How to manage postpartum urinary retention?

  Case: An Moumou, 24 years old, came to the clinic 20 days after delivery because she could not urinate on her own. Follow-up history: A male live baby was delivered vaginally, weighing 3700G, and returned to the ward at 13:00 on the day of delivery. After returning home, she tried to remove the catheter several times to urinate on her own, but failed to do so. She went to the pelvic floor rehabilitation clinic 20 days after delivery and was still unable to urinate.  After talking with the patient, she found that the inability to urinate had caused her to be extremely nervous, and she even wondered if she would have to wear a catheter for the rest of her life. After a thorough examination, she was diagnosed as having postpartum urinary retention. She was treated with continuous catheterization and pelvic floor electrical stimulation twice a day. After two days of treatment, the urinary catheter was closed at regular intervals and there was already a significant feeling of urination. Because of the long duration of the disease and the slow recovery of the bladder nerves, the woman was given regular open urinary catheters for bladder exercises and continued electrical stimulation treatment. After 4 more days of treatment, the patient informed that she could leak urine from the edge of the catheter while holding urine, which is a sign of recovery of bladder function. On the fifth day, the catheter was removed and the patient was allowed to urinate on his own.  Conclusion: Postpartum urinary retention is very common, and there is a sharp increase in the number of mothers who have difficulty urinating after delivery due to the large fetus and long labor. The traditional treatment is to leave the catheter in place and wait for natural recovery, which is ineffective, has a long hospital stay, costs a lot of money and affects the normal recovery after delivery. The latest treatment is: early detection of urinary retention, the earlier the better, when catheterization followed by electrical stimulation at the pelvic floor center, usually 2-4 times (twice a day) can be recovered, avoiding long hospital stays and urinary tract infections caused by prolonged catheterization. Unfortunately, many obstetricians and nurses are still unclear about this mode of treatment or cling to their original thinking and do not accept it, resulting in patients not accepting this mode of treatment in time and aggravating their pain. In the future, we should increase the publicity so that both patients and medical staff know and accept it, so that this treatment modality can benefit mothers, reduce unnecessary pain and help each woman with urinary retention to recover better and be a good mother with more dignity.