The one about the episiotemy

Prenatal courses give you all these stats around tearing and assisted delivery so I assumed I’d be like most and come out with a tear but back on my feet within 6 weeks. Once I had been pushing for 2 hours, fear of stress on the baby led to an episiotomy and subsequent 3rd degree tear. I was given morphine after my epidural wore off because Tylenol wasn’t cutting it, and had to go back to the hospital a day after being discharged because the pain was so bad. My stitching didn’t heal cleanly and I had to have a rectal ultrasound to rule out surgery. I wasn’t cleared for sex or activity until 10 weeks postpartum and even after that I was prescribed topical estrogen to make sex even bearable for the next 6 months. Thank god for pelvic floor physio otherwise I would still be dealing with incontinence and diastasis recti 11 months out. You can read, take courses, etc. and think you know what to expect with childbirth but it really can’t prepare you for some of the issues that may arise.