Fulltime Mama My name is Elizabeth, and I am the happy wife of ten years to Fabio and fulltime mama to four beautiful children: Joshua-9, Dominique 7, Israel- almost 5, Johann-3 and expecting a new baby in April 2012! We are currently living in Brazil as missionaries and life never ceases to be an adventure!!! I love motherhood with a passion and am passionate about providing a place here at MamaKnowsBest where mothers can learn, grow, and share ... pooling the wisdom of many into one big jackpot for mothers. View all articles | Contact author

It Takes Time to Recover from Childbirth

When my grandmothers were having their babies in the hospital, they stayed for a week. In Japan even today, you stay in the hospital for five days after a vaginal birth, and ten days after a c-section.  Some people still realize that women need to rest after having a baby!

However, most of those people are not in our country, it seems. In our present society, women are booted out of the hospital the day after having given birth, and may be lucky enough to stay an extra night if they have major abdominal surgery as part of the birth process (a c-section).

The reason women don’t rest, however, is not entirely the fault of the hospital. Women feel pressured to “get back in the saddle”. I know – I have felt that way after each of my four babies!  And there is no one, for the most part, telling them that they shouldn’t.

It is even worse when the new mom “feels good”. Maybe she had an easy birth experience and feels like she has “bounced back” in a week.

So, I am writing this down for the moms who need someone to tell them to go back to bed, or at least sit down and put their feet up! J

Here’s why: During the process of birth, your muscles are very strained (duh, right?!), and very stretched – to the max (in case you didn’t feel that!).  All of the muscles of the pelvic floor go through some pretty serious trauma – which they were made to go through and from which they were made to recover, but it takes time.

Now let’s talk about the uterus. It gets heavy throughout the course of pregnancy. (Betcha didn’t notice that either, eh?)  It does not become immediately “light” once you have delivered the baby.  It is still rather heavy in the early postpartum phase, and takes a full six weeks to return to its normal size.

So, think about this picture: Your strained, thinned, stretched-out pelvic floor, having to sustain a still-heavy uterus, while you are up and about, walking around the house, picking up other children, doing “light” housework, putting something “simple” on for dinner, etc.   This is not a pretty picture.

If you have just had your first child, your body may allow you to abuse it this way without serious repercussions, but the more children you have, the more difficult it becomes to recover from this sort of strain! Your muscles will get tired of it, your uterus will get tired of it, and the result will likely not make you feel happy. :-)

God knew all about this when He told His people in the Old Testament that a woman that has just had a baby should stay at home and do nothing for 40-80 days!  I don’t believe that we are required to live under every letter of the Law, but I do believe that the God who designed our bodies knows best how they ought to be cared for.

So, if you have just had a baby, or if you are preparing to, you have my permission to take your time recovering!  It’s okay if things seem like they are “falling apart” for a few weeks. They can be put back together; it’s best to keep mama from falling apart! :-)