Don ’t ignore these symptoms

After you’ve given birth, it’s normal to feel a little discomfort and tiredness. Time, rest and self-help are usually all that’s needed to make you feel better.

But in some cases, normal symptoms – fatigue, breathlessness, swelling, dizziness and headaches – can be warnings of things more sinister. Real medical emergencies do occasionally happen in the days and weeks after birth. Always check with your caregiver if you’re worried, and seek help as soon as possible, as certain problems can get worse really quickly. Quick thinking and intervention will ensure you don’t become severely ill.

■ SUDDEN AND HEAVY BLOOD LOSS or increasing blood loss, including clots, could be a sign of postpartum haemorrhage. Other signs include shaking, dizziness, elevated heart rate and sweating. These are signs of shock, which needs immediate medical attention.

■ A SEVERE OR PERSISTENT HEADACHE may be a side effect of an epidural or spinal anaesthesia, and may be described as a bad migraine. It feels worse when you sit or stand. A bad headache can also be a sign of pre-eclampsia, along with blurred vision, nausea and vomiting. If you have these symptoms in addition to a bad headache, get help.

■ SHORTNESS OF BREATH AND CHEST PAIN. Being short of breath post pregnancy is not unusual, as your body organs shift around and return to their normal places, but if you become very breathless, and it doesn’t stop when you rest, be alarmed. It may be a sign of a clot stuck in a blood vessel of your lung (pulmonary embolism). This is especially important after you’ve had surgery.

■ CALF PAIN. Pain, swelling or tenderness, particularly in your calf, could be a sign of a blood clot in the deep veins of the muscle, and can be life threatening. You may also have redness and tenderness at the back of your leg, and a feeling of heaviness or warmth in the area. This could be a sign of deep vein thrombosis.

■ ELEVATED TEMPERATURE (38°CELSIUS OR HIGHER). High fever accompanied by shivering and abdominal pain could be a sign of severe infection somewhere in your body. Infections could occur in the area between your vagina and rectum (perineum), around your caesarean scar, in your urinary tract or your womb. If you have a perineal or caesarean wound that’s slow to heal, it could be because it’s infected. If you have a urine infection, you may have pain when you wee or find it difficult to wee. If you have an infection in your uterus, you may also have pain in your tummy and/or a smelly discharge from your vagina.