Puerperal Period

Puerperal period: description and main characteristics

The puerperal period is usually called the period of time that lasts from childbirth to the healing of tears or sutures in the tissues of the birth canal and uterus. And although this term is outdated, we still do not see anything different in relation to modern delivery using epidural anesthesia, since before its spread, puerperia was divided into three periods - birth, expulsion and early healing. In modern times, all this is much easier and simpler, so it is advisable to describe puerperal changes here.

Expulsion is usually classified from the first breath of the placental fetus to the onset of pulsation at the umbilical cord. Also, everyone knows what constitutes the process of caesarean section (CS), but people are often confused when defining its boundaries. This can be the passage of the child during independent delivery, or extraction after a CS. It is not entirely correct to think that by dividing the periods of the puerperal period, one can see the moment of the beginning of the second period, also separately for different types of delivery. It is because of these differences that recommendations for the management of patients during the postpartum period become strictly individual for each case.