There Will Be Blood: The Post-Birth Carnage
Many many times I’ve sat in a prenatal visit with a family preparing for what to expect during their birth experience and either Mom or partner states to me:
“I just don’t want to see any blood”
Good news! You don’t HAVE to. The majority of labor doesn’t involve a ton of blood or other heavy things. There is discharge, bloody show (which is basically period consistency blood-tinged mucous) and sometimes some peeing and pooping (mostly on the toilet) and water breaking. All of those are pretty mild!
The real ‘mess’ of birth happens after baby is here. The good news about that is that both parents are usually very preoccupied memorizing every detail of their squishy new baby, and less inclined to take a look at what’s happening down below.
So why is post-birth so bloody and messy?
After baby is born, there might be a last release of membranes and amniotic fluid from around baby in utero. Baby himself might be covered in vernix, a waxy emollient that has kept his skin so perfect and soft and moisturized as well as protected his micro biome in the womb.
But after?
It gets a little bit more messy.
For one, a few short, mild contractions after your baby is born, the uterus releases the placenta. At this point, baby is now in a oxygen environment and has begun breathing on his own, so the placenta is no longer needed to help baby thrive. When the placenta is birthed, where it was attached to the uterus leaves a wound that then begins to expel the 3-4 POUNDS of blood that were created over nine-ten months to nourish the baby and deliver nutrients through the placenta.
This is totally a good thing, and totally normal. Your care team is monitoring your blood loss, and encouraging your uterus to do its next job, which is to continue to cramp down, close off that wound, and return to its normal size and position in your abdomen. It’s got a big job to do!
To help with this, your nurses and provider will press on your abdomen, above your uterus every 10-15 minutes during the first hour after your baby is born. When they press, it reminds the uterus to cramp up, and stimulate that closing off of the blood line. You will continue to bleed after birth, heavily for the first hour, tapering off through the day.
Remember: the lining that is shed each month outside of pregnancy during your cycle is a 3-4 day flow. The lining that has been lush and healthy to support pregnancy is going to take longer to shed, so expect heavy, period bleeding for a week or sometimes more. You might also experience some clots, smaller than a golf ball, as that lining is removed and your uterus shrinks.
It’s important to remember that the more you ‘over do’ it after you get home with baby, the more you’ll bleed. Lots of walking, and general unrest keeps the body, and uterus working, so it’ll expel more blood and take a longer time to heal completely. Put your feet up, and get yourself the rest and snuggles with baby you need!
If you’re needing more prep for the ins and outs of what to avert your eyes from, or what you should expect to see after you have baby, give us a shout! Our childbirth educators and doulas are birth experts, so there isn’t anything we haven’t seen or anything that shocks us - and after a few sessions to prepare, nothing will shock you, either!
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