(Info. provided by babycenter.com)
*How much weight will I lose after having my baby?
You probably won't return to your pre-pregnancy weight for some time, but you will lose a significant amount of weight immediately after delivery. Subtracting one 7- to 8-pound baby, another pound or two of placenta, and another 2 pounds or so of blood and amniotic fluid leaves most new moms about 12 pounds lighter.
The weight keeps coming off, too. All the extra water that your cells retained during pregnancy, along with fluid from the extra blood you had in your pregnant body, will be looking for a way out. So you'll produce more urine than usual in the days after birth — an astounding 3 quarts a day — and you may notice yourself perspiring a lot, even while you sleep. By the end of the first week, you'll lose about 4 pounds of water weight. (The amount varies depending on how much water you retained during pregnancy.)
*How come I can't tell when I need to pee?
It's not uncommon to feel as if you don't have to pee much in the first day after you give birth, especially if you had a prolonged labor, a forceps or vacuum-assisted vaginal delivery, or an epidural. This is caused by your bladder becoming temporarily less sensitive. But with all the extra fluid your kidneys are processing, your bladder fills up rapidly, so it's essential for you to urinate frequently even if you don't have the urge to.
If too much urine accumulates in your bladder, you might have a hard time making it to the toilet without leaking. More important, though, your bladder could become over-distended. This can cause urinary problems and also makes it harder for your uterus to contract, leading to more afterpains and bleeding.
If you can't pee within a few hours after giving birth, a catheter will be put in your bladder to drain the urine. (If you deliver by c-section, you'll have a urinary catheter for the surgery and the following 12 hours or so.) Let the nurse know if you're having difficulty urinating or are only producing a small amount of urine when you pee. If your bladder gets too full, it can actually prevent you from being able to urinate.
*How long will it take for my uterus to shrink?
By the time you give birth, your uterus is about 15 times heavier (not including its contents!) and holds at least 500 times more than before you conceived. Within minutes after your baby is born, contractions cause your uterus to begin to shrink, clenching itself like a fist, its crisscrossed fibers tightening in the same way they do during labor. This may cause you to feel cramps known as afterpains.
For the first couple of days after birth, you can feel the top of your uterus at or a few finger widths below the level of your belly button. In a week your uterus weighs about a pound — half what it weighed at delivery. After two weeks it's down to a mere 11 ounces and located entirely within your pelvis. By four to six weeks, it's back to its normal pre-pregnancy weight of about 2 1/2 ounces. This process is called involution of the uterus.
*Why am I bleeding?
After your baby's born, cells that form the lining of the uterus begin to slough off. This results in a discharge called lochia that lasts for weeks. For the first two to four days, lochia contains a fair amount of blood, so it appears bright red and menstrual-like. It gradually gets lighter in color, turning pinkish, and finally fading to white or yellow-white, with the amount tapering off over time before it stops.
*What's going on with my breasts?
Hormonal changes after delivery prompt your breasts to start producing milk. When your baby nurses during the first few days after birth, he's getting colostrum, a thick yellowish substance that your breasts produced during pregnancy. His suckling triggers the release of the hormones prolactin, which stimulates milk production, and oxytocin, which causes the milk sacs and ducts to contract, propelling the milk to your nipples. (This is the so-called "letdown" reflex.)
If those first breastfeeding sessions cause some abdominal cramping, it's because oxytocin also triggers uterine contractions. Once your milk comes in, usually a few days after delivery, your breasts may get swollen and lumpy and feel tender and uncomfortably full. This is called engorgement, and it should subside in a day or two. Nursing your baby often is the best thing you can do for relief. In fact, frequent nursing right from the beginning sometimes prevents engorgement altogether.
Even if you're not breastfeeding, you'll begin to produce milk, and a few days after you give birth, your breasts will become engorged and feel swollen and uncomfortable. This discomfort may last a couple of days or so. In the meantime, wear a supportive bra around the clock and put cold packs on your breasts, which will ease the swelling and help inhibit milk production. (Be sure to cover the cold packs with cloth to protect your skin.) It can take several weeks for your milk to dry up completely
If you need to, you can take acetaminophen or ibuprofen for pain relief. If you're extremely uncomfortable, you can express just enough milk to make the situation more tolerable. This may prolong the process, however, because stimulating your nipples and emptying your breasts signals your body to make more milk. Avoid applying warmth to your breasts since this, too, can encourage milk production.
*Why am I losing my hair?
If your hair got thicker during your pregnancy, you may now start to shed it in handfuls. This happens to some new moms around one to four months after having their baby. Don't worry — you won't go bald. Just as high estrogen levels caused you to lose less hair during pregnancy, decreasing estrogen levels postpartum may cause you to shed more. It's replaced by new hair, though, and the shedding tapers off, so your hair should be back to normal within a year. On the bright side, if you suffered from excess facial and body hair during pregnancy (the result of an increase in hormones called androgens), you can expect to lose that hair three to six months after having your baby.
*What's going on with my skin?
Hormonal changes, stress, and the fatigue brought on by new parenthood may affect your skin along with the rest of your body. Some women who had perfectly clear skin during pregnancy will have more breakouts in the months following delivery. On the other hand, if you suffered from acne during pregnancy, particularly if it appeared for the first time or got worse, you may begin to see some improvement now.
If you have chloasma (darkened patches of skin on your lips, nose, cheeks, or forehead), it'll begin to fade in the months after giving birth and probably go away completely, as long as you protect your skin from the sun. Any stretch marks you developed will gradually become lighter in color, though they won't disappear altogether.
*Will my vagina and perineum ever get back to normal?
Once you give birth, the space inside your vagina will always be a little larger than it was before your first pregnancy. Right after delivery, the vagina remains stretched open and may be swollen and bruised. Over the next few days, any swelling you might have starts to go down, and your vagina begins to regain muscle tone. In the next few weeks, it will gradually get smaller. Doing Kegel exercises regularly helps restore muscle tone.
If you had an episiotomy or a tear, your perineum needs time to heal, so it's a good idea to wait until after your six-week postpartum checkup to resume having intercourse. You may even have some tenderness after that, too, so be sure to go slowly. Consider starting out being on top of your partner or lying side-by-side so you can control the depth of penetration. In any case, if you find intercourse painful, wait a little longer. (If you want to make love, you can figure out other ways in the meantime!)
When you start having sex again, you'll probably find that you have less vaginal lubrication that you did when you were pregnant, due to lower levels of estrogen. This dryness will be even more pronounced if you're breastfeeding, because nursing tends to keep estrogen levels down. Using a lubricant (usually found near the condoms or the tampons and sanitary pads in the drugstore) helps reduce any discomfort. Be sure to get a water-based lubricant. This is particularly important if you're using a barrier method for birth control, since oil-based lubricants can weaken latex and cause a condom to break.
*Why am I feeling so moody?
Hormonal dips and surges may contribute to any emotional swings you're feeling now, along with discomfort you're still experiencing from labor and birth, the physical demands of caring for a new baby, and the emotional adjustment to motherhood. Whatever the cause, it's common to feel a little blue, usually beginning a few days after giving birth and lasting for a few days. If the feeling doesn't go away on its own in the first few weeks or you find that you're feeling worse rather than better, be sure to call your caregiver. You may be suffering from postpartum depression, a more serious problem that requires treatment.
