Recovery room: what is being watched
Bleeding, blood pressure, and the return of feeling.
For the first one to two hours, a nurse will check your blood pressure and pulse frequently, watch your bleeding, and press firmly on your uterus through your abdomen to make sure it is contracting. That pressing is uncomfortable and it is important. A uterus that will not contract is the leading cause of hemorrhage.
Sensation and movement return over one to four hours after a spinal. Long-acting morphine in the spinal continues to relieve pain for about 24 hours, and also causes itching during that time.
Where this comes from:
300. Gehling M, Tryba M. Risks and side-effects of intrathecal morphine combined with spinal anaesthesia: a meta-analysis. Anaesthesia. 2009;64(6):643-651.
229. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Postpartum hemorrhage. ACOG Practice Bulletin No. 183. Obstet Gynecol. 2017;130(4):e168-e186.
Covered in the essential classes
Continue
More from Right after
This page is educational. It supports the conversation with your own clinicians. It is not consent to any treatment, and it cannot assess you. If you are worried about a symptom now, see urgent warning signs.