hey there everybody we're here to cover the important topic of episiotomy so I'm gonna get the
most questions I can answered for you in the next five minutes rapid fire style let's get that five
minute timer started now what does episiotomy mean so episiotomy is when your care provider
uses medical scissors to increase your vaginal opening during the pushing stays stage of labor
so making a cut what is cut during the episiotomy so the perineum is cut which is the muscular area
between the opening of the vagina and the anus are episiotomy is common so this really depends
on where you are giving birth the episiotomy rates greatly vary by country to country and can
even vary by doctors within a practice the current number in the US falls kind of around 12% but it
can really vary our episiotomy is necessary so in some cases episiotomy is recommended to speed up
a difficult delivery for example if there's fetal distress babies not tolerating that end of labor
pushing stage but best evidence does not support routine use of episiotomy our episiotomy stitches
dissolvable so yes the stitches used to repair an episiotomy are called dissolvable sutures
or they're also called absorbable sutures now this means that they don't need to be removed by
your care provider and usually within the next two to four weeks they are absorbed into your
skin is episiotomy painful so the pain is often experienced during the healing of an episiotomy
and that healing process can last for a few weeks some things you can do is put ice pack could put a
pad soaked in witch hazel and then you might need some paint medication during that process
how episiotomy stitches heal so the best way to help them heal is to keep the stitches clean by
changing your pad frequently using a peri bottle squirt bottle when you pee and also
patting yourself dry instead of wiping that will help heal which is better episiotomy or tear so
you're more likely to suffer complications with an episiotomy than with a tear and also the injury
to your tissue research shows us that it's likely to be greater with an episiotomy than if you just
allowed your body to stretch and naturally tear can episiotomy done without consent i hate this
question because my answer is yes that it can be done without consent but it shouldn't be
your provider should give you get consent from you before doing episiotomy and even if in the case of
fetal distress it's a very quick conversation that really should be a conversation that's had
but even before that having conversations with your care provider so they know your
thoughts about it would be really important and i think recommended can episiotomy heal without
stitches so stitches or sutures are really necessary in healing and a pia pistiotomy some
tears can heal without stitches but an episiotomy is a significant cut can episiotomy stitches open
so episiotomy stitches should not open if you notice redness or swelling or discharge or pus
or bleeding you should contact your care provider as soon as possible because that could be a sign
that the episiotomy is not healing correctly can an episiotomy be avoided so the first step
to avoiding episiotomy is really to speak with your care provider about it prenatally so ask
questions like how often do they do an episiotomy for what reasons would they perform an episiotomy
so get that conversation out in the open earlier and if you see or hear that your doctor
has a high rate of episiotomy maybe you consider changing or maybe that's not the provider for you
but um also you can add a line to your birth plan that you would prefer not to have an episiotomy
and then talking to whoever's there to catch the baby and reminding them
in person that you want uh to avoid an episiotomy and if one is necessarily necessary that you need
to get consent before that happens our episiotomy is bad episiotomies can be an important procedure
for the health of the baby or the person giving birth however they're not recommended as routine
medical procedures during the vaginal birth and i would say not following research and
performing episiotomies when they're not not necessarily not necessary would be considered
bad by many people okay episiotomy with your first baby is that necessary with a second baby so not
necessarily okay okay we got a lot of questions answered in five minutes i hope that you found
that helpful two more quick rapid fire five minute videos for you make sure you check those out now
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