Objective: To determine the type and frequency of postpartum symptoms during recovery from antepartum bed rest treatment across 6 weeks postpartum.
Design: Longitudinal repeated measures study.
Setting: Three perinatal tertiary care hospitals in two cities in the Midwest.
Participants: One hundred six postpartum women who had a singleton high-risk pregnancy and were treated with antepartum bed rest.
Main outcome measures: A Postpartum Symptom Checklist assessed physiologic and psychological symptoms.
Results: Women reported 12.5 symptoms at 2 days postpartum, but symptoms rapidly declined at 1 week. Ninety-three percent reported a mean of 6.6 symptoms at 6 weeks postpartum. Symptoms that continued to be reported at 6 weeks by at least 40% of women were fatigue, mood changes, tenseness, difficulty concentrating, back muscle soreness, dry skin, and headache. Women who had a cesarean delivery reported significantly more symptoms than those who had a vaginal delivery (p = .006). Length of maternal bed rest was significantly correlated with the number of symptoms at postpartum weeks 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6.
Conclusion: Postpartum symptoms decreased across time but reveal an underlying morbidity that is not resolved by 6 weeks postpartum.