Pregnant & convinced my VV. is due to 1st childbirth/episiotomy... need advice!

[Guest guest]

Hello,

I am a new member & want to say hello & I am so happy to have found

this site.

Here's my story:

I believe I have vulvar vestibulitis but Im not even sure. It began

after the birth of my first daughter, February 2006. From what Ive

read, I know I am somewhat lucky, I only have pain with intercourse.

It makes most positions impossible, however, if I am on top it is OK

(sorry - tmi!) but in that position, I can really control how he

enters & avoid the main trigger point. We still have to " move

carefully " though.

I am 30 weeks pregnant with my second daughter. My 1st pregnancy was

uneventful, and I never had any pain with intercourse my whole life.

I had an episiotomy and severe pain in a very specific spot when I

got home. I went back to the drs 3 times & they said nothing was

wrong, except once they admitted I popped a stitch but that it would

heal on its own. (I now believe i had an infection & it was

untreated & thus led to my vv. I am just speculating, I cant get any

real answers from any doctors, it is beyond frustrating)

The pain eventually subsided, until we tried to have sex. we kept

trying for months but the pain never went away. I switched doctors &

my new dr said I had excess scar tissue & she performed an episiotomy

revision, basically I was recut & restiched. Weeks passed, had sex -

same pain. So I basically went through that surgery & recovery for no

reason. Awesome.

My dr recently contacted a vulvar disorder specialist in Michigan who

wrote that she suspects I do have vulvodynia, & from what Ive read, I

would call it VV, b/c its only during intercourse.

My main concern right now is how to get this baby OUT! My doctor has

told me that she would support me having a C-section, if I dont want

to mess around with that area anymore. While no one has confirmed

that my childbirth/episiotomy caused this, I feel like I know for a

fact that it did and I am really scared to go through another vaginal

delivery. My doctor believes my childbirth/episiotomy caused it too,

though she is by no means a specialist in this area.

She also suggested that if I decide to go vaginally, she would induce

me early to aviod another large baby (1st was 8lb 14oz) & hopefully

avoid tearing substantially - she said she will not give me an

episiotomy this time no matter what.

I really dont know what to do. Id really prefer not to have a c-

section, but the thought of this getting worse is enough to have me

lean that way. I am not convinced that having a smaller baby via

early induction will reduce the risk of severe trauma to that area

again.

Any advice & also -

Is there anyone out there that believes their disorder was caused by

childbirth/episiotomy??? I just want answers to how this happened!

Thank you so much for any advice & for reading all of this if you

read this far!

-Jeanine