January 2013 Moms
Perineal massage
Is anyone going to try perineal massage? I'm trying to see if i want to try it or not. I've heard it can cause infection ( which i dont want nor need this far into my pregnancy) , and some say its a waste of time, while others say it saved them from tearing?'
Has anyone had success doing this? Anything info would help.
Thank you,
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Re: Perineal massage
Are you talking before delivery or during?
My dr's both did it during delivery. With ds I still ended up with a 2nd degree tear. With dd I barely even had a 1st degree.
I dont see how anyone would ever know if it them you from tearing. It could be true but how would they know they would have tore without it?
26 years old, married since June 2009, DS born 1/19/13
Dear Baby Pacheco...
I had many moms recommend that I do this prior to delivery but I must admit I could never convince myself to do it or that it would help.
I delivered our angel on NYE. I pushed for 4 hours. We did not know until she came out that she was sunny side up. I was pushing effectively and she would come down and then because my body wasn't stretching enough she would progress back upwards.
I had 3 nurses during my actual pushing phase because their shifts kept ending. The third nurse literally climbed on the edge of my bed for the last 2 hours of my pushing and did perineal massage. The on call OB then came in for the last 45 minutes and they stretched me to the extreme.....I will admit that it was very uncomfortable and even though my epidural was awesome I felt a lot of tugging and pulling. DH face while they were doing this was priceless and he later told me "I thought they were going to pull your vagina wider than your hips!"
I LOVE these two women for taking the time to do this for me. I still ended up with a second degree tear but did not tear towards my perineum or forwards but internally instead. Its not a pleasant tear but not near as bad as I expected or would have otherwise had. I still think that without this nurse and OB I would have ended up with a c section for "failure to progress".
I should also add that this was the on call OB.....not even my OB and it was at 4 a.m. after 3 other deliveries that night that she took the time to do this for me.........so I guess the moral of my long post is that I was not a believer until these two women saved my vagina!!!!!!
Ok, so I tried it for the the first time last night and came across the same problem... the solution: lying on my side in the bathtub reaching my hand around behind me (yes, a very awkward position!)
I always did mine in a semi reclined position in bed, legs apart with knees bent and feet flat on the bed, and a mirror so I could see what I was doing. I know, scary lol. But I never had a problem reaching around the bump this way.
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Agreed, the research is out on this one and there is no clear cut evidence saying this will actually help.
Baby Boy born on 1/14/13
It can cause infection if you aren't washing your hands! Don't stick dirty fingers in any part of your body.
Here's a link to how to do it correctly: https://www.babycenter.com/404_can-perineal-massage-help-me-avoid-an-episiotomy_1955.bc
I just started. Do it in the shower. Stand with one leg on the ledge and I find it easier to go behind or if you push your leg out far, you can go the forward route. You aren't digging around or going at it, it's very light pressure and movement. Not scary at all and pretty easy. Just go slow.
ROFL. Hahaha!
Yeah I have no concept of what my 2nd degree tear will be like. My whole nether region is sore. But they did do a lot of stretching during labor and It was very helpful so I knew what I was pushing against. So I didn't do any ahead of time either.