Question for existing mums about the actual birth (may be TMI for some)

[HPonEverything]

This might sound like a silly question but is there a lot of blood during the actual birth? I'm not scared of blood, but I'd just like to know that the amount of blood is normal otherwise I'll get really anxious that there is something badly wrong.

I just wondered how it compares on the scale between having a period and having a limb cut off (not that I've ever had the latter done either). Also what's the consistency like, is it like a period?

Sorry if this post is TMI for anyone.

Yes most of the blood is where the placenta detatches, because the way it comes off tears some of the vessels close to the surface. The injection they can give you to speed up placenta delivery helps close them off faster. With my 3 it was very heavy for a few days, and got lighter soon after that. It had stopped within 3 weeks.

My friend though was still bleeding on and off at 6m post birth.

Birth - never noticed the blood, though I suppose there was a bit around when I first showered.

After - like a very heavy period after (first day wear 2 maternity pads, I found I leaked through after a couple of hours for the first half day) then became just like a normal heavy period which calmed down after a week or so and then there is enough to keep a pad there until about 4-6 weeks.

I understand that this blood (lochia) is bits that are left over in the womb, plus proper bleading from where the placenta has pulled away and opened up blood vessels.

Sometimes you pass clots - if you aren't sure of whether they are OK then talk to your midwife about it. I had one about the size of my fist (TMI, sorry) the day after the birth, midwife said that was OK, but I suspect if it had been a couple of weeks later they might have been concerned. They do like you to keep an eye on your bleeding and talk to them if concerned because if it suddenly gets heavier or you pass big clots it could be a sign of infection.

It's not a big deal because it doesn't hurt and it isn't like you are going anywhere those first few days, just make sure you take black or dark PJ bottoms/tracksuit bottoms to wear in the hospital. I figured it was payback for not having a period for 9 months!

There were about 5 incopads (sort of 2-foot square absorbent mats) that were a right mess from blood to be chucked shortly after labour, plus some more got a bit of spatter. Though the nice chap whose job seemed to be to jolly me along with conversation did at one point say "Excuse me, just need to jab this in your thigh to stop the haemorrhaging", so presumably there was some more blood before that I never saw.

My bleeding afterwards was like a heavy but non-painful period for a week or so, then dwindled over the next week - I'm told that's quite good. I suppose if you think about how a period takes five days to trickle out, it's the same principle.

FWIW my contractions were less painful than the period pains I'd had previously - they had gaps between for starters!

OP - I think there probably is lots of blood during the birth just that with everything else going on we don't notice it!

I never noticed any blood during birth.

After i had my EMCS, i bled for 10 weeks altogether - not heavily, but enough to nessesitate a pad. I was under a huge ammount of stress at that time too though, so that might have contributed to it.

With DD i bled very heaviy for about ten days, then it eased off and it finished completely within three weeks.

With DS3 i bled very heavily for less than a week, then less then a week after that.

notcitrus - i found the afterpains even worse than the contractions. But nobody ever tells you about them...

There wasnt much blood at all during my labour, I heamorraged as the baby came out then lost a litre of blood but the upside to this was I didnt bleed afterwards after 2 days of using maternity pads expecting the blood to arrive I went to liners.
My sil just gave birth and was heavy for a week then dwindled off after another week.
Good luck and dont worry

I got up after the birth and made the mistake of glancng at the bed - looked like someone had been murdered on it!! However, there didn't seem to be any concerns that I'd lost too much or anything, so it was obviously in the 'normal' range, just looked a lot. Although, when you spill a drink there always seems to be more on the floor than there was in the glass so maybe it was the same principle as this!!

After the birth it just seemed like a heavy period, the thick pads are so comfy and dont have the absortant chemicals like sanitary towels so won't irritate down there, I bled in total for around 3 weeks although the last week was very light and just used a pantyliner.

Good luck!!

I'm hoping I put this the right way - as you can see by my previous sealed compared to other people's decorous where the placenta was attached it might not come out quite right, lol

At 12 weeks, lots of things are already in place - so it's probably the same blood as you lose after giving birth - only not on the way it's supposed to if everything went to plan.

And, you've got midwives looking after that end of it, you're busy - much less likely to be noticing as well as you then have a baby.

it's got to vary hasn't it. i had loads but thats because i tore in many areas and bled on top of the normal blood. dd was covered in it :(

Same as RockChick here. It was very normal birth, but there was a hell of a mess on the bed, and when I stood up (tmi alert) it all sort of gushed out, there was so much of it it you could hear it hit the floor . Perfectly normal apparently but dp went a bit pale

After my son was pulled from me (normal vaginal birth) I felt a lot of fluid leave my body at the same time (noticed merely because it was warm-TMI!) it could have been water, or blood or a mixture of the both...didn't look!

