# Stretch marks connected to vaginal tearing?



## Corri (Jul 7, 2005)

At our appointment with our birth doula tonight, she said that getting stretch marks late or not at all was a good sign - that it meant your skin was elastic, and that indicated less likelyhood of vaginal tearing during birth. (ie, if your belly skin is nice and stretchy and doesn't get marks, then your perineum will also be nice and stretchy and not tear as much). So now I'm wondering if that's true!

I know this isn't scientific data collection or anything, but I'm really curious what the mamas on here have experienced (keep it to first birth, I guess, because later births are different again). And if you used another intervention - perineal massage, for instance - and think it made a difference, then I'd love to read about that, too!


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## Bella Catalina (Aug 19, 2006)

I did get a few stretch marks - nothing major, just some fine white ones on my hips and breasts, much like I had at puberty.

I had what I believe to be a 2nd degree tear (I voted mild tear - I consider 3rd/4th degree major) due to directed pushing (stupid doctor!!) ~ I had precipitous labor, but I don't think that was the issue. Definitely the directed pushing (I now understand what they mean when they say a laboring woman is highly suggestable). The cord was around his neck twice, and tight, and though I'd planned to breathe him out or at least wait out a contraction when he crowned, I pushed through it at my OBs command and tore.


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## stacey2061 (Feb 1, 2006)

i had a few late stretch marks and really bad tearing, but it was after i already had an episiotomy, so i don't know if i would have torn on my own


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## Meg_s (Apr 13, 2006)

I think I must have some of the worst stretch marks on earth, and they showed up really early. I dont' think my skin actually knows how to stretch, only to rip, and form scars which criss cross in every direction. Seriously, huge wide marks with hundreds of small ones in every angle, absolutely covering my abdomen up past my ribs







: Anyway, my baby supposedly had a HUGE head (don't remember the measurement but the midwives were like wow! and I had one very mild tear which did not require a stitch. I do think that the stretchy skin thingy though would be true in a lot of cases, I think I had a pretty optimal birth in terms of being at home, positioning etc. and that added to the lack of tearing.


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## notjustmamie (Mar 7, 2007)

I didn't notice any specifically pregnancy-induced stretch marks, but I have many already on my tummy from all the fluff I carry around normally.

I wasn't sure how to answer about tearing. I didn't have any tearing on the perineum, but I had a labial tear.

Amy


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## tamagotchi (Oct 16, 2005)

I had no stretch marks at all, and really bad tearing. My midwife doesn't believe the two things are correlated.


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## mahogny (Oct 16, 2003)

No stretch marks with my first, and very mild, late stretch marks with my second.

No tearing either time.


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## AmyJayne19 (Nov 11, 2006)

I got 2 stretch marks off my bellybutton with my first pregnancy. They were very small and i actually torn inside, not my perineum. With my 2nd, I carried him long so he was a little bigger and all he did was expand my 2 stretch marks a little bit more and once again, I torn inside(mainly because his hand was on his head coming out.


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## Momma Aimee (Jul 8, 2003)

strech marks are pretty much gentic -- if your mom got them, you will, if not you are pretty safe.

A


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## sunshine's mama (Mar 3, 2007)

i got 6 stretch marks, about an inch or so long, 3 on either side of my lower abdomen the last 3 or 4 weeks of pregnancy..nice and purply pink...







they are now hardly there...

i had some very mild tearing on the inner labia due to the fact that delivery was difficult due to shoulder dystocia but my MW and the nurse there handled things well....healed up very well...

we were going to do the whole massage thing but never got around to it...mw did it during labor...

she doesn't believe that the tearing and marks are related at all..guess it's just who you talk to....

my mom and grandmother got them pretty bad.....very early on....


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## Corri (Jul 7, 2005)

Quote:

strech marks are pretty much gentic -- if your mom got them, you will, if not you are pretty safe.
Alas, if only that were true for everyone!







