Hi moms,
I am about 9 days postpartum and I am still bleeding pretty heavily. It started to taper off a few days ago but then it ramped back up again, so much so that I had to stop using pads and go back to the larger sized Depends that I used in the hospital. I did some reasearch and everything says that by this time the blood should be more like a discharge right now and fairly light. Mine, however, is not. It very much reminds me of the heaviest days of my period. I still have clotting but only about the size of a quarter. At the hospital, they said to call if clots were the size of my palm.
I will obviously call my OB but it's early in the morning so I'm going to wait until the office opens. In the meantime, has anyone else experienced this?
Sorry for the graphic details, but I'm a little concerned. Thanks!
Have you been very active? It was always heavier for me on the days that I has more active. Some gals come home from the hospital and don't do much for the first couple of weeks other than sit around and take care of baby. Some have older children to care for or are just the "on the go" types. The more active you are, the heavier it will be.
If you over due it you'll bleed more.
Are you resting a lot and keeping off your feet with no heavy lifting? Usually the heavy bleeding is because you are doing too much.
You need to slow down.
With both kids I bled for 6 weeks and it was awful! It finally stopped for a day or two and boom! I got my period.
I agree iwth the other two if you have done a lot it can make it heavyer.
My midwife told me that if if the bleeding started to get heavy again that I was doing too much and going up and down the stairs too much. Stairs only 2 times a day for the first two weeks.
You probably need a little more tome off your feet - if you have more kids than it's tough! Congrats, by the way!
It is a sign that you are doing too much. I remember at day 5 that I had this monster clot. I searched all over trying to find out if I should be calling someone, but none of the handouts said anything about clotting. I was scared enough to relax a bit more. So I would say try to take it easy for a while.
I'm on the same page lol! But I think it's because I've been very busy since I came home. If your doing a lot you should probably slow down that's what my doctor told me. We should put are feet up lol! And Congratulation on the baby! :-)
With all 3 of mine I bled rather heavily for the first 2 weeks, only THEN did it start to taper off. But it was a good 3-4 weeks before I was done.
Make sure you rest, drink lots of water, and eat a healthy diet - one rich in iron wouldn't be a bad thing :)
Sorry - your bleeding is totally normal.
There's no way you'd be done bleeding 9 days after giving birth.
The average is 4 to 6 weeks with the 1st 2 weeks having the heaviest flow and then a gradual reduction to nothing.
I was told to take it easy (not a lot of walking or stairs) until the bleeding was fairly light.
It wasn't a problem for me since my hips were still lose and grinding for 2 weeks after giving birth to our son.
It took 9 months for your uterus to stretch out and it shrinks back to pre pregnancy size in about 6 to 8 weeks.
While it's shrinking it's sloughing off all that lining and the bleeding continues for awhile - certainly longer than 9 days.
http://www.whattoexpect.com/pregnancy/symptoms-and-soluti...
