How are YOU doing?
Congratulations! You did it! You can now cuddle your newborn. But it's too early to run home with your new baby. The WHO recommends that women stay at the hospital for at least 24 hours after giving birth vaginally. And most women who’ve had a c-section stay for 2 to 3 days [1]. Use this time to ask your doctors all the questions you have about healing and recovery.
If you had a vaginal birth
Your temperature, blood pressure and pulse will be measured twice a day. If you have given birth at home, monitoring these parameters is also important so as not to miss the onset of inflammation or excessive blood loss [1].
If you have a negative Rh factor, and the baby was born Rh positive, then you should be injected with anti-Rh immunoglobulin within 48 hours after birth [2].
You may have problems with urination and bowel movements: firstly, it could be painful, and secondly, you may not feel the urge. Therefore, it’s important to note the time you use the bathroom immediately after giving birth [3]. It’s also important to drink water and stay hydrated.
Bloody vaginal discharge (lochia) in the first days after childbirth is more abundant than normal menstruation. By the time you leave the hospital, the discharge should be moderate. If not, inform your doctor.
If there was a tear or incision of the perineum, check with your doctor about the stitches you have. Ordinary skin sutures will be removed after you are discharged, usually on the fifth or seventh day. Absorbable intradermal sutures do not need to be removed [2].
If you had a cesarean section
Six to eight hours after the operation if you had epidural anesthesia, and after 8-12 hours if you had general anesthesia, you will be asked to start walking and moving. Rapid recovery of activity is the best prevention of adhesions and thrombosis [1].
At first, you will have a urinary catheter (placed before surgery), but it is almost always removed soon after. If you find it difficult to go to the bathroom on your own, try to drink more. In very rare cases, additional bowel stimulation may be required after surgery. If there has been no stool for more than two days, inform your doctor. The abdomen after cesarean does not decrease as noticeably as after vaginal delivery. You may be given a pitocin drip to help your uterus contract faster [1].
Lochia after cesarean is as inevitable as after vaginal delivery.
Absorbable stitches are almost used; they do not need to be removed. Sometimes a special surgical glue is used. If for some reason a non-absorbable material has been selected, the doctor will tell you when they will be removed.
After leaving the hospital, you can take a shower (the scar can get wet). After a cesarean, mothers are more likely to have nipple problems when breastfeeding if the operation was performed under general anesthesia and the baby was not immediately put to the breast. Be sure to treat cracks and try different breastfeeding positions, too.
