CAfter pregnancy, your body slowly recovers after giving birth in the postpartum period. We would like to give you a brief overview of the physical changes that you can expect after pregnancy and giving birth in the postpartum period.
Uterus
Immediately after birth, your uterus begins to shrink and needs about six to eight weeks until its size and shape are comparable to what it was before pregnancy. Immediately after birth, the organ weighs about one kilogram. Once the shrinkage is complete, it only weighs about 50-70 grams.
The recovery is usually monitored by a postnatal midwife. She will regularly check the position of your uterus (fundus position). An ideal course of events, which of course only occurs rarely, looks something like this:
about 12 hours after birth
Fundus at the level of the navel
about 3 days after birth
Fundus approx. 3 finger widths below the navel
from the 12th day after birth
Find behind the symphysis, no longer palpable
Cervix
The cervix is stretched considerably during birth. It then takes about two days for the external cervix (portio) to form again. The internal cervix then regresses and is closed around seven days after birth. However, this does not close completely, of course, but only enough so that your lochia can drain away easily.
Vulva and vagina
Your external genitals were put under a lot of strain during childbirth. In addition to tears and abrasions, you may also experience bruising, water retention and enlarged veins (varices). During the postpartum period, all of this will disappear and your injuries will heal.
Abdominal wall
The muscle tension in your abdominal muscles returns to normal and a possible rectus diastasis begins to close. Rectus diastasis refers to the condition of your straight abdominal muscles, which have been stretched so much by the child in your stomach that a gap initially remains between them. With targeted exercises during the postpartum period, this muscle gap can be closed in the vast majority of cases.
Pelvic floor
The muscle tension in your pelvic floor returns to normal. During the postpartum period, your postpartum midwife will probably show you how to strengthen your pelvic floor.
Skin
During pregnancy, some women develop dark patches of skin due to increased estrogen and the resulting increased production of melanin. The so-called linea nigra (sometimes linea negra or linea fuchsa) can be a narrow line running from the pubic bone over the belly button to the breast. In addition, darker pigmentation can be visible on the areolas of your nipples. And dark pigment spots can appear on hands and forearms, for example. This pigmentation usually disappears again during the postpartum period.
In addition, stretch marks (so-called striae gravidarum) can appear during pregnancy, which usually have a bluish shimmer on the extremely stretched skin. These tears in the connective tissue do not disappear after birth, of course, as the tissue is permanently damaged. However, they become noticeably paler and sometimes slightly silvery.
Cardiovascular system and blood
The increased heart rate during pregnancy reduces again to around 60 to 100 beats per minute after birth. The blood flow to the legs and pelvis is also somewhat slower in the first few days after birth.
In combination with an increased tendency of your blood to clot (this is due to the hormonal changes), this can lead to a slight risk of thrombosis. And even though thrombosis in the postpartum period is fortunately very rare (less than 0.1% of women are affected), you should pay attention to possible symptoms such as pain and swelling in just one leg and contact your postpartum midwife or gynecologist if in doubt.
Some women also lose a lot of blood during childbirth and suffer from iron deficiency afterwards. This can be a cause of tiredness, headaches and circulatory problems in the postpartum period. It helps to drink a lot, eat iron-rich foods such as oat and millet flakes, pumpkin or pine nuts, zucchini, broccoli or fennel and, if you need more iron, drink Kräuterblut® or a similar product. Iron tablets are not often prescribed in the postpartum period because of their constipating effect, but sometimes you can't avoid them (and you can still get your bowel movements going, as we have written here).
