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Your Body:What's Happening in the Postpartum Period After BirthImmediately after your baby is born and the placenta has come out, your health care provider will want to conduct a quick exam just to make sure that you are fine and there are no complications. During this exam, your health care provider will:
The vaginal discharge that occurs after you give birth is called lochia. At the start, it is red and bloody, but it will gradually taper off within two to six weeks. You will be encouraged to eat and drink. Labor and birth are hard work, and your body needs nourishment. This is also the time to start getting to know your baby, celebrate with family and friends, take a shower, and get some rest. Continue to "Your Baby: What's Happening"   Journey to Parenthood is available as a book in our bookstore. Most recent page update: 2/26/2008
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Childbirth Connection is a national not-for-profit organization founded in 1918 as Maternity Center Association. Our mission is to improve the quality of maternity care through research, education, advocacy and policy. Childbirth Connection promotes safe, effective and satisfying evidence-based maternity care and is a voice for the needs and interests of childbearing families. |
News and Features : Health Professionals
New VBAC Guidlines
ACOG has just issued new Guidlines for VBAC. What changed? What continues? We've Moved!
On July 1, 2010, the Childbirth Connection office moved to 260 Madison Avenue, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10016. All other contact information is unchanged. "2020 Vision" and "Blueprint for Action" Reports Available
Rising Maternal Mortality
Help Transform Maternity Care!  Please join our efforts to make quality maternity care a top national priority. Your support will help make the transformation possible. View 2010 Supporter Roster 
Updated Maternity Care Statistics Available
US Cochrane Center (USCC)/Consumers United for Evidence-based Healthcare (CUE)
New Mothers Speak Out National Report Released The latest report in Childbirth Connection's Listening to Mothers series is now available. Get an eye-opening look at the reality of life as a mother of young children in the United States, based on national surveys conducted by Harris Interactive. Learn more, get the report Read the Wall Street Journal story and listen to the podcast Download Quick Facts (PDF) Why does the national U.S. c-section rate keep going up? Current research points to an optimal cesarean section rate of 5% to 10%, but 1 pregnant woman in 3 is giving birth by major surgery in the United States. Why the surge and is this safe? A new page - and a PDF handout for journalists, policy makers, students and others - answer these questions. Read more about the rising cesarean section rate New Content!
March/April 2009 evidence column is now available.
Features: National Quality Forum endorses consensus perinatal performance measures; systematic reviews on induction of labor, environmental tobacco smoke and fetal health, and HPV infection and cervical neoplasia Get the column Popular Pages
 Comfort in Labor, by Penny Simkin Penny Simkin, the internationally recognized leader in childbirth education and labor support, shares her wisdom with women, including comfort measures, effective positions, and tips for partners and doulas. Download Comfort in Labor (free PDF) 
Every woman has the right to receive maternity care that identifies and addresses social and behavioral factors that affect her health and that of her baby. She should receive information to help her take the best care of herself and her baby and have access to social services and behavioral change programs that could contribute to their health.
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