I had a water birth and I had a small labial tear. Nothing major, but they gave me 3 stitches for "aesthetic reasons" - to make sure it grows together nicely as my tear was in the labia, sort of near the clitoris.
Waterbirth doesn't guarantee no tears. Nothing can. But the warm water has been credited with making the skin more pliable and stretchy possibly reducing the number and severity of the tear. The main advantage of a waterbirth is the pain management (and boy did it make a difference for me). And yes, birthing the baby's head slowly does reduce the chance of a tear, too. I thik the reason why I tore is that I was getting a little frustrated with pushing and pushing and DD's head just going back after every effort. So I decided to do an almighty push although I had been feeling the stretching sensation. I felt myself tear, but I also felt the head come out. I'm not sure whether I would have torn had I given it more time. I might still have. Who knows.
Honestly, I don't think tearing is as bad as it is often made out to be. It didn't bother me one bit that I tore. But that is easy to say seeing that it wasn't a bad tear.
Sasa
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