Vaginal Tears During Birth: Prevention, Healing, and What to Expect
Pregnancy Podcast
Vanessa Merten
4.5 • 970 Ratings
🗓️ 15 March 2026
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Vaginal tears are one of the most common parts of birth that expecting mothers are not prepared for. More than half of women experience some degree of tearing during a vaginal birth, and rates are even higher for first-time moms. The good news is that there are evidence-based strategies to reduce your risk. This episode covers what tearing is, what the different degrees mean, and what factors increase your risk. Learn about perineal massage, warm compresses, labor positions, and other research-backed methods. If you experience a tear or an episiotomy, there is a lot you can do to promote healing and make yourself more comfortable. Whether you are planning your first birth or preparing for another, understanding your options puts you in a better position to prevent tearing and recover well if it happens.
Full article and resources for this episode: https://pregnancypodcast.com/vaginaltears/
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You are listening to the pregnancy podcast with Vanessa Martin. |
| 0:10.7 | Hello, thank you for tuning into the pregnancy podcast. In today's episode, we're talking about |
| 0:18.4 | vaginal tears during birth, and We'll cover prevention, healing, |
| 0:22.5 | and what to expect. Vaginal tears are one of the most common parts of birth that expecting |
| 0:28.8 | mothers are not prepared for. More than half of women experience some degree of tearing |
| 0:35.0 | during a vaginal birth. The rates are even higher for first-time |
| 0:39.4 | moms. The good news is that there are evidence-based strategies that you can use during pregnancy |
| 0:46.1 | and during your labor to reduce your risk. This episode will cover what tearing is, how common it is, what the different degrees mean, |
| 0:56.5 | and what factors increase your risk. You will learn about perennial massage, warm compresses, |
| 1:03.9 | labor positions, and other methods backed by research. If you do experience a tear or you do have an episiotomy, there's a lot that you can do |
| 1:15.0 | to promote healing and make yourself more comfortable. Whether you're planning for your first birth |
| 1:21.2 | or preparing for another, understanding your options will put you in a much better position |
| 1:27.1 | to prevent tearing and to recover well if it happens. |
| 1:32.5 | You can read the full article and see all of the resources that accompany this episode at Pregnancy Podcast.com slash vaginal tears. |
| 1:45.5 | You are on the public feed of the podcast. |
| 1:48.6 | That means adds and access to only the last year of episodes. |
| 1:54.0 | If you want the full pregnancy podcast experience, check out pregnancyregnancy Podcast Premium. |
| 2:01.5 | Premium members get instant access to the entire back catalog, hundreds of episodes, |
| 2:07.2 | and everything, including new episodes each week, is completely ad-free in your favorite |
| 2:13.4 | podcast app. |
| 2:15.1 | Check it out at Pregnancypodcast.com slash premium. Zoller goes above and beyond in |
| 2:24.4 | formulating their prenatal vitamin. It's made with high quality ingredients like the active form |
... |
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