Good day guys. It’s so delightful to be with you again. We are starting an interesting discuss on the subject of Postpartum Recovery. Postpartum simply means the period after child birth.
You just did an incredibly beautiful and difficult thing. Now comes the transition from pregnancy to postpartum – and chances are you’re going to feel tired, sore and a little anxious. But what exactly can you expect after giving birth?
Your body and emotions are going to experience a lot of changes in the days and weeks following childbirth. Here are some of the key things to expect immediately after giving birth and during the postpartum recovery process.
No matter how you delivered your baby, the postpartum recovery period is generally considered to be the first six weeks after childbirth.
This doesn’t mean that at six weeks you’ll magically bounce back to pre-baby condition. Instead, this refers to postpartum healing, which is the physical healing of your body after birth.
By the six-week mark, your vagina, perineum or C-section incision should be healed, and your uterus should be back to its normal size. Throughout those first weeks, you’ll experience a lot of changes – from new levels of tiredness to hormone fluctuations. And you’ll probably continue to see changes in your body and emotions for several weeks after the initial six weeks of recovery.
Postpartum hormone changes
Hormones are your body’s chemical messengers that tell your body how to do something and when to do it. During pregnancy, your hormones changed to help support your growing baby and prepare your body for childbirth.
As your uterus sheds that thick lining it maintained during your pregnancy, you’ll experience some vaginal bleeding and discharge – which is known as lochia. Even if you had a cesarean (C-section), you’ll experience bleeding and discharge.
Lochia will start out as bright red for a day or two before gradually fading to pink, and then light brown or light yellow. Bleeding and discharge will be the heaviest within the first several days after having your baby, but will become lighter as time goes on. Typically, lochia can last 4-6 weeks, with discharge continually decreasing.
How much bleeding is too much?
Early on, it may seem like you’re bleeding a lot – similar to having a very heavy period. This is totally normal, but there are a few signs to watch for.
If you’re soaking through one pad an hour for more than two hours, call the nurse line or your care provider right away. Also, if you continue to have bloody discharge or pass blood clots for more than four weeks, call your care provider.
Let’s take a pause here for today. We’ll continue the discussion about postpartum recovery next time. See you then.
