by Jennifer Geurian

Created on: January 10, 2009

The birth of a stillborn baby is not all that different from the birth of a live baby in the physical aspect. After giving birth the doctor will tell you not to have sex for 6 weeks and several other suggestions. Part of the reason that this advice is given is due to the lack of healing that has taken place before then and there are several other reasons as well, one of those being that many women are fertile immediately after giving birth. With everything being very open and unhealed, even with a cesarean because the body still reacts at least partially before the cesarean is performed, there is a chance that some women will get pregnant again almost immediately and this is unhealthy because one's body needs time to heal from one pregnancy before moving on to another. A mother or potential mother always needs to remember that in order to properly care for a baby, she first needs to properly care for herself. I suggest talking to your physician and a counselor both before making the decision to try again after the birth of a stillborn to make sure that you are physically and emotionally ready just in case any complications do arise with the next pregnancy. Other than that, after the bleeding is over with and the normal menstrual cycle resumes, then ovulation should occur within 11-14 days after the first day of your first post-birth period. I would like to say again to always make sure that you are taking care of yourself before trying to conceive for the health of the baby and the health of yourself. The last thing that you want to do is end up with another stillborn or a miscarriage due to being too rushed and not planning with a physician. Not only that, but physically if you get pregnant too soon afterward there is a chance for some women that it could harm their chances of not only the baby surviving, but prevent them from being able to get pregnant again due to the damage of the organs and tissues. Also make sure to talk with a counselor to be sure that you are ready to conceive emotionally and mentally as well as physically. The last thing that a newborn baby needs is a mother that is still occupied with the grieving process from loosing a different child, that will cause emotional stress to the baby and can be likely to affect the baby's physical health as well as emotional and mental health later in life. All in all, the best thing to do is to make sure that everyone, including the father of the baby to be, is healthy in all aspects before trying again after any kind of parental loss because if not then it is just asking for trouble far ahead of time.

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