Rest and recovery after birth

Your body has done something large and the recovery is real, whatever route the birth took. Bleeding continues for weeks and gradually lightens. Stitches, if you have them, are sore before they are better. Sleep is broken by someone else, which is a particular kind of tiredness. Rest is not indulgence here and it is not optional. Accept help with food and laundry rather than visitors. Call about heavy bleeding, fever, a wound that worsens, or pain that increases rather than eases, and do not wait to see whether it settles.