Episiotomy is a word that may strike fear in your heart.
- Some feel that it is an evil, outdated practice.
- Others feel it is necessary for all moms.
- I feel that it is neither.
I think that to do it routinely to all moms is stupid.
But there are some OBs out there who do it routinely for EVERY mom, even if she is stretching nicely. There is even a story of an OB who missed the birth and was so used to cutting episiotomies for everyone he cut one for the placenta!!!
There are some instances when an episiotomy is beneficial. One example is if the baby is showing signs of distress during pushing, it can help speed things up by a few minutes.
Like all things in birth, there is no one size fits all
- It should depend on the mom and baby.
- Also as with all intervetions, mom should be informed of what is going on and be given a say in what happens.
- Talking with your care provider about when they like to do an episiotomy AT YOUR NEXT APPOINTMENT is your best bet. If they feel all moms need one, you can bet you will end up with one,whether you need it or not!
I had an episiotomy with my first baby. I used the epidural, and even though I had a midwife, I still ended up with an episitomy. I tried to fight it as long as possible, but right before she did it, she told me that she rarely does them, and that in my case, my daughter wasn’t turning her head the right way and she was stuck and couldn’t get out. It was necessary for me, regardless of how much I fought. With my second baby however, she turned her head just fine and I didn’t even have perineum tearing (I did have small labial tears).
I would be scared of a doctor that routinely did episiotomies…it wasn’t a fun recovery.
I think there are times it can help. But I agree, the routine part is scary.