Hey mamas,
Just wanted a little input from some of you ladies. I am two weeks post partum today and still bleeding a good bit. It slowed down and now has really picked up again. No clots, but more bleeding than I was expecting. I really can't remember how much/long I bled with my other two. But I think I remember it being more lochia, less blood. I am not soaking through pads like crazy, but I am having to change them every few hours or so. I am still having some cramping but I think that is bc I had to have pitocin for a few hours so maybe that worked my muscles a bit more than my previous labor which was only about 4 hours with no pitocin. Any thoughts would be great, does this seem pretty normal?
It seems normal to me. I think I went about 3 weeks until finally easing up.
I think I had to wear something for about 5 to 6 weeks.
I would put in a call to your doctor. This is one of the areas that they tell you "Call us if anything changes, if you suddenly increase instead of decrease your blood flow, etc"....
I do have a question that might shed a little light, though.... with Thanksgiving 2 days ago, did you over-do it? I mean, if you suddenly were up standing in the kitchen all day, rushing around doing prep work or were out shopping a few hours yesterday in the Black Friday rush, then the additional activity might account for your increased flow. I'd still call the doctor, just to be sure, though. Surely they have a nurses line that is available even on the weekends without having to worry about "paging" your doctor. With my doctor, I got the nurses line, and if they thought it warranted a call to the doctor, they put one in FOR me. They were there to sort of "triage" my question, if you will.
I think I had more bleeding with some if I did much and was on my feet very long at 2 weeks post partum. You should check with the doctor though as with one when I had the cramping I did start to pass clots and had to get off my feet. I'd be more concerned about the cramping. Also they told me, but I can't remember, how many pads for so many hours is too many. I think from what you said that is a lot if 'every few hours' and they soaked. Call and see what your doctor says.
With each child, I bled more. With my 3rd, I literally bled heavily for the full 6 weeks (and spotted for another 2 weeks!)
As long as you're not over saturating 1 'heavy flow' pad per hour and not passing clots bigger than a large grape, it sounds pretty normal ;)
I don't have experience with this, but since you said there was a change in the flow, I'd call your doc just to be safe. Take care :)
With my DD I bled more and less for 8 weeks, full on (period like) bleeding for at least 4 weeks. And yes, it did pick up on days I was on my feet a lot.
When in doubt just call your provider and they can check for infection...
You should always check with your doctors office for questions, they do have nurses to answer questions on the phone. My guess is that you have just been doing too much and need more "down" time. Try to arrange for some help for all three of your children.
Yes I would say it is normal, but like everyone else said it will increase if you overdo it. In a perfect world, we'd all be on bed-rest for 6 weeks post partum and not have to worry about anything but nursing and eating as much as we could. I was a first time mom at 35, in relatively good health and had a healthy delivery, and I was bleeding for 6 weeks after. I could not believe no one told me about this, or how much blood there would be. I would get checked out if like you said it has really picked up, this may be for a reason. You want to make sure everything is healing up the way it needs to be. Good luck!
I had dark red blood discharge until about the 5-6th week when it finally turned a dark tan. I feel like I had a longer time with dishcharge after my 2nd child.
