Should I go to gynecology or obstetrics for postpartum recovery?

Most general hospitals give priority to obstetrics departments, and obstetrics and gynecology hospitals give priority to specialized postpartum rehabilitation departments. It is entirely feasible for some hospitals with coarse divisions of departments to offer gynecology or general medicine.

A while ago, I accompanied my cousin, who was just 42 days old, to the Provincial People's Hospital near my home for a review. She even checked online for a long time in advance. One moment she said she wanted to go to the gynecology department, and the next she said she wanted to go to the obstetrics department. When we got to the consultation desk, she was asked a few words, "Is this a routine 42-day postpartum review?" Have you had a prenatal checkup here before? ”He was directly pointed in the direction of the obstetrics department. She was still wondering. Didn't it fall under the care of the gynecology department after giving birth? As a result, when she entered the clinic, the doctor directly retrieved her prenatal check-up records throughout her pregnancy and the lateral incision records during delivery. He checked for lochia and uterine involution in two minutes, and even opened a list of pelvic floor muscle assessments. He said that the obstetrics department of their hospital has a special postpartum rehabilitation clinic to deal with all recovery-related issues within one year after delivery. He is familiar with the mother's full pregnancy cycle, and the plan given is more suitable for her personal situation, which is much more convenient than visiting the gynecology department.

But another friend of mine went to the city for maternal and child review last month, and this process was completely different. There is a separate postpartum rehabilitation center directly in the lobby on the first floor of the hospital. From the 42-day routine review to pelvic floor muscle repair, rectus abdominis treatment, and pubic symphysis separation correction, everything is done here. There is no need to go to the obstetrics department or the gynecology department. You can directly register for a card number and go through the process, which saves a lot of tangled efforts.

In fact, the medical community has not yet reached a completely unified consensus on this matter. Many obstetricians feel that during the period from 42 days to 1 year after delivery, the mother's body is still in the recovery period from the effects of pregnancy and childbirth. Whether it is wound healing or physiological function recovery, it is essentially different from ordinary gynecological diseases. The obstetrics department has full cycle pregnancy data, which can avoid many troubles of repeated inquiries and repeated examinations, and is more suitable for meeting the recovery needs in the early postpartum period. However, many gynecologists believe that if there are still residual problems such as stress urinary incontinence and vaginal laxity after one year postpartum, it already belongs to the category of gynecological reproductive surgery. Gynecology has more experience in long-term treatment and even surgical intervention of such problems, so it is more suitable than obstetrics.

If you are really not sure about what to expect, you don’t have to search online for a long time to come up with different answers. You can directly search for the consultation phone number of the hospital you want to go to, call and ask, "I am X months postpartum, and I want to have a postpartum recovery check-up. Which department should I go to?", and they will give you the accurate information in two minutes, which is 10 times better than guessing. If you are in a county or community hospital, and the gynecology and obstetrics departments are not separated and are called obstetrics and gynecology, then you can just go to the hospital, there is not so much emphasis. If in addition to postpartum recovery issues, you also want to check for routine gynecological issues such as HPV and breast nodules, then it is perfectly fine to go directly to the gynecology department. If the doctor feels that your recovery issues require obstetric consultation, he will naturally refer you to it without having to worry about it for a long time.

By the way, one more thing I have to remind everyone, don’t just go to the fancy postpartum repair institutions on the street. I met a patient last year who had 2 fingers of rectus abdominis separation 3 months after giving birth. The institution deceived her into getting a 30,000 yuan repair package. Two months later, she was in so much pain that she couldn't straighten her back. When she came to the hospital for a checkup, it was found that the soft tissue of her abdomen had been bruised by the brutal treatment of the staff at the institution. In fact, the separation of her two fingers did not require special treatment at all. She could slowly recover by doing core training at home, and it was a waste of money. No matter what recovery project you plan to do, it is safest to go to a regular hospital for evaluation first and listen to the doctor's advice before making a decision.

In fact, to put it bluntly, struggling with which department to enroll in is essentially because you are afraid of finding the wrong person and delaying your recovery. You really don’t have to worry about registration. Even if you enroll in the wrong department, the nurse at the door of the clinic will point you to the right place. If you really can’t do it, you can go to the hospital’s guidance desk and ask a few questions. How big a problem is it, right? Postpartum recovery is stressful enough, so don’t burden yourself with such trivial matters.