Cannot recommend a sitz bath enough, the kind that fits on top of the toilet seat.

Just went through this a couple months ago. Sitz baths, donut cushion, warm water in a peri bottle (the frida one), tucks pads, dermaplast, and most of all- time helped. I really wasnt prepared for postpartum recovery with a tear. It was so painful and really took away from enjoying my sweet newborn!! It took about 3 or so months before I felt a little more “normal.”

Eat prunes or drink prune juice for soft stools.
Dermaplast spray, Sibley hospital gave me one.

I did a sitz bath with epsom salts and iodine daily. I also did an oral probiotic but should have done a vaginal one.

Eat plenty of raisin bran and prunes. You do not need a hard stool right now.

Dermaplast for the win! We call it "magic spray" and put it on my kids for cuts etc.

Another fan of Dermoplast. Colace didn’t work for me for some reason but Mylanta did.

I would stand in the hot shower and let the water hit me for a good 20 min. This is the only thing that soothed me! The witch hazel and spray didnt do much and I had a 2nd degree tear as well. Take it easy OP and let yourself heal.

In case this helps... I had vaginal atrophy, which meant my stitches didn’t heal, due to lack of blood flow. What finally worked was getting estrogen suppositories.

Ugh, this brings me back to my own. Peri bottle with warm water and the dermaplast spray helped a lot. The padcicles and witch hazel never really did much for me. Colace definitely.

Night and day recovery between my first (with the tear) and my second (no tear). I couldn't believe how much the tear influenced my sense of what recovery was all about.

Sitz bath with nora tea in it.

Epsom salt in the sits bath made it feel like I was doing something nice vs medical (lavender also has antiseptic properties)

But seriously if it feels weird prioritize having it looked at because scar tissue is hard to fix compared to a recent incision.

Just wanted to echo that it should get better in about three weeks. My couch that I lived on was way too soft postpartum so putting a board under the cushion kind of helped give me support when I was getting up. Something about not having to squat much helped. I hope you feel better soon. There are also ice packs at CVS if you run out and can't wait for Amazon.