11 Warning Signs Of Health Problems After Giving Birth

In most cases, most women give birth without any challenge. But it’s good to note that any woman can experience some problems after giving birth.

A few weeks or months after delivering your baby, you might experience some changes in most parts of your body as it returns to its normal condition. This period is known as postpartum, and it lasts for about three months.

The changes experienced during postpartum vary from woman to woman. For instance, if you experienced headaches during pregnancy, you might not experience them anymore after giving birth. But other major challenges like bladder problems might continue and pose a great danger to your health.

Women need to have peace of mind after giving birth. Their family members need to support them both mentally and physically as they slowly return to their ordinary lives. For one, they can start relieving her from her usual household duties. After all, as a new mother, it’s advisable not to engage in heavy tasks for six weeks after giving birth. This is the time when you need to monitor your baby and focus on healing.

As you get stronger, slowly return to your daily activities. It’s also good to eat a balanced diet during and after birth. Ensure you take a lot of vitamins to help strengthen your immunity.

Warning Signs Of Health Problems During Postpartum Period

During postpartum, multiple major complications require the attention of your doctor. You can manage most of the minor ones at home. For instance, you can go through a minor postpartum problem like constipation without any assistance.

However, if you experience continuous chronic back pain for many hours, you need to Google emergency room near me to find where you can get yourself fast for medical attention.

The experienced doctors you’ll meet will help you recover from the pain. To be on the safe side, if these doctors prescribe medication or give you specific instructions, be ready to follow them to the letter. That’s the only way you can quickly recover from the pain.

Those things happen. So, you must learn some of the warning signs that you may experience after giving birth to your newborn baby. Continue reading to know them so that you can prepare in advance on how you can handle them in the event they arise.

Hemorrhage 

A hemorrhage is abnormal bleeding after giving birth. While it’s normal for women to bleed after delivering their babies, sometimes, you can experience excessive bleeding that can last for more than six weeks. Take note that normal bleeding takes between two and six weeks after

giving birth. Anything beyond that bracket should be termed abnormal bleeding or hemorrhage and be addressed.

Ideally, normal bleeding starts immediately after you deliver the baby. This kind of bleeding doesn’t pose any danger to you. The blood will come out through the genitals regardless of whether you gave normal birth or cesarean. So, you shouldn’t be worried if you find yourself passing out a lot of blood after giving birth. But if the bleeding persists, you need to seek medical care.

Maybe you’re asking yourself, how will you know whether you’re experiencing normal or abnormal bleeding? While sometimes it might be hard to tell whether your bleeding is or not normal immediately after you give birth, normal bleeding usually starts to slow down within a few days.

If the bleeding doesn’t slow down within a few days, then your bleeding is abnormal. Though the bleeding might increase temporarily depending on the physical activities you’re involved with; you should see a positive change each day.

Breast Pain 

Breast pain is a common postpartum problem experienced by most mothers. Whether mothers decide to breastfeed their children or not, they will likely experience breast pain immediately after giving birth. The only difference is that if they breastfeed, they’re likely to experience less pain than when they opt not to breastfeed.

So, any time you experience breast pain, you can decide to breastfeed your child to relieve the pain. However, if you’ve opted not to breastfeed, it’s advisable to take a hot shower as a home remedy. But if the pain persists, be sure to seek medical attention.

Even if breastfeeding can help relieve pain, it can sometimes cause you to have nipple pain. This is because babies need to learn how to nurse first through experience. During the process, they might bite and injure nipples.

Though breast pain is normal, you need to visit your doctor for medication if the pain becomes severe or when your breast nipples start to bleed.

Depression 

Stress and anxiety are common experiences for most mothers after giving birth. These conditions may last for days or even weeks. While going through stress and anxiety or baby blues is normal, sometimes the situation may worsen and last for many months. This hinders the mother from taking good care of the child.

If it’s happening to you, you might be experiencing postpartum depression. This kind of depression can lead to suicide, and you must educate your partner and other family members

about this topic as well. They should know that any mother experiencing postpartum depression needs to seek medical assistance before it becomes too late.

Infections 

Giving birth involves a lot of struggles, and in the process, you might get injured or develop some open wounds. Sometimes the baby might be too big, and as your newborn child tries to come out, your baby forces itself through your genitals, causing some stitches. Even when you decide to deliver your baby through the cesarean section, you’re likely to suffer from injuries because the process involves two large incisions.

Though it’s normal to experience some pain as you heal, the pain shouldn’t be too severe. So, if you experience the pain suddenly increasing, it’s advisable to seek medical care to avoid complications from arising. Some signs of postpartum infection include pain when passing urine, increasing pain, discharge, and fever.

Lochia 

Lochia is a condition where a woman might experience a discharge after giving birth, which might last for several weeks or months. It involves a heavy bright bloody discharge that sometimes may include blood clots, especially during the first few days after delivery of the baby. As the days go by, the discharge tends to lighten, and its color gradually changes to pink and finally to yellow or white before it stops flowing out.