The whole topic came up because I was complaining before we started the meeting - I started getting stretch marks on my thighs, of all stupid places, and a few tiny ones *just* showed up on the bottom of my belly, but my mother and her mother didn't get a single one. I figured I'd be safe, but noooo.







: That's when she told me that 36 weeks was a pretty good time to get them, if I had to get them at all, and I got curious about real trends.

It's getting interesting to see the poll as the number of respondents goes up!


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## Sijae (May 5, 2006)

I got lots of stretch marks and fairly early on. I didn't tear with any of my births and didn't do anything special to avoid it such as perineal massage.

Laura


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## Sweeney (Sep 8, 2003)

I got really splendid stretchmarks on my belly with that first pregnancy. My son, now almost 4 years old, calls them my 'tiger stripes'. They were very impressive- still are in fact!

I had a teeny skidmark with him and no tearing at all with my daughter. I don't believe in perineal massage and thus did not do it.

IMO the two things aren't really related. Two very different areas of the body adapting to doing two VERY different jobs.


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## AshQ (Mar 16, 2006)

With #1, absolutely no stretch marks, but a 3rd/4th degree tear. She had her arm over her head, so she was stuck under my pubic bone. When her heart rate started to drop below 100 and not come back up, my midwife didn't worry about keeping me tear-free.

With #2, many stretch marks on my belly, but no tearing. I'd gladly have stretch marks over tearing any day







:


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## pinksprklybarefoot (Jan 18, 2007)

I had only a couple tiny stretch marks that appeared late. I had a 2nd degree tear pushing when I felt like it, but they kept telling me that the baby was in danger and that I had to get him out, so I pushed him out pretty fast. I actually remember having the thought "So what if I tear, I just have to get him out."


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## MCatLvrMom2A&X (Nov 18, 2004)

I have no stretch marks on my belly at all from either pg. With dd I had a urethral tear but I think it was more from the ob forcing a cath in there just before dd crowned







:

With ds I had 1 very small skid mark.


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## redhen (Mar 30, 2005)

I didn't have "bad" stretchmarks, but I already had some from being overweight at puberty and also just don't really think they're bad.  But I had one small internal tear and a small tear to my labia.... after my daughter was born VERY quickly.


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## the_lissa (Oct 30, 2004)

Early stretch marks (before 35 weeks), no tearing


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## sogriffin (May 22, 2005)

I didn't get any stretch marks until after 38 weeks with both pregnancies.

I delivered my first in a hospital and don't know if I would have torn or not, since they cut a "routine" episiotomy (







)

My second, I delivered in the tub at a FSBC and had minor tearing. I attribute the tearing in small part to a very fast birth, but mostly I blame my previous episiotomy.


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## AuntG (Apr 2, 2007)

I've had stretch marks since I was about 12 when I grew a whole 6 inches in about as many months. Then a few years later I got fat and got some more. Then I got pregnant and realized you could get them on your boobs!!

I'm _ONE LONG_ stretchmark from head to toe and I DID tear a bit but I also had a 9 pound baby. (WHICH I AM SURE HAD MORE TO DO WITH IT!!!!)

I also want to add that I don't mind them at all. I







love the ones on my belly and all the others are too faint for anyone but me to notice.


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## 4lilfarmers (Feb 9, 2006)

no stretch marks with ds1, small tear (not sutured), perineal massage thru-out last month of pg.

stretch marks during last few days of pg with ds2 (seriously, about 3 days before the birth!), small tear (a little bigger than last time, not sutured), no peri massage.


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## 2bluefish (Apr 27, 2006)

I think it's hogwash - I get a stretch mark if I even *think* about growing bigger. I have tons of them. I have never torn, and I didn't even feel stretched the day after #2 - and that was even after delivering semi-sitting, quickly, and with a doctor tinkering around (#1 was hands off water birth).


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## leerypolyp (Feb 22, 2005)

Mid to late stretch marks and a little tear (because two midwife hands and one baby head were all occupying my vagina). I don't know -- I can see skin elasticity being a factor, but there are so many other factors involved when it comes to tearing. Bet it'll be hard to pin down one way or the other.


