What to Expect After Delivery, Part 1

Whether you had an incredibly enjoyable pregnancy or a difficult one, giving birth is the culmination of months of hard work growing a baby. You finally have a precious new baby (or maybe babies!) to hold, to stare at, and to kiss to your heart’s content. While this makes the months of pregnancy worth it, your body will still be experiencing changes related to pregnancy. It is important to know what to expect after delivery beforehand so that you are not caught off guard.

What to expect after delivery:

Vaginal bleeding

One of the greatest advantages of pregnancy is that you do not have to deal with a monthly period. However, after the long months of growing a baby, there will be a great deal of substance to expel from the uterus. Following delivery, there will be residual mucus, tissue, and blood within the uterus that must be expelled from the body. Your body will work hard to get rid of this through vaginal bleeding called lochia. Lochia is much like a very heavy period with some blood clots, and it will typically last four to six weeks. Your bleeding will fluctuate during this time depending upon your level of activity, lifting, and breastfeeding. It will be necessary to wear sanitary pads until your doctor clears you to wear a tampon.

Cramping

Your uterus is an organ within the female body that has a muscular layer. It grew exponentially throughout your pregnancy, but it need to shrink back down after delivery. The muscular layer within your uterus will contract itself in order to help your uterus regain its small size. This contracting will be uncomfortable at times, but it will not last forever. Typically, your cramping will subside within a couple of weeks, with a few random moments of cramping throughout the first month post-delivery. If you are breastfeeding, your uterus will often contract with the letdown of your milk and in response to your baby feeding. Breastfeeding often makes cramping more intense, but breastfeeding actually helps your uterus and body regain their shape faster.

Perineal discomfort

This may be stating the obvious, but your perineum went through a great deal of trauma if you had a vaginal delivery. While a vaginal delivery is natural, it still causes a great deal of trauma nonetheless. The vagina is a small tunnel cavity that is typically able to hold a tampon securely in place. This same vagina must also be able to stretch to deliver a baby. That is a great amount of expanding, and it will take time to recover from it. If your perineum was torn, or if you had an episiotomy, there will mostly likely be stitches in your perineal area. These stitches will dissolve on their own over a couple of weeks, but you must take care to not tear your stitches. Your entire perineum will be tender and sore for a few weeks, and you will need to limit movement that will cause more trauma to the area (e.g. hiking your leg up to get onto a tall bed).

Abdominal incision

If you had a Caesarean delivery, you will need to deal with the pain and discomfort of your abdominal incision. A Caesarean is a major surgery, and if you had tried to give birth vaginally before a Caesarean was necessary, you may also have to deal with perineal discomfort. During a C-section, your entire abdominal cavity is opened up, handled and moved around, the uterus is cut open, a baby is pulled out, the uterus is stitched back up, the intestines are repositioned, and the abdominal cavity is closed. This is a lot of trauma to your body, and it will take time to recover. Your abdominal incision, as well as your entire abdomen, will be very sore and tender for weeks. Your doctorwill give you specific instructions for how to care for your abdominal incision, and they must be followed carefully to prevent infection and/or to notice when something is not right. You will need to protect yourself from bumps, especially if you already have other children who will be anxious for your attention. Bumping your abdominal incision can make you double over in pain, not to mention that simply getting around will be difficult for the first few weeks.

To be continued…