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Gastrointestinal System
- Appetite increases after delivery. They can usually tolerate a light diet shortly after giving birth and take in double portions of meals once the effects of anesthesia and analgesia wears off.
- Excess analgesia and anesthesia may delay return of gastrointestinal tract to its normal tonicity and motility.
- There may be difficulty to defecate until 2-3 days postpartally as explained by the decreased intestinal tone. Once bowel tone normalizes, regular bowel habits need to be reestablished.
Neurological System
- Elimination of physiologic edema through the increased diuresis relieves the “carpal tunnel syndrome” experienced by pregnant women because there is relieved pressure in the median nerve.
Musculoskeletal System
- Hypermobility of joints as a normal adaptation in pregnancy are completely reversed by the 6th to 8th week postpartum.
- The center of gravity returns to normal since the gravid uterus was already emptied.
Integumentary System
- Chloasma disappears once pregnancy is terminated.
- Hyperpigmentation and darkening of the areola usually does not completely regress postpartally.
- Stretch marks may fade but not totally disappear.
- Spider angioma, palmar erythema, etc. regress due to the rapid decline in estrogen levels after delivery.
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