still bleeding 8 weeks post birth

[lottielou39]

Hi,
I gave birth almost 9 weeks ago, and have had erratic bleeding ever since.
I had a normal straightforward delivery and normal bleeding afterwards, ie. heavy for a few days, then lighter, then spotting etc,. for a few weeks.. then the bleeding stopped and started, (never stopped for more than a few days though).. it stopped for almost a week, then started again a fortnight ago, and I thought this might be my first period post childbirth- lasted a few days, stopped, then started up again. At the moment, it's bright red and light flow. The day before yesterday I'd had a dull achey sensation in my pelvic region all day. It was barely noticeable, just a dullish background ache like the sort you get before a period starts. Then, as I was putting my daughter to bed at 8pm,I had a lie down on our bed and the most excruciating pain started. It was so bad I couldn't walk, sit up etc...husband wanted to call for an ambulance as he hadn't seen me in such pain except childbirth.. I asked him to give me a couple of painkillers and half an hour later, it was much better, but still hurting. I still felt tender and sore yesterday morning. I'm OK today however, and I assume that if the pain was caused by anything sinister like a burst ovarian cyst, then 2 paracetamol wouldn't have seen it off?
Has anyone else had erratic, constant on/off bleeding after giving birth? I'm seeing my female GP on Tuesday (earliest appointment I could get) but I want to get other experiences to see what you all think. I think I probably need a scan to see what's going on down there. I had a miscarriage in January 2011, so fell pregnant almost immediately after that. And then I had a huge bleed in pregnancy (thought I'd miscarried again) at about 8 weeks, so don't know if that's related?

After DS2 I was still bleeding 6 weeks on. The GP sent me for a scan (same sort as you have when pregnant) to rule out anything being left behind. There wasn't and the bleeding did stop. The GP will advise you, try not to worry.

Sounds like it could be you've retained a bit of the placenta. Do you know if your membranes/were intact or ragged - it should say on your discharge sheet?

Hi, I would ask your GP to refer you for an ultrasound. Sounds like it might be what they call Retained Products. I have had it 3 times all with girls not with my son : $ each time they had thought my placenta was complete.

With dd1 I still had on off bleeding at 8 weeks so had an ultrasound when she was 10 weeks old. There was a tiny piece of product retained about size of pinkie nail but enough for my body to be trying to flush it out. Had a D&c when she was 12 weeks and bleeding stopped at 14 weeks.

With dd2 they thought I was leaking too much blood when doing my stitches so given my history did an ultrasound and there was a chunk of product left. Went to theatre when dd2 was 2 hours old to get it removed.

5 weeks ago I had dd3 and again placenta was well checked due to my history and again they thought it was complete. When dd3 was 3 weeks old I became very ill with flu symptoms. Went to GP and she thought mastitis or retained product again and started me on antibiotics. Had 4 days in bed completely wiped out. Then had 2 episodes where it felt like my body was pushing and another 3 episodes of a lot of pressure in my pubic region. 6 days after starting antibiotics I passed a large chunk of tissue. Called maternity and they wanted me back to hospital to do an ultrasound to check all ok. It appears clear now.

Definitely go to your GP ASAP in case it is infected. One sign is that your blood loss is smelly, mine wasn't but I still had an infection. You may also need your iron levels checked especially if breast feeding due to bleeding for so long.