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## treemom2 (Oct 1, 2003)

I've had stretch marks since middle school but they did get a lot worse when pg. I had pretty bad tearing with DS (8lb 6oz). However, my mw had me push him out in an "alley oop" position, laying on my back with DH holding my legs up--feet by my head. I was unable to control my pushing and when they were saying "easy now" I was ignoring them and pushing with all my might! I only had a super small tear with my third baby (11lb 4oz).


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## MonP'titBoudain (Nov 22, 2005)

Late stretch marks (couldn't see them til after ds was born and my skin wasn't so tight!) and no tearing. My OB did do perineal massage but all I could tell you was that it hurt worse than the head pushing through. I'm not convinced it did anything but give me a focus point for pushing. Breathing through those contractions (NOT pushing) would have been the more obvious solution.


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## HeatherB (Jan 30, 2003)

I was discussing perineal tearing and stretch marks and the correlation between skin elasticity with my MW at my last appt. I was shocked to hear that the key to having more elastic skin (and therefore fewer stretch marks and perhaps less tearing) is ZINC!! I always thought it was Vitamin E. My mom told me that my Dad, who was in great shape, got stretch marks very early in life, and it must just be a congenital sort of deficiency - like we don't have enough vit E in our skin or something. I am one who has tons of stretch marks (of various types) and always have, though I did finally add a few more in late pregnancy.

This time, I'll definitely be popping the yummy Zinc tabs and will do what I can to avoid the yucky tear I got last time! Just wanted to share in hopes it might help someone else, too.


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## Elizabeth0506 (May 28, 2006)

that makes no sense to me, I have way more skin on my belley then I have between my legs, your belly has 9 months to stretch and your bottom, well, that's another story. I had no stretch makes on my belly and plenty of tearing. It just sounds like an old wives tale.


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## MsElle07 (Jul 14, 2006)

With my first I had late stretch marks and mild tearing. I attribute the tearing to being in a semi-sitting position with an epidural. No prenatal peri massage, but the MW did some during the delivery.

My second and third I had earlier stretch marks (like after 30 weeks), but no tearing at all. With my last births, pushing was completely spontaneous with no one's hands anywhere, and I was off my tailbone.


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## RedPony (May 24, 2005)

I voted late stretch marks, mild tearing... I think that's what I had. I do know I had three tears, one a scratch, two second degree. I only ever had a few mild stretch marks on my hips and butt, so who knows.


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## QueenOfThePride (May 26, 2005)

I got mega stretch marks with my first, but I don't remember when they started showing up, so I can't vote. I only had a tiny skin tear on my perineum. DS was 9lb1oz.


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## tsfairy (May 19, 2004)

My belly looked like a road map well before 35 weeks, and I had no tearing at all. I did have a 3.5 hour pushing stage, with my mw doing perineal compresses throughout, so that may have helped a lot.

My sis came out of pregnancy with just a few little stretch marks that didn't show up until very late, and tore really badly. But her DD practically flew out of her and was born in just a few pushes with no perineal support.

My other sis tore with all her kiddos and has almost no stretchmarks.


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## Flower of Bliss (Jun 13, 2006)

At about 36 weeks I got stretch marks across my underbelly, sides, and thighs







I had no stretch marks before then. I remember joking that I didn't get them until full term







I wore a bikini on the beach in early July and DD was born late August. (I also now have stretch marks radiating out on my boobs from when my milk came in)

I had a 4th degree tear. I was given perineal massage during birth. It was an intervention and med free birth (I had a local to stitch up the tear). Maybe a different position for pushing would have been better. My total labor was about 4 hours (from I think maybe this is it to babe in arms). DD was a compound presentation (fist at head, thus elbow sticking out). I imagine the speed and presentation is really why I tore.

My recovery was fine. It took awhile (about 6 months?) to get back into sex, but I think that's typical even with minimal tearing. I had no other recovery issues, and could easily climb my stairs and such right away. DD was worth every bit of it, of course.


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