Postpartum care

The postpartum period, which lasts six to eight weeks, involves many physical and emotional changes that can be difficult to navigate alone. For example, before, during and up to a year after childbirth, women may experience changes in their mood, including depression and anxiety.

Our care team supports women who experience mood disorders, such as:

• Baby blues (also known as postpartum blues)
• Postpartum depression
• Postpartum anxiety
• Postpartum obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
• Postpartum post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Postpartum psychosis (such as shifting between moods, hallucinations and disorganized thinking)

Pre-eclampsia is a serious condition related to high blood pressure. Some women develop pre-eclampsia when they are pregnant, during labor or even after the baby is born (up to six weeks after birth). It can happen even if a woman did not have pre-eclampsia duringpregnancy and childbirth.

Physical effects can include high blood pressure (140/90 or greater), kidney and liver changes and rapid weight gain in the hands and face. Related mental health symptoms may include emotional distress, upsetting dreams or thoughts, unwanted memories and sadness or negative thoughts.

Women who have pre-eclampsia have a lifetime higher risk for health conditions that impact the heart and kidneys. Talk to your primary care doctor each year about your pre-eclampsia risks.

Secondary postpartum hemorrhage, or heavy bleeding, may happen soon after you give birth. Sometimes, heavy bleeding occurs days after delivery — even one to two weeks after. This is known as secondary or late postpartum hemorrhage.