I’m Pregnant and Just Had a Baby

After a few months of delivering your baby, you find yourself pregnant again. Some women try to get pregnant again in the first year after having a baby so their children will grow up close in age and grow out of diapers together. Other women are not planning on another pregnancy or even thought they couldn’t get pregnant right after birth, especially if breastfeeding. Regardless of whether it’s a planned or unplanned pregnancy, if you’re pregnant and just had a baby, you need an ultrasound to verify how far along you are. 

If you’re shocked and wondering how you became pregnant so soon, it’s probably because you didn’t expect to ovulate so soon after giving birth.  

Ovulation usually doesn’t occur before six weeks post-partum, but some women ovulate even earlier. Unfortunately, due to your body adjusting to post-birth and you acclimating to your new routine with an infant, it can be very challenging for postpartum women to identify ovulation, even when looking for the usual ovulation symptoms, such as cervical mucus, change in body temperature, and mood changes.  

After birth, it’s also not uncommon for your menstrual cycle to be irregular. Your body is going through a lot of changes with self-regulating hormones, uterine/vaginal healing, and creating breastmilk. If you’re breastfeeding, your body is making more of the hormone, prolactin, to ensure milk supply. This hormone can prevent menstrual bleeding. All these changes can result in irregular or absent menstrual cycles.  

We frequently see women who are pregnant and just had a baby. They are shocked. The irregularity of their cycle (falsely) made them think they couldn’t get pregnant again so soon.