After your baby’s been born, your body begins to reverse the changes it went through during pregnancy and labor: The withdrawal of the huge amounts of pregnancy hormones is like the withdrawal of a life force, and the time immediately after labor and delivery ­known as the postnatal or postpartum period-can be very tiring for you. Take care of yourself-try to get as much rest and relaxation as you can and eat well. Make sure you have lots of healthy, fresh foods and plenty of liquid (at least two cups of milk a day and half a gallon of other liquids such as water or fruit juice). If you’re breastfeeding, take good care of your breasts and nipples.

Pelvic Area

After delivery, your uterus, cervix, vagina, and abdomen begin to shrink back to something like their pre-pregnancy and pre-labor sizes. As your uterus shrinks, you’ll have a vaginal discharge known as lochia and you’ll feel some contractions or spasms called after pains or afterbirth cramps.

After pains All women feel uterine contractions throughout their fertile lives. During a period these are known as menstrual cramps, during pregnancy as Braxton-Hicks contractions, and following delivery as after pains. After delivery, uterine contractions are stronger and more painful than usual because your uterus is contracting down to its non pregnant size. And the faster and harder it contracts down, the less likelihood there is of any bleeding. You usually notice after pains more if you’ve had a child before, because the muscles of your uterus will have been stretched by your previous pregnancy and so have to work harder to help get your uterus down to its non-pregnant size. You may also feel these muscular spasms when you breastfeed, as the hormone oxytocin involved in the milk letdown reflex also causes uterine contractions. They usually disappear after three or four days.