As a pregnant woman or a young wife who is yet to get pregnant, one of the questions you are most likely to ask yourself is:
How Can I Prevent An Episiotomy(Vaginal Tear)

First of before I begin, 'What is Episiotomy'?
An episiotomy, is a surgical cut through the area between a woman's vaginal opening and her anus. This is done to enable the vaginal opening larger for childbirth.
Normally during childbirth, an episiotomy is not needed. But in a situation where the vaginal opening does stretch enough to accommodate the baby's head, an episiotomy is done to aid the delivery of the baby.

Now you might ask: Why would I need an episiotomy?
First of all, not all women need an episiotomy. Stretching tissues may help reduce the need for one.And without one, your perineal tissue may tear, leading to damages that can be harder to repair.
An episiotomy usually occurs in these situations:
1. When your baby doesn't have enough oxygen(fetal disease)
2. Complicated birth, such as when the baby is positioned bottom first etc
3. Long pushing stage of labour
4. Large baby
5.Preterm baby

Types of Episiotomy
Majorly, Episiotomy is grouped into two
1. Midline Episiotomy (median incision): This is a vertical incision made from the lower opening of the vaginal to the rectum. Even though this type of episiotomy tends to heal well, it is more likely to become a 3rd or 4th degree laceration (skin wound).
2. Mediolateral Episiotomy: This incision is made at a 45 degree angle on the lower vaginal opening. This type of episiotomy doesn't tend to tear or extend, it is always associated with greater blood loss and a painful, difficult healing process.

Complications of Episiotomy Include:
1. Perineal Laceration
2. Wound Separation
3. Blood Loss
4. Bladder Injury
5. Urethral Injury
6. Sexual Dysfunction (pain during sexual intercourse)
Amongst others

After seeing all this, most of us would likely be afraid, but not to worry as our elders will always say, 'There is no problem without a solution.'
To avoid an Episiotomy, the following can be done
1. Getting the necessary research and materials that can help us avoid one.
2. Perineal massage which you can get from our health clinic or the hospital where you registered for your Ante-natal care.
3. Finally getting advice from a professional nurse or Midwife.
On my next post, I'll also talk about more materials you can get to prevent Vaginal Tear during childbirth.

I hope this information will be helpful to the pregnant women out there

So, last week I said I was going to be dropping materials and exercises that can help prevent Vaginal tears at childbirth.
The post will be dropped in a few minutes

On Sunday, I said I was going to share some materials on How to Prevent Vaginal Cut at Childbirth(Episiotomy)
In a country like Nigeria, where the probability of getting an episiotomy is very high, one would want to do everything possible to prevent
getting one. Because trust me getting a vaginal tear is not something one would want and I know this because I have met women who had to
undergo Episiotomy cuts during childbirth and believe me it wasn't a funny site

One of those materials will be an article by this new friend i met during my recent research work.Just so you know, the article is on how

she managed to avoid childbirth injuries in her 2nd childbirth after suffering 3rd degree Episiotomy cut in her first childbirth.
But before I give out the article, here are some exercises you can perform during pregnancy:

1. Brisk walking
2. Light jogging
3. Perineal massage(see your local antenatal care giver for more info)

As a pregnant women, whenever you are a exercising, keep the following at the back of your mind

* Always stay hydrated
* Exercise at least 30 minutes a day and a total of 5 days a week
* Avoid activities that may cause you to
* Avoid high intensity or contact sports
* Do not lay down on your back for a long period of time
* Make sure to wear supportive clothes.

I believe these exercises I dropped here would be of great assistance to you. Moving on to the article I talked about, I got this article
from a friend of mine that's actually a professional nurse. The amazing thing is that she has even helped over 250 mothers (majority of whom
it was their first attempt at childbirth) avoid these life/marriage threatening injuries using the same steps that worked for her.
She actually gave me right to share a FREE (Sample Module) where she explained a bit on one of the 4 steps she took to avoid vaginal tears
during her 2nd delivery. Due to the restrictions on Nairaland, I can't drop the free copy of the article here.

To get a free copy of the article click on the link below
https:///2p85hskn

Or

CONTACT Me via osagieedu@gmail.com to request a FREE Copy