jesscotta

Hi Jenn
I feel for you. I was on another discussion board 2 years ago trying to decide if I should have my 2nd child naturally or via c-section following an awful tear in the birth of my 1st.

I guess I don't really have any advice...but wanted to offer my empathy.

I waited to have the sphincteroplasty because I got pregnant with my 2nd before I had a chance to have the surgery. This is just my experience- and really not advice... but in my experience, I am SO glad I had the c-section and found the sphincteroplasty surgery to not be as bad as I thought it would be. It wasn't a walk in the park, but it wasn't horrific like healing from the tear was. On the other hand, I didn't need a perinealplasty or anything other than the sphincteroplasty, and from the sounds of all of the discussions on the I survived sphincteroplasty boards, those poor girls had it really hard.

Anyway, I'm trying to make you feel better but I don't think it's working... except for some reassurance, that at least in my case, the c-section was awesome. The pain only lasted about 2 weeks and I healed great. WIth the 4th degree tear, the pain lasted 10 months and I never healed properly- it took the sphincteroplasty to result in healing.

I'll check back- hope to hear from you! Jessica