These after pains usually subside after the first twenty-four hours, though they may persist for three or four days. They may amount to little more than discomfort, but not infrequently are so severe as to require the administration of sedatives. Persistent after pains may be due to retained clots. The cervix, vagina and perineum which have become stretched and swollen during labor, gradually regain their tone during the puerperium, and the stretched uterine ligaments become shorter as they recover their tone, finally regaining their former state. Until the ligaments and the pelvic floor and abdominal wall are restored to normal tonicity the uterus is not adequately supported and therefore may be easily displaced. =The lochia= consists of the uterine and vaginal secretions and the blood and uterine lining which are cast off during the puerperium. During the first three or four days this discharge is bright red, consisting almost entirely of blood, and is termed the _lochia rubra_. As the color gradually fades and becomes brownish it is called the _lochia serosa_. After about the tenth day, if involution is normal, the discharge is whitish or yellowish and is designated as the _lochia alba_. The total amount of the lochial discharge has been variously estimated at from one to three pints, being more profuse in multiparæ than primiparæ, and in women who do not nurse their babies. Under normal conditions the discharge is profuse at first, gradually diminishing until it entirely disappears by the end of the puerperium. There may be small amounts of blood retained during the first day or two and expelled later as clots, without any serious significance, and there may be a pinkish discharge after the patient gets up for the first time, but if the lochia is persistently blood-tinged it may be taken as an indication that the uterus is not involuting as it should. The normal characteristic odor is flat and stale. A foul odor, no odor at all or a marked decrease in the amount of the discharge is suggestive of infection. =Loss of Weight.= One of the striking changes during the puerperium is the loss in weight, due largely to three factors: the elimination of fluids from the edematous tissues; the decrease in the size of the uterus and the escape of vaginal and uterine secretions, termed the lochia. The smaller amount of food taken during the first few days post-partum also may be a factor. This loss in weight is extremely variable, fat women naturally losing more than thin women and those who nurse their babies losing more than those who do not.