Dr Jiricko caught my first child. After the birth I hemorrhaged and needed surgery because during labor my cervics was torn when I was told to push too soon. Then at noon, a couple minutes into my pushing, she told me that the baby was catching on ""just a flap of skin"" and I should allow an episiotomy or I would just tear anyhow. I agreed and she cut through both skin and muscle. My labor and delivery was so fast my son suffered respiratory issues that his doctor told me could have been avoided had his lungs been squeezed longer in the birth canal. The episiotomy was horrible to recover from. It was so painful it ruined relations with my husband for over a year. For the birth of my second I went to Dr Zelenkov who did a wonderful job supporting me while I crowned a baby the same size of my first without an episiotomy, which she only does if the baby is in distress, I did NOT tear! and recovery was dramatically better.
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