Vulva, Vagina, & Uterus
Your uterus has been through a lot and the bad news is, it’s not over yet. Recovery from a regular vaginal delivery over a C-section will pose a variety of challenges, including after-pains that feel like menstrual cramps. These happen before you deliver and can last for up to three days. The contractions shrink your uterus back to its pre-pregnancy state. After six weeks, your uterus is back to its original size and will lower itself right behind your pubic bone as well as flatten your tummy.
Another side effect is lochia, or a bloody discharge, which can occur for up to 6 weeks after childbirth. The mucus and blood will become lighter in flow and color over time, but it comes from an area that’s roughly about the size of a person’s hand, where the placenta was attached to the uterine muscle. Another interesting fact – your cervix will look like it’s smiling for the rest of your life after you’ve given birth to a child, whereas it would normally remain O-shaped if you haven’t given birth before.
If you’ve given birth vaginally, you will have a bruised and swollen crotch for quite some time, whereas a C-section will leave you with a painful incision and a puffy stomach. With rest and painkillers, these symptoms will subside after a few weeks. A sitz bath or tucking a frozen maxi-pad covered in witch hazel into your underwear can sooth a stitched and sore perineum (which is the area located between your vulva and anus). Sitz baths also relieve hemorrhoid pain that can develop during labor. The most important thing a woman should remember about pain after pregnancy is that it will start to get a little better each day. If you have any new pain, discharge, or blood, you should discuss these with your physician right away as you may have an infection that needs to be checked out.
According to Céleste Bouffard, who is a pelvic health physiotherapist in Sudbury, Ontario, your abdomen or perineum should be completely healed after six weeks, but there are times when the nerves might have been injured which would cause sensitivity or numbness. There could also be scar-tissue adhesions. Pelvic health physiotherapists can show you how to manage your incision site to promote healing and circulation. Vaginal dryness can be caused by lower estrogen levels until your hormones revert back to normal. Make sure you use a water-based lubricant before you have sex again.
The next question women often ask after pregnancy is when their period will start up again. If you’re not breastfeeding your baby, your fertility, as well as your period, will come back in around 6-8 weeks. But as long as your breastfeeding, your period may not show up again for up to six months, which is when you’ll start nursing less. When your period eventually does begin again, the timing may vary. It is good to remember that you will ovulate a month prior to the return of your period.