So um, what I've also been wondering is... You know we have a 50%ish increase in blood volume during pregnancy...? Well is this the only way in which it all comes out again? Does anyone know the answer to this?

Just to say that I did lose quite a lot of bright red blood with both labours, but this doesn't seem to be "normal". First time around, midwives were concerned and monitored me closely. And the bleeding was during contractions, before waters broke.

With DC2's birth, other midwives entering the delivery room were remarking on the amount of blood...and yes, it was up the walls too! I got through a lot of the bed pads and all of the towels.

That was 3 weeks ago and my lochia is already almost finished, not bloody any more, nor for the past few days, I guess because so much of it went with the birth.

I didn't notice any blood during the birth, but didn't actually look down!

Incidentally, I found Tena lady pants more comfortable than maternity pads, which felt quite bulky when sitting. Although I did use both together for the first couple of days. Was just like a light period after a fortnight and stopped after another week or so.

TBH you are in far to much pain during labour to even consider looking down to see how much blood there is, i remember starting to hallucinate at one stage so i wouldn't worry about it, chances are your not going to see much if any, the midwifes clean up when needed.
I read somewhere that when the placenter comes away it leaves an opene wound the size of a dinner plate so bleeding will be expected :). I had a retained placenter so had to have in manually removed, which they had to give me an epidural for, so i couldn't feel my legs for a while, about 4hours later when nurse came to check down there there was ALOT of blood EVERYWHERE, but i lost so much blood that i had to have 2 blood transfusions... I really think it depends on the person, im planning a water birth this time and have asked about the amount of blood etc in the water and a majority of women say they didn't notice :)

You prob won't really notice during/just after the birth. I had quite a lot with ds1 (>500ml) but only noticed when I decided to be moved from bed to a chair at which point I deliriously blurted out "Oh gosh, what a bloodbath!" as I spotted the not quite cleared up SMEARS of blood on the floor. TBH I hadn't really thought about blood loss so OP, you're ahead of me on that one.
No recollection of blood in ds2's birth but I was prepped for a EMCS. (He was forceps in end) so couldn't walk/move/see floor!!

Afterwards a couple of days of heavy period levels. Lingered for weeks but wasn't very heavy in my case. Remember both times thinking when period really came back months later that they were heavier and thought "Bugger. I'm stuck with heavy period for life now". (I wasn't)

One word of warning, if you intend to breastfeed this causes uterine contraction so you might have gushes for the first day or so. Change your pad before a feed if you can. You prob won't leak but if you're dealing with prefecting your feeding you don't want to stress that you're staining. (Sorry that prob is TMI!)

Blood, blood everywhere! I give birth with lots of blood, but it doesn't really bother me. My top tip for disguising this in photos of your new baby are to tastefully present them in black and white. (One set of birth pics showed baby being hauled out of the sunroof dripping blood everywhere - I recommend not allowing a one-eyed doctor anywhere near you. Ever! The other birth was vaginal, but the pesky monster came out with his hand by his head, which did not agree with an undiagnosed vaginal varicose vein I had.)

OTOH I don't bleed much at all afterwards. A couple of days at most.

The blood at birth is not like period blood, it is fresh red blood, like a wound.

Everyone is different. But be prepared for some blood somewhere along the line.

Oh yes thre baby photos!! I'm the "owner" of an 8 and 4.5 year old who tell everyone that the baby (due Nov) will be covered in blood cos they were!! They're quite cool about it, but it's wrong on some level isn't it!!

In fact once the 8 yr old (who was about 4 at the time) established it was my blood not his , he was cool about it!!!

My notes said I lost 250mls I didn't notice at all. Infact, when I stood up for my shower/wee I exclaimed how little blood there was, I was expecting it to be running down my legs and the bedding to be soaked, but just a few splotches.

Interesting, thegingerone - I am ginger too!

a lot of the extra blood you have when pregnant apparently gets converted into wee. you do wee copiously after birth - and that is partly all the extra blood getting passed from the body. you don't bleed ALL of it out ;-)

I really don't remember there being much blood at all tbh. I think the midwives must be fantastic at clearing it away, so to speak, as I was told a couple of days later (DS got transferred to another hospital) that I had lost a lot of blood and probably shouldn't have been discharged so soon!! I had absolutely no idea!