Comfortable or stinging?
Nerve damage to the bladder (after vaginal or Caesarean birth)
Needing a catheter
After giving birth vaginally, your genitals may be feeling swollen, tender, sensitive, painful, stinging or raw. Perhaps you've also needed to have stitches put in. Passing urine may be the last thing you feel like doing. Unfortunately it is something that will need to be done, ideally within an hour or so after having the baby. If you had a catheter in for the birth or were passing urine as you pushed your baby out, then it may take a couple of hours for your bladder to fill up again to be able to pass an adequate amount of urine.
Passing urine allows your uterus to keep well contracted to control the bleeding. It also lets your caregiver know that everything is in 'working order' after the birth and that you do not need a catheter put into your bladder to drain the urine away.