Tearing is natural and your body will very likely heal naturally even without stitches. Unless it's unnatural tearing.

Check out 10 possible causes of unnatural tearing:

1. Artificial Rupture of Membranes

2. Telling the mother not to vocalize

3. Perineal Stretching during birth

4. Pitocin

5. Coached Pushing

6. Episiotomy

7. Epidural

8. Nuchal Cord Reduction

9. Forceps

10. Vacuum

Have you ever considered that severe tearing might be a consequence of these interventions?

Don’t fear tearing, fear the interventions that make it worse and don't allow them to happen to you.

Here are brief explanations of the tearing risks in each of these interventions.

1. Artificial Rupture of Membranes

Instead of a bag of water which is a soft cushion pushing against the perineum you now have just the bones of the baby’s head. Which do you think is gentler to push out? Also, when left intact, the waters break on their own in the right time and help hydrate and protect the tissues as the baby descends.

2. Telling the Mother not to Vocalize

Vocalizing during birth is a primal and instinctual urge. Asking the mother to be silent is a type violence and makes it harder for the baby to be born.

As the throat opens, the perineum opens and relaxes.

3. Perineal Stretching during birth

When someone else other than the mother is stretching her tissues, it is obviously not natural. It can cause more tearing and trauma, doing more harm than good.

4. Pitocin

Pitocin causes unnaturally strong contractions, which will disconnect the mother from her intuitive rhythm, especially when it’s time to push.

5. Coached Pushing

When the woman has her attention inwards and follows her body’s signals, she aligns with the internal flow of stretching and softening of her tissues as the baby is born. External coaching overrides this connection and increases the risk of tearing.

6. Episiotomy

Once believed to prevent tears, this extremely violent intervention is now known to increase the risk of deeper and more severe tearing.

7. Epidural

An epidural disconnects the mother from the sensations of her body. Without this awareness, she can’t feel exactly what’s going on or adjust her position intuitively. This disconnection often leads to forced or poorly timed pushing, increasing the risk of tearing.

8. Nuchal Cord Reduction

When a practitioner wants to check and feel if the umbilical cord is around a baby’s neck during birth, they stretch the perineum more than just the baby’s head naturally would, potentially causing unnatural tearing. Nuchal cord is very normal and babies are frequently born with the cord around their neck without any issue.

9. and 10. Forceps or Vacuum

Both forceps and vacuum devices stretch the perineum much more than the baby’s head, inevitably leading to unnatural tearing.

Connect to your intuition in the pushing stage. Tearing is not the enemy, disconnection and intrusion are.

When you trust your body, protect your space, and birth undisturbed, your tissues open and tear naturally, in a way that makes healing much easier and allows your baby to be born through power, not pressure.