Hemorrhoids And Constipation 

The two conditions are quite common to most women during pregnancy and after giving birth. As the fetus grows, the uterus enlarges. This can cause pressure to build up in your abdomen and cause hemorrhoids, constipation, and some discomfort in your stomach.

While taking over-the-counter medicines and food rich in fiber can help deal with constipation, it’s good to seek professional medical advice, especially when the discomfort persists. You can also consider doing some home remedies like warm sitz baths and cold compress to help relieve constipation.

Hair Loss 

It’s common for most women to experience faded hair when the baby is below six months. A large percentage of them are also likely to lose their hair. When pregnant and breastfeeding, some women’s hair growth hormone fails to function, which can cause them to lose hair.

These hormones might even stop working completely, especially when you continue breastfeeding your child for a long period.

Discomfort During Sex 

While there is no recommended time to resume your sex life after giving birth, it would be helpful to resume the sexual activity when you’re comfortable. That will require you to wait until you’re mentally and physically ready to have sex.

Ideally, it’s a good idea to postpone sex until your genitals completely heal from birth injuries, which can take a maximum of six weeks under normal circumstances. However, it would be best to consult your doctor before making any decision about your sex life after giving birth.

Note that having sex might be painful for the first three months, especially if you’re breastfeeding. When breastfeeding, the levels of the estrogen hormone in the body might go down, causing your genitals to be dry, which causes pain during penetration. You can alleviate this concern by applying a water-based lubricant to reduce the pain-inducing friction.

Challenge Re-gaining Your Original Shape 

Most women may gain a lot of weight after giving birth, and it causes them to lose their original shapes. If you find yourself in such a situation, you can perform simple exercises to lose some postpartum weight.

Exercises should be the best remedy for your weight, not unless you had complications giving birth or having a c-section. If that is the case, you need to visit your doctor who should advise you on the best action to take to deal with your post-pregnancy weight.

Exercises can help regain your original shape and help restore your muscle strength. But note that you can’t immediately jump into vigorous exercises. You need time to heal completely and take things slowly.

Some of the best exercises you can do are walking, stretching, and swimming. However, in the case of swimming, it’s advisable not to swim in the first three weeks after giving birth as bacteria might enter your body through your wounds.

Hospitals and health community schools are the best places you can visit for these exercises because they offer designed exercises to fit your postpartum weight condition. These institutions also allow you to interact with other mothers with whom you can share common ideas or support each other physically and mentally.

Sepsis 

Sepsis is a life-threatening problem. As a mother, you’re at risk of it, especially during the first few weeks after giving birth. It occurs when the body responds to advanced life-threatening infections. Bladder, breast, uterine, and even blood infections are some of the common causes of sepsis.

As explained earlier, these infections enter your body when giving birth as your body becomes exposed to bacteria and other micro-organisms. These infections expose your body to great danger and, if left unaddressed, it leads to sepsis.

Some symptoms of postpartum sepsis include high temperatures, fatigue, chills, nausea, vomiting, and dizziness. Sometimes you might even stop peeing. So, if you experience such symptoms after giving birth, you might be suffering from sepsis and need to visit your doctor for examination and treatment.

Chronic Headache 

You should never ignore chronic headaches, especially if it’s accompanied by nausea and neck pain. While it’s common for most mothers to experience headaches after giving birth, you should be especially concerned if you had anesthesia delivered to your back before you have birth. Post-dural-puncture headache (PDPH) or epidural headache often happens when a person’s spine was punctured.

Epidural headache occurs when there’s a puncture in the membrane that holds the cerebrospinal liquid, causing the liquid to leak. Cerebrospinal fluid is responsible for encasing the brain and the spinal cord.

The leaks create some imbalance in the cerebrospinal fluid, which might result in a chronic headache. Sometimes you might not experience this condition immediately after giving birth. You might start experiencing severe migraine-like headaches two to three days after the birth.

Though over-the-counter medication can help solve this condition, the most recommended method is to do a blood patch where the woman’s blood is injected into the spinal fluid. The injection creates a clot that stops the leaks, and this helps relieve you from the chronic headache. Drinking a lot of water can also help reduce headaches.

Final Thought 

Though a newborn brings happiness, sometimes you might experience some pains and discomforts. While it’s normal to experience some of these discomforts, it’s good to seek medical advice whenever you experience them. Though serious health conditions normally occur six weeks after the delivery, it would be best to seek early medication for the symptoms rather than wait when the condition gets worse.

In case you experience one of the above signs, you need not worry because all these conditions are treatable. You only need to treat them early enough so that you can get ample time to take care of your child.

Knowing the above postpartum challenges and knowing how you can overcome them will help you prepare in advance so that you can have ample time to take good care of your child.

Julie Higgins
Author
Julie is a Staff Writer at momooze.com. She has been working in publishing houses before joining the editorial team at momooze. Julie's love and passion are topics around beauty, lifestyle, hair and nails.