What to Expect
At your visit, your care provider will check your weight and blood pressure. She'll check your abdomen to make sure there's no tenderness or unusual masses or lumps. She'll also examine your breasts and inspect your perineum to see that any tears, stitches, or abrasions are healing properly.
Your doctor or midwife may also do an internal exam to feel your uterus and ovaries and inspect your vaginal muscle tone, checking for pelvic floor damage or prolapse. Some care providers perform rectal exams as part of the six-week checkup, too.
Discussing Your Physical Recovery
If you have concerns over how quickly you're recovering, tell your care provider. By the six-week checkup, you should be feeling pretty good. Lingering soreness, extreme fatigue, or bleeding that hasn't stopped, or has stopped and started up again, should all be discussed. Also, be sure to tell her if you're having any trouble with nursing or if you've experienced any nipple infections, persistent painful nursing, clogged ducts, or other breast issues. She may be able to help you troubleshoot your nursing habits and see if positioning, pressure from your bra or clothing, or some other issue is causing problems.
Essential
You may need a Pap smear as part of your regular well-woman care during this visit, or to follow up on an abnormal result you had during pregnancy. Abnormal Pap smears are fairly common during pregnancy, and often the postpartum follow-up test will be normal. You may want to wait until three months postpartum to have your Pap done. Results will be more accurate, and you will likely be more ready for the speculum!
At this point your doctor or midwife will probably give you the go-ahead to start a fitness program. If you have any specific questions about diet, weight loss, or exercise, ask them during your visit.
Discussing Emotional Issues
If you're feeling sadness, anxiety, or another emotion that worries you, discuss it with your doctor or midwife. Some weepiness may be normal, but if you're experiencing something more serious, your care provider will want to know about it and may be able to help you. See Chapter 15 for more information about treating postpartum depression and other mood disorders.
