Advice please

Any advice on what to do please or if you’ve experienced this? So I gave birth to my son in September 2023 (first child) I had a vaginal birth but after 2 hours of pushing I had to have an emergency episiotomy due to both our heart rates being abnormal anyway after a week the HV noticed an infection etc and it took a lot longer for me to heal 12-14 weeks. Now im 17 months PP and when I have sex it’s still uncomfortable even with foreplay and lube because of this I’ve only had sex 10 times with my partner since I healed. I am now terrified to have sex, my moods are all over the place. I don’t sleep well at night but will nap during the day when my son does (when I’m not working). I have low energy. I get annoyed at my partner with the most littlest things. Does this sound like postpartum depression or maybe PTSD? All I think about when giving birth is holding my beautiful child but then it gets ruined by the image of someone stitching me up whilst I have my first cuddles with my son. Any advice would be great or maybe if there’s someone I can contact to help me or recommendations on what to do please

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I had an episiotomy and saw a pelvic floor physio 8 months postpartum who said that I had a build up of scar tissue and knots in the muscle (the same way you get knots in your back). I had a few sessions with her massaging the scar which helped a lot x

I would definitely recommend seeing someone as it doesn't seem to get better with time and sounds like an intervention will be beneficial

@Lara is there a reason you chose to see a specialist 8months pp. I ask out of curiosity as I also had an episiotomy

I have complications with episio too and I’m yet healing but my experience was also traumatic imo, you should be more proactive- contact perineal clinic, explain the situation, don’t be shy - it’s in your interests, press them if needed, get a second opinion + your gp can refer you to a perinatal team which provide mental support and you definitely need it as well + contact your HV and see what they offer + co op as well to sum up, get physical and mental health, you shouldn’t feel this way and you can and will fix it!

@Malie I saw them for unrelated reasons, I had a spinal block and didn’t regain sensation of my bladder for a very long time and urology had ruled out issues so referred me there. It was when she felt the scar she noticed it x

Thank you for responding!

Thank you all for your help! I will get in touch with GP and go from there!!

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