What is the cause of abdominal pain in pregnant women after childbirth?

I just gave birth to my baby a few days ago. What is the reason for abdominal pain after delivery? I gave birth naturally and it was very painful at the time, but I thought that as long as I could get through this period, everything would be fine, so I persevered. But why did I still have pain in my abdomen after giving birth? I had never experienced this before and didn’t know if this was normal. I asked my mom to ask the doctor what was going on, and now I’ll tell you what the doctor told me.

The cause of postpartum abdominal pain is due to uterine contraction. When the uterus contracts, it causes vascular ischemia, tissue hypoxia, and compression of nerve fibers, so the mother feels abdominal pain. When uterine contractions stop, blood circulation improves, blood vessels become unblocked, tissues are supplied with blood oxygen, nerve fibers are relieved of compression, and pain disappears. This process is generally completed within 1-2 days. Because the uterine fibers of primiparas are relatively tight, uterine contractions are not very strong, and recovery is easy and the time required for recovery is also shorter, and the pain is not obvious. Due to multiple pregnancies, the uterine muscle fibers of multiparas are stretched multiple times, making recovery more difficult. The pain lasts relatively longer and is more severe than that of primiparas. Abdominal pain after childbirth is a normal physiological phenomenon. If the pain lasts for more than a week and is continuous, or is accompanied by a large amount of lochia, dark red color, many blood clots, and a foul odor, it is mostly a sign of pelvic inflammation.

The occurrence of postpartum abdominal pain is mainly due to blood deficiency, malnutrition of the uterine vessels, weak Qi, or blood stasis, obstruction of the uterine vessels, resulting in poor circulation of Qi and blood, and causing abdominal pain. When experiencing abdominal pain after childbirth, the first thing to do is to differentiate between deficiency and excess. Pain caused by blood stasis is real pain; pain caused by the absence of blood is false pain. Generally, the nature of the pain and the color, quality and amount of lochia can be used to determine whether the condition is real or not. The treatment is mainly to regulate Qi and blood, replenishing the deficiency and mobilizing the excess.

Postpartum abdominal pain is mostly caused by blood stasis and cold, but there are also cases where excessive blood loss causes the uterus to lose nourishment, resulting in dull pain, emptiness, and light-colored lochia. This should be treated with tonic methods. Prevent postpartum hemorrhage during delivery, do not eat raw or cold food after delivery, pay attention to keeping warm, and keep your emotions in a good mood. Taking 3 to 5 doses of Shenghua Tang immediately after delivery can reduce or prevent the occurrence of this disease. If the abdominal pain is severe and accompanied by other symptoms, such as fever, diarrhea, or a history of abdominal masses, attention should be paid to whether there are other lesions.

The above content is the doctor’s answer after my mother asked the doctor what the cause of postpartum abdominal pain was. Some mothers do not have this situation, but some do. This is related to our previous living habits. Female friends should eat less cold food, especially in winter, they should wear warmer clothes and never let their feet get cold, as coldness will cause many gynecological diseases.