Recovery after childbirth: a preliminary prospective study.

This prospective study examined the time for 93 women to cease to feel discomfort in their perineal areas after the births of their first babies. Sixty-two of the women had experienced a spontaneous delivery that did not require forceps assistance. In 58 patients, an episiotomy was performed. Of the 35 women in whom an episiotomy was not performed, 24 women required sutures and only four women did not suffer any perineal damage. The median time for perineal comfort in general (including walking and sitting) was one month (range, zero to six months); 20% of women took more than two months to achieve general perineal comfort. For comfort during sexual intercourse, the median time was three months (range, one to more than 12 months); 20% of women took longer than six months to achieve comfort during sexual intercourse. Factors that were associated with discomfort for longer than the median time were delivery by forceps; spontaneous vaginal (not perineal) tears; and, in the three to four days after the birth, oedema and the breakdown of muscle or skin sutures. There was no significant difference in these times between patients who did not undergo an episiotomy and those who underwent an episiotomy without a forceps delivery.