Warning signs after you go home
The list worth putting on the refrigerator.
Go in, or call, for any of these in the weeks after birth:
- Severe headache not helped by medication, vision changes, or new pain under the right ribs, which can mean postpartum preeclampsia
- Pain, swelling, warmth or redness in one calf, or sudden shortness of breath or chest pain, which can mean a blood clot
- Fever above 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit
- Foul-smelling discharge or increasing abdominal pain
- Inability to pass urine, or leaking stool or gas you cannot control
- Thoughts of harming yourself or your baby
Say how long ago you gave birthEmergency departments do not always connect a symptom to a recent birth. Open with "I gave birth three weeks ago." It changes how quickly you are assessed.
Where this comes from:
259. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Pregnancy-related deaths: data from maternal mortality review committees in 36 US states, 2017-2019. Atlanta: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2024.
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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.