Our meeting held on 17th July 2024 was an educative and informed one as we had a presentation from a guest speaker on the topic Maternal & Child Health, The Post Partum period.
Our guest speaker, Ms. Monica Green is a fellow of the West African Postgraduate College of Nursing and Midwifery with over 35 years’ experience in Nursing and Health administration supervising and training. She specialized in Sexual Reproductive Health and Family Planning (SRH/FP), HIV safe motherhood, emergency obstetric care and community tropical medicine and Health.
The Postpartum Period
In her presentation, she defined the postpartum period as the period beginning soon after childbirth or delivery and usually lasts till when the mother has nearly returned to her pre-pregnant state. She mentioned that being a mother is sweet and unique, however, the postpartum period is associated with heavy stress and pressure due to high intra and interpersonal changes. It is usually associated with varied emotions ranging from joy and pleasure to sadness and crying bouts.
She encouraged the men to be tolerable partners during these moments as women exhibit the following.
• Pull away and want to be alone
• Feel angry, moody, cranky or anxious
• Gets frustrated and sad
• Lose interest in work or their favourite hobbies etc.
Hence, women require more emotional/physical support in this period.
On the part of babies, she opined that babies usually cry excessively during this period as they try to adjust to the new environment which seems to be different from the mother’s womb.
Also, some female babies may discharge blood like fluids from their vaginas. This she advised that mothers should not be alarmed during such situations but visit the hospital if they suspect anything unusual.
The speaker also touched on the use of the right contraceptives or family planning methods to prevent pregnancies during the period after childbirth.
Rotarians asked several questions after the speaker’s presentation and one that ignited some sense of humor was the question on the omission of after sex pills from the list of family planning measures shared by the speaker.
The speaker advised her audience to desist from the constant use of after sex pills as it is made to only serve as an emergency pill and the abuse of it may lead to ectopic pregnancy and other dying conditions on the woman’s fertility and health.
The session ended with a presentation of a certificate of appreciation to the guest speaker by Rotarian Esther as an expression of the club’s gratitude for her time and knowledge shared.
