What Happens to Your Body After Giving Birth

What Happens to Your Body After Giving Birth Dr. Travis Stork: A proud new mother Marian on the phone right now. She’s actually in the maternity ward of St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, California. She just delivered her daughter Sophia, so congratulations Mariam. So how long did you give birth? Mariam: I gave birth to a beautiful healthy baby girl, just 24 hours ago, I've heard that there are lots of women having pressure on their bowels and having a lot of discharge. What can I expect from my body? Dr. Lisa Masterson: And this is perfect and I'm sure she has an OBGYN who is instructing her and helps her in postpartum care. But for the moms at home, it's true we do focus on that nine months, and that labor and delivery, and then the baby and not ourselves, again after delivery. And there are so many changes going on. And the first that’s happening with that pressure, is your uterus is starting to shrink. During the course of the pregnancy it is expanded to 15 times the size and then it very slowly goes back to its regular size. And it's your hormones, you're actually breastfeeding is actually what helps that. So you may be feeling pressure of that uterus low in your pelvis as it starts to shrink. The other thing is that your breast is going to start to produce something called colostrum in the first few days. You're not actually producing milk right at first, but the colostrum is enough to support the baby. And then the other thing is that vaginally, you're going to have a lot of discharge. Women don’t realize they bleed for about four weeks and after the delivery and maybe you’re in pads, you may be having hemorrhoids, you may have problems with the episiotomy or incision and so you do have to think about what's going to happen to you afterwards, because I told my mommy and was very helpful to me, and God bless my mother-in-law, who is with me, and my mother who was with me right after delivery, you need help afterwards, because with all the physical changes and all the emotional changes of taking care of the baby, you have to have help at home, you know whether that’s your partner, because your partner is going to be busy to. So it's a big time, it's an exciting time, it's a crazy time, I'm totally in love with my son. But it's just a miracle that’s going on and congratulations to you. Dr. Travis Stork: And Mariam thank you for sharing this wonderful day with all of us. Mariam: Well, thank you guys. Dr. Travis Stork: And best of luck to you and Sophia and all of your family. Mariam: Thank you so much.