Swollen Ankles After Pregnancy

Hi B.:

You really need to contact your physician to see what you need to do.

R.

I would call my OB. I don't know why you're having the edema. I would follow up, though, because I don't think it's quite normal. Are you getting up and moving? Are you drinking plenty of water? Are you urinating? You need to have you blood pressure checked -- make sure you don't have Eclampsia.

Definitely call the doctor. This may be dangerous.

Drink lots of water! This happened to me after both pregancies. They pump you full of water prior to giving birth and your body will slowly get rid of it. It took 1 1/2 weeks after my first to get rid of the majority of the swelling. Quicker with my second because I drank a lot more water. Congrats and good luck!

I also had pre-eclampsia after having my baby in Aug. 2007. I was not swollen until after I had him. I was sent home from the hospital and after a few days was re-admitted. My blood pressure was so high that I could have had a stroke at any time and I am only 29 years old. It is very scary stuff and not something to wait on. I would recommend you see your doctor immediately. Hope you are better soon.

Hi B.,
Congrats on your baby girl:) First rule out Post eclampsia, drink a lot of water and see a Chiropractor. Your body has been through a lot, especailly in the last 9 months. If it is misaligned, it will have a harder time releasing your build up fluid. Seeing a Chiropractor will increase your circulation, improve your metabolism and flat out make you feel better! Good luck!

My baby is 2 weeks old and this happened to me after just a few days. I already knew the cause (sitting so much even during the night with my newborn and not getting the sleep that I needed). I did however call my doctor to rule out the beginnings of blood clots. When you swell, your doctor wants you to call them and get into the office to rule out any other problems. I went and there were no problems, but I just wanted to make sure it was just me not getting into the horizontal position to sleep. After that day, I made sure that if I was sitting, I put the recliner up for my feet. It was gone in two days. Good luck!

Rest assured! The swelling will go away gradually. My legs, feet, and ankles were so swollen after my last child's birth that I couldn't get my feet into shoes for days. The nurses assured me it would go away and it did. Drink lots of water to flush out the fluid and try to at least walk around your house some to get your circulation going. Take good care of yourself.

Congratulations on your new daughter!

You could be swollen because of all the fluid your body needs to get rid of--you may notice a lot of urinating and sweating because that's how your body gets rid of all that, especially if you had IV fluids or a c-section. Go ahead and check your blood pressure to calm any nerves about that, and then just try to rest as much as you can.

Hi, I would definately check with the dr and ask about Post eclampsia, like Julie said JUST to make sure...
Now, you didn's say if you had a c-section. When I had my twins I had a c-section and the Dr advised me that swelling most likely would occure right after delivery, due to the anestesia. And it did happen, my feet and hands were REALLY swollen, I never saw them like that. It lasted for about 2 weeks and eventually went away on its own. I just elavated my feet and ate very low in sodium, that was about the only thing i could do. Again, in my case, it did go away on its own. But i think you definately should call your dr and ask about these possibilities and she/he ahould be able to explain the reasons in your case. I wish you the best in your journey of motherhood! many blessing and congratulations!!

This is totally normal. Your body is just retaining water. Try drinking more water- sounds counterintuitive- but it seems to work.

B.:

PLEASE SEE YOUR DOCTOR IMMEDIATELY!!! It could be nothing...but it could be pre-eclampsia or hypertension. The doctor will be able to tell you if it is just water retention, or if your blood pressure is high. It is better to be safe and it be "nothing" that it be "something" and you risk your health over it by not getting it checked out. Good luck with it, but, again, PLEASE go see your doctor immediately.

You need to see your doctor asap! That happened to me & my doctor was so concerned for complications of retaining fluid(which could be for several reasons) she gave me lasics, but said if it didn't get any better within 24-48 hrs to go to the ER. It took me a couple trips to the ER and 2 weeks to get better and this was only with my last child. Get yourself checked out. I am a stay at home mom of 5!

I had this problem too. Take lots of fluid like water, juice, soup etc that shd take care of the problem.

The way my Dr explained it to me was that since we have so much fluid in our body around the baby during pregnancy, some of it remains there after delivery and then gets to the extremities of your body like feet, hands etc but the only way to get rid of this is again by taking more fluid. It sound starnge but it worked for me. Try it.

Regards,
PS

There are special socks for this and it helps for your legs and feet not to swollen

It may be hypertension caused by the delivery. Check with your doctor. I suffered with the same problem and ended up having to go back into the hospital 1 week after giving birth. Better to be safe than sorry.

You should contact your doctor IMMEDIATELY!!!!! I'm not trying to scare you, but I had POST-PARTUM pre-eclampsia with my first. I had never heard of it and it's rare -usually happens before birth, but especially if you're having any headaches, vision changes or spots in front of your eyes or upper gastric pain, you need to go to the doctor NOW. I had been home for about 4 days when I swelled up terribly and started having headaches. I am currently on bed rest awaiting lab results about possible pre-eclampsia now, and it's no joke. It's when your blood pressure spikes during or right after pregnancy and protein starts leaking into your urine and bloodstream that can cause you to become "eclamptic" -and that means stroke or seizure and possible coma or death. Please call your doctor! They will run tests, and if you are you will be in the hospital for about 2 days on a magnesium drip that will take care of the problem.

Congratulations on the baby!!!!

Have you checked with your doctor to make sure that you do not have Post Clampsia or any complications.

My ankles swelled up after my birth as well. I had to limit the time I stood and sat with my feet below me (sitting up). I elevated them as much as possible and made sure I drank plenty of water! I think soaking them in epson salts may help.

Limit your intake of salt and walking will help! Try continuing to sleep on your left side (it helps with elimination). You can also get elastic socks if it persists (mine was normal within the week).

This too shall pass! Congratulations on the baby!

Here's to being a Passion Parent!
C. Hiebel
www.PassionParent.com

I just gave birth on Sept. 6th & the exact same thing happened to me. I didn't swell at all during pregnancy but because of all the fluids they pumped in me during labor, my feet & ankles were terribly swollen for about 2 weeks afterwards. I was told to wrap hot towels around them, to stay off of them as much as possible, & to elevate them & it finally went away.