. For many women, the process of pregnancy ends after the child is delivered. That is quite understandable after a hectic nine months and all the associated discomforts. However, according to medical experts, it does not stop there. Just as there was pre-natal care for a pregnant woman, a nursing mother should also have access to post-natal care information. This will ensure that things do not go wrong even after delivery. The post-natal care a woman needs can also depend on the kind of delivery she has gone through (either normal or assisted delivery). An assisted delivery could mean delivery with forceps or through a caesarean section.
For a normal delivery, it can come with a tear, or it can come with a cut. If you have a tear, it can heal by itself. And if it is large enough, it can be sutured. However, whether episiotomy or tear, you may be advised to do sitz bath- a type of birth in which only the hips and buttocks are soaked in water or saline solution, in order for it to heal properly. But for caesarean section, the woman of course has to stay in the hospital, as all major surgical procedures require.
Another area where the woman needs to take care of very well is the nipple. Especially if the woman is breastfeeding, she must take very good care of her nipples. A woman who is breastfeeding must be told that she must always put her baby on both breasts if not it will become engorged and may even become abscess, which can be very painful. She may be advised to put Vaseline on the nipple to avoid having cracked nipples. But that will also mean she will have to clean her breast before breastfeeding, else she will be feeding her child Vaseline.
Most women are concerned about the size of their tummies after childbirth, so there is always that need to let them know what they can do to get their tummies back to the pre-pregnancy size. However he dismisses the various practices women carry out as mere myth. Such practices include the drinking of brandy, which many claim clears the woman’s womb of left-over blood, massaging of the tummy with hot water and tying it with wrapper. The hot water massage does not have any effect on whether the woman’s body will return to its normal size or not. And the belief that if you drink brandy, it will get out all the blood in the womb is all a lie. It does not get out anything and the wrapper does not do anything. Any woman who is concerned about the size of her tummy should start doing abdominal exercise, as this will help greatly. And for a woman who had caesarean section can start after six weeks, but women should know that individual bodies are different. This is, the fact that your neighbor regained her flat tummy shortly after childbirth does not mean your own will follow the same pattern. Some women have weak abdominal wall muscles so they can’t have flat tummy like those who have strong abdominal muscle. However, exercises generally help because the help strengthen the muscles.
Emphasis is laid on the need for the woman to go back to the hospital after six weeks, as this is not a mere formality; because that it is expected that the woman’s system should have gotten back to normal. Some of the ailments that were pregnancy induced would have gone, and if not the woman would be thoroughly investigated. For instance if a woman is pregnant and has high blood pressure and six weeks after delivery, it’s still there, you don’t assume that the pregnancy was sorely responsible for it.
Another thing which gynecologists usually check is the lochia that is the normal uterine discharge of blood, tissue, and mucus from the vagina after childbirth. This is to ensure that it has stopped, and if it has not stopped then the doctor will Endeavour to control the situation, as it is not good enough to linger for so long. Then there is also the issue of the menstrual flow. A lot of women would not see their menstrual period for as long as they breastfeed while there are some who will start their menstrual period one month after childbirth. However whether they do see it or not, the onus falls on the doctor to advise them on effective family planning. Does that mean a breastfeeding woman who has not seen her period can still get pregnant? The answer is yes.
What about women who claim that they use breastfeeding as a form of family planning? In family planning, we have what is known as lactational amenorrhea method which is based on breastfeeding. It is documented, but no method is 100 percent fail-safe, so a woman should not say because she is breastfeeding, therefore she can’t get pregnant.
But how soon can a woman resume sexual intercourse after delivery? As soon as she feels like. Even if a woman goes through a caesarean section? Oh yes! If a woman wants to have sexual intercourse on the night of her caesarean section, why not? That is if she can handle it. There are no medical implications. Generally any woman who goes through childbirth should always maintain good hygiene, eat balanced meals and get enough rest.
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