Avoiding an Episiotomy

Doctors here in Korea love these. They're not fun. An episiotomy is when the doctor cuts you. They say it'll prevent tearing and make it easier for the baby to come out. Truth be told, both of those are false. However, if you are cut you have to be stitched up meaning that the doctor can stitch you up tighter and it's easier for the doctor to stitch up a straight line than a jagged one.

It's incredible that doctors are still telling women that episiotomies will prevent tearing. Try this. Take a piece of paper. Hold both sides and try to yank it apart by pulling outwards. See how much force you need to tear it? And it's paper, not muscle. Now take a piece of paper and make a small, tinny, tiny cut at the top. Now hold both sides and yank it apart. Much easier to tear it, right? It probably tore further than the first paper. The same thing will happen to you. If the doctor cuts you you're likely to tear even further than the cut he made and need more stitches than if you were to tear normally. If you tear normally you might not even need any stitches. You might not even tear at all.

What happens if the baby won't fit? You'll tear, that's it. There are ways to avoid tearing, such as ironing the perineum, spontaneous pushing, Kegels, perineum massage, pushing for short bursts when you feel the need to push, and not having an epidural so you feel when to push. Here are some more ways to avoid being cut.



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