Third babies tend to be the wild card. At least that’s what my midwife told me.
So, although I felt like a somewhat seasoned mother after two babies, I tried my best to prepare for, well, the unknown.
As she predicted, things were a bit of a surprise with my son’s birth
“Can you feel that?” she asked
“Kind of. Maybe. I mean, it’s sore.”
She called over the other midwife who attended my birth, and together they explained to me what they were seeing. They offered a mirror too, but I passed on that. I had a small tear, nothing alarming, but a substantial hematoma was developing in the vicinity.
We had two courses of action to consider – repair the tear with a few stitches, or leave it alone. Typically with a tear, they said, they’d pop in a few stitches and call it good. But in my case, with the hematoma, they worried that stitches could constrict the area and cause the hematoma to worsen instead of resolve on its own.
They agreed — and I confirmed — that leaving it alone was our best bet for the smoothest recovery
This decision came with strict instructions, though. I was to stay in bed for three full days. No stairs. Only walking to the bathroom. And, when I did, I needed to get out of bed keeping my knees together. Basically, no movement that might compromise my healing. With rest and cold compresses we hoped my hematoma would absorb and get smaller within a few days.
My midwife scheduled a few extra postpartum visits to keep an eye on it, home visits so I wouldn’t go down the stairs at all. Within 24 hours, my hematoma was shrinking, and within 48 we were confident that not stitching my tear was definitely the right course of action. By my one-week appointment, it was completely gone and I was cleared to visit the couch downstairs. Hallelujah!
It’s hard to go slow postpartum. And in the case of my hematoma, I had to go extra slow. But I’m so glad I did. Our bodies need time to heal after birthing a human and nothing replaces that. So, hematoma or not, remember to rest. Rest equals healing.
