Fire down below

You might also consider:

• Talking to your midwife, before birth, about the hospital’s policy on performing episiotomies. Studies show that many of these are done unnecessarily.
• Birth in different places and with different kinds of caregivers can have a significant effect on whether or not you tear or are cut. For instance, a 1999 study at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital found that women booked for midwifery care had fewer episiotomies than those booked for consultant care.
• Earlier this year a study of water births at a Swiss hospital confirmed what several other studies have shown: women who labour and/or give birth in water suffer fewer tears and episiotomies. This was also the finding of a study in July 2000 at Homerton Hospital in London. Another study by the Swiss team found that using what they called ‘alternative birth methods’ such as water, but also standing or being in a supported squat, brought the episiotomy rate in their hospital down from 80 per cent to just 15 per cent.

Perhaps the most important thing, however, is to be patient with yourself and with the healing process. For the majority of women, time, with a little help from natural remedies, really is the best healer.