Pregnancy - The First 30 Days After Birth

by Jennifer Shakeel

Congratulations, you have just given birth to a wonderful baby! However, as wonderful as giving birth is, the process puts tremendous stress and shock on your body. It is difficult to explain all of the complex and minute changes that your body has to go through to get your body back to pre-pregnancy status. In addition to recovering from being pregnant, the body also has to recover from the actual labor and birth of the baby, being up at all times of the night and day, severe sleep deprivation, and breastfeeding. Believe it or not your body goes through most of the changes in the first 30 days.

All of the "jobs" your body now has is often referred to the nutritional equivalent of running a half marathon… EVERY DAY. So it is important that new mothers understand that a lot of this work is done without them even realizing, so it is no wonder a mother's body and emotions are under such strain and generally leave us feeling fragile at this time. As such, emotional, physical and other issues can arise - which if not managed well can manifest into longer term problems. Studies have shown that a high percentage of new mothers in western cultures have health and sexual problems for several months to a year after delivery, and reported this as "normal". More on Pregnancy - The First 30 Days After Birth