AT THE POSTNATAL EXAMINATION – FIRST INSTANCE AN EXAMINATION
The postnatal examination is in the first instance an examination of the woman’s physical health. Routine questions about her general wellbeing, lactation, duration of lochia and healing of the perineum will be asked as a matter of course. Details of the delivery may need to be discussed. Blood pressure and weight are checked and pelvic organs examined. However, the postnatal examination is far more than this. It is also an examination of her psychological health and of how she is coping with the ‘maturational crisis’ she has undergone. More may be revealed about her feelings from her general appearance and manner than from her answers to the doctor’s questions; feelings that must first be explored before a decision about contraception can be reached. Sometimes her anxieties are not fully expressed until the genital parts are examined, and if the doctor can combine the necessary physical examination with psychosomatic listening and observation it can be very fruitful (Tunnadine, 1970). This is a moment when patients may be able to get in touch with and share their feelings about the birth for the first time.
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