What does lochia discharge mean?

Choosing to give birth naturally is like unloading a big task. In fact, in many cases, mothers will encounter more problems. Due to national policies, many women are new mothers and are unfamiliar with the whole set of physical reactions during childbirth. Although we can get some news and information about childbirth through the Internet, we still have only a vague understanding of things that we have not experienced. For this matter, we will try to understand the important links after childbirth, and lochia discharge is one of them.

What does lochia discharge mean?

Generally, the residues in the uterus of a pregnant woman after giving birth are not discharged together with the birth of the child. In fact, it takes a certain amount of time for a pregnant woman to completely expel the substances in her body, and this period of time is usually called the time for lochia discharge. Generally, lochia discharge refers to the blood and mucus discharged from the vagina. After delivery, the decidua of the uterus, especially the decidua of the embryonic appendages, falls off, and the blood, necrotic decidua and other tissues are discharged through the vagina, which is called lochia. The discharge of lochia after giving birth is actually a very important stage in the recovery of the pregnant woman's body. The pregnant woman discharges the residues in the human body, which is beneficial to the repair of the uterus and ovaries. The lochia of postpartum women can usually be discharged three weeks after giving birth. With the change of time, the lochia of postpartum women can be divided into three types: bright red lochia, serous lochia and white lochia.

How long does it take for a pregnant woman to expel lochia?

Although the time of lochia discharge after delivery often varies slightly depending on the health status of the pregnant woman, generally speaking, the lochia can be discharged within three weeks after delivery. If the lochia continues to flow after more than three weeks, it is considered to be unclean lochia. Normal postpartum lochia also has a fishy smell, but it does not smell bad. The total amount of lochia discharged by pregnant women after giving birth is about 500-1000ml, which can be completely discharged within three weeks under normal circumstances. It is understood that due to the different physical fitness of pregnant women, the average period of lochia discharge for pregnant women is about 3 weeks, the shortest can be 2 weeks, and the oldest can reach 6 weeks.

According to the time of lochia discharge, we can divide postpartum lochia into three types: bright red lochia, serous lochia and white lochia. However, these three types are mainly divided according to the different time of lochia discharge. In the first week, the amount of lochia is larger and the color is bright red, so it is called red lochia. It is accompanied by a lot of blood, blood clots and necrotic decidual tissue, and the duration of red lochia is generally three or four days. The duration of lochia serous is relatively long, from one week to more than ten days, and in the process from red lochia to lochia serous, there is less blood in the lochia, and more of it is necrotic decidua, cervical mucus, female secretions and bacteria, and the color is mainly light red. The arrival of the white lochia stage also means that the time for pregnant women to discharge lochia is approaching, and white lochia usually occurs within ten days to three weeks. The lochia at this stage contains a large amount of white blood cells, atrophic decidua, epidermal cells and bacteria, and no longer contains blood. And this kind of white lochia usually lasts for three weeks.