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Nope to the perineal massage. That totally grossed me out. I had deep second degree tears but I didn't feel it when it happened and the recovery was fine. The thought of tearing was way worse than the reality.

I did bounce on a ball in an effort to kick start labor but it didn't work. I did drink red raspberry leaf tea but who knows if that did anything! Really not sure.

@Foodnerd81: This really makes me laugh but I'm not totally sure which is worse, I've never stuck anything up my butt before....

@Foodnerd81: OH. Well, I clearly got the wrong description or misunderstood the last time it was explained to me! Hahaha... I'm totally at work too.

I didn't do anything really, I was hoping for the best really. I ended up not tearing but got a labial graze which had 2 stiches.

I did vaginal perineal massage beginning at 34 weeks. I am convinced it helped with not having any tearing. Even the midwives commented that they were waiting for the skin to split and it didn't downwards. I did need 4 stitches but they were along the top.

I did the yoga ball and RRTL supplements! I had a very quick labor! Went from 1 cm to 8cm in 2 hrs before I got the epi! I tried the per massage but I never read one about sticking anything up your butt! Honestly it seed so weird I tried a minute or two and gave up on that.

I sat on my exercise ball all the time and I think that helped. It was so comfortable to sit on most evenings and I really enjoyed bouncing on it! I still got a second degree tear but it wasn't a big deal and recovery was a breeze.

I agree with PP that the fear of tearing was a thousand times worse than the actual tear! I never felt the tear, nor the stitches and they caused minimal discomfort as they healed - never needed any pain meds, sitz baths, witch hazel, tucks pads, or anything like that. Not sure if I can attribute that to sitting on my exercise ball or not, but I'm sure it didn't hurt!

@delight: I think you're fine. I sat on my ball through all of my third tri and never even had any BH. I did go into labour on my due date though, so maybe it helped?

@.twist.: What?! In your butt?! LOL. I did perineal massage 6 nights a week with my husband starting at 35 weeks. The handout we were given explaining the massage did not talk about sticking fingers back there! I didn't have a single tear.

I also did Borage Oil capsules orally starting at 35w and around 38w I started inserting them vaginally as well because there was scar tissue on my cervix that we wanted to soften.

I bounced on my exercise ball regularly starting in my 2nd trimester and did lots of stretches on the ball the last few weeks. My midwife had me do a lot of pelvic rocking and deep squats too. I also walked a ton.

I went into labor a day before my due date and it was 8.5hrs from start to finish, unmedicated. What I swear helped me a ton as well was regular prenatal massages. The last month I was getting them every single week. My body was very relaxed when I went into labor.

I didn't do anything and had an easy labor, small 2nd degree tear. I wasn't even that sore recovery.