went through all this!

This sounds like the most terrible thing ever and I'm never complaining again!