Silly Episiotomy Question

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Dec 31, 2006

Pardon the bluntness of my statement, but anything involving down there and scissors, there IS no silly questions lol. :stone

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Dec 31, 2006

I seen an episiotomy Friday that was done but the mom had an epidural, good thing she did cause she tore down past the episiotomy almost to her rectum.

Oh, ow.

CEG · Jan 1, 2007

I saw an episiotomy a couple of months ago with a doula client. Her doc did not use any anesthetic. It was abunbantly clear that he rarely had a natural labor client. He first "ironed" the perineum to which my client screamed. Then, when the baby was far from from crowning, he cut an epistiomy. My client of course screamed at that also. It was horrible to watch and unnecessary IMO. He had plenty of time to numb and wait for the med to take effect while the baby descended.

allpcn · Feb 16, 2007

RE: silly episiotomy question

I've been an L&D nurse for several years. If you have an epidural then no they don't cut. If going natural then most numb the perineum before the cut. If they don't you still don't need to worry because when they decide you need an epis the baby's head is putting enough pressure on the perineum that the skin turns white, this indicates the skin wont stretch any further, it also means you don't have much sensation on that area. The truth is if your going natural your whole body is hurting so much that a really fast snip is hardly noticed at all. I know this personally and by seeing hundreds and hundreds of deliveries.

On another note, many patients and even some nurses think that perineal massage will help stretch the skin and avoid a tear or epis. Fact is massage only irritates the the tissue causing it to swell as does pushing for a long period of time. The majority of people that swear massage worked for them was because they have already had a baby or two. Those women deliver lady partslly much faster and easier due to previous stretching from previous deliveries.

If you want to test out massage for your self then massage and stretch your lower lip vigorously for an hour. That tissue is about the same as the perineum. See if your lip stretches more or simply swells up.

Good luck

NicoleRN07, RN · Feb 16, 2007

RE: silly episiotomy question
I've been an L&D nurse for several years. If you have an epidural then no they don't cut. If going natural then most numb the perineum before the cut. If they don't you still don't need to worry because when they decide you need an epis the baby's head is putting enough pressure on the perineum that the skin turns white, this indicates the skin wont stretch any further, it also means you don't have much sensation on that area. The truth is if your going natural your whole body is hurting so much that a really fast snip is hardly noticed at all. I know this personally and by seeing hundreds and hundreds of deliveries.
On another note, many patients and even some nurses think that perineal massage will help stretch the skin and avoid a tear or epis. Fact is massage only irritates the the tissue causing it to swell as does pushing for a long period of time. The majority of people that swear massage worked for them was because they have already had a baby or two. Those women deliver lady partslly much faster and easier due to previous stretching from previous deliveries.
If you want to test out massage for your self then massage and stretch your lower lip vigorously for an hour. That tissue is about the same as the perineum. See if your lip stretches more or simply swells up.
Good luck

I completely disagree with this statement. I'm not an OB nurse, but I have had one child, and from experience perineal massage worked wonderful, so wonderful, I had only one suture!! And my son was a big boy...8lbs, 1oz, and 21 inches long (delivered @ 35 weeks). I