You wait for the birth of your baby for nine months. Have you ever wondered what will happen after giving birth? We describe the changes occurring in the mother and newborn in the first hours after delivery.

Mom after giving birth

  • With the arrival ofbabyinto the world and the intersection of theumbilical cord , the third stage of labor begins, which lasts up to 30 minutes. Due to painless contractions, the placenta is delivered (you feel the need for a little pressure). The doctor looks at them carefully to see if they were born completely. Pain and fatigue are replaced by a sense of fulfillment - after all, you are hugging the baby you have been waiting for nine months to your breast!
  • For two hoursafter giving birthyou will now be closely monitored by your midwife. The amount of bleeding will be controlled and your general condition will be controlled after this enormous exercise for the body. The midwife will check for any damage to your cervix and vagina, and if you had an incision, your perineum will now be sutured under local anesthesia.
  • Take care when you get up. While you may think that you are feeling well already, it is likely that you will feel dizzy. No wonder - your body has done a great job and also lost a lot of blood.

Childbirth - what to do to make it lighter?

  • You are now heavily influenced by hormones. When the placenta is born and the uterus begins to contract, the most oxytocin, known as the "love hormone", is released. Thanks to it, the milk ducts in the breasts open - the baby gets its first meal, and you are flooded with a wave of tenderness. Immediately after the baby is born, the level of endorphins in your body also rises, causing almost complete relief of pain and a feeling of enormous joy and euphoria. There is still an elevated level of adrenaline, which resulted in the maximum mobilization of the organism during labor. Now thanks to her, despite the enormous effort that the childbirth was for you, you have the strength to get up after a few hours and react to the baby's crying.
  • After delivery, there is a discharge from the genital tract, called faeces, which contains remnants of the uterine lining changed during pregnancy along with blood from the uterine cavity, mucous and serous contents. The presence of faeces is due to the healing of woundsduring pregnancy and childbirth in the womb. Faeces are initially bloody, then brownish-red, brownish-yellow, and serous.
  • The main problem for you may be trouble sitting down and changing positions. Even if you have not had an episiotomy and no sutures, the perineum is swollen after delivery, and the vaginal walls are bruised by the baby's squeezing body. A sit down wheel is indispensable in such situations. Unfortunately, only some hospitals are equipped with such wheels. You can buy them at a baby supply store. Thanks to it you will be able to sit down without pain.
  • Sometimes, as a result of strong pressure during childbirth, there is blood redness around the eyes and ecchymosis on the conjunctiva. They are not a disturbing symptom. A few minutes of cool compresses, applied several times a day, and wearing tinted glasses will accelerate the absorption of extravasated blood. They disappear after a few days, but if they continue to enlarge, the vessels may be excessively fragile. Then contact your doctor.
  • You deserve a light meal now. In some hospitals it is still administered in the delivery room after two hours, in others you have to wait for the scheduled time of the hospital. After a day full of such excitement, you can get up and take a shower, but most likely you will want to sleep or lie down for a while. In most hospitals in Poland, you go to the postnatal ward together with your baby. If you are very tired and you only dream of getting enough sleep - you can leave your baby in the care of midwives for a few hours.

Child after childbirth

  • Immediately after birth, before the umbilical cord is cut, the baby is placed on your stomach. This close contact is very important to him - it alleviates the stress experienced during the transition from the warm, dark interior of the membranes to a cooler and illuminated environment. The toddler on his mother's stomach warms with the heat of her body, hears the familiar heartbeat, feels safe.
  • The newborn baby is carefully examined by the midwife and then by the neonatologist who evaluates it on the Apgar scale. It includes: breathing, heart rate, skin color, muscle tension, reflexes. Each of these parameters is scored 0 to 2 points. The Apgar score of a newborn born in good condition ranges from 8 to 10 points.
  • The newborn baby is measured and weighed. This usually takes place a few minutes after giving birth. However, there are hospitals that respect these intimate family moments and wait several hours with these activities,so that mom and baby could enjoy each other. In addition to weighing and measuring the length of the child, the circumference of the head, chest and abdomen are also measured. The doctor also pays attention to the child's behavior, e.g. the nature of the screaming, muscle tension.
  • The first feeding should take place in the delivery room. Immediately after delivery, the mother's breasts produce the so-called colostrum - milk rich in antibodies that immunize the baby. A little man needs a few drops because his digestive system is small.
  • Feeding from day one should only be on demand. The underdeveloped suckling technique means that the baby has to spend a certain time at the breast to satisfy the hunger. A he althy, strong baby is believed to eat within 10-15 minutes, but some babies spend more time breastfeeding, and this is not abnormal.
  • Within 24 hours after birth, your baby should pass its first stool, the so-called meconium. Meconium is ingested particles found in the amniotic fluid that, when not absorbed into the body, accumulate in the intestines to form a dark green mass. Initially, your baby may poop after each feed. While some newborns dirty three diapers a day, others dirty a dozen of them and both cases are normal.
  • In the first day of life, a newborn has two preventive vaccinations - against tuberculosis (BCG) and against hepatitis B (hepatitis B).
  • If you stay in hospital for more than 48 hours, your little one will also be screened for newborns. If you leave the hospital earlier, you will have to do such tests yourself, using the kit that you will receive by post.
Important

Immediately after giving birth you will lose about 5 kg (the weight of the baby and the placenta). Then, in the next week, about 2.5 kg (the volume of the uterus decreases, the body also expels excess fluids).

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Pregnancy