Especially carefully, a young mother should monitor the discharge after cesarean from the vagina. Gynecologists call the discharge, consisting of blood clots, mucus and dead epithelial cells, lochia.
Usually, women who have given birth to a child do not pay much attention to the blood flowing from the genital tract, consider it something like a menstruation. But in reality, by how long the discharge after cesarean section takes, how they look and smell, you can find out about the state of the body.
And after a natural birth, and after a cesarean section, the mucous membranes of the uterus need time to recover. If the woman who gave birth does not experience any complications, then the reproductive system returns to normal 6 to 9 weeks after surgery.
What is the difference between discharge after cesarean section and after childbirth
Some believe that the discharge after cesarean section does not differ at all from the lochia that appear during natural childbirth, but this is not so.
Let us consider in detail how the discharge after cesarean section differs from the discharge after natural birth:
- After a cesarean section, the genitals are at great risk because there is a chance of developing an infection or inflammation. To avoid this, with lochia after surgery, be sure to adhere to all hygiene procedures, washing the crotch several times a day.
- Immediately after cesarean section (for 5-7 days) there are spotting with a high content of mucus, after a natural birth this is not noticed.
- When performing a caesarean section, the natural color of the discharge is bright red or saturated scarlet, these colors are much brighter than during natural childbirth.
- After cesarean section, the healing process and normalization of the uterine contraction lasts quite a long time, and the duration of the lochia takes several weeks longer, approximately 1-2 weeks.
What lochia after cesarean section are considered safe?
Discharge after cesarean section is incorrectly considered a pathology. Dead endometrial particles, swollen with blood, pieces of placental tissue come out from the vagina. The body simply discards the waste material. The first two or three days of Lochia after cesarean section have a dense scarlet color, they are plentiful. It is difficult to say how much blood will leak after the operation.
It all depends on how long the cesarean section lasts, whether the woman in labor during the surgery has complications. Gradually, the blood darkens, turns from red to brown, and after a few weeks, the mother leaves the genital tract. After about six weeks, the discharges after cesarean section are liquefied, lighten, and then disappear.
Do not worry if the discharge after cesarean section looks like lumps. Women who have undergone surgery have a sedentary lifestyle, so the blood in the uterus thickens. In some mothers, when breastfeeding, the volume of secretions increases, and pain occurs in the lower abdomen. This is a natural phenomenon, indicating a quick recovery. It’s just that the uterus, trying to get rid of dead tissue as soon as possible, is actively contracting, pushes blood and mucus.
And the hormone oxytocin contributes to an intensive reduction of the mucous walls of the uterus. Its concentration in the blood increases precisely at the time a baby sucks a breast.
How much is the discharge after cesarean section normal?
Most of all, women who have given birth are interested in how much discharge goes after a cesarean section, how to understand that the restoration of the uterus is too long. The sooner the reproductive system returns to normal, the earlier the menstrual cycle will be ordered. If the health of the young mother is all right, then the discharge lasts 6 – 9 weeks, that is, about two months. No need to worry if bleeding after cesarean section ends already in the fifth week or continues in the tenth week. The body of each woman is individual, therefore, short-term and prolonged discharge does not necessarily indicate pathologies.
If neither mucus, nor blood clots acquire a strange color and bad smell, do not change the consistency, then there is no need to worry, although you still need to go to a gynecologist for a consultation.
How much is the discharge after cesarean section for pathologies?
Unfortunately, labor is often accompanied by complications. Each woman who gave birth should know how much blood goes after cesarean, how vaginal discharge looks and smells in order to timely identify pathologies and begin treatment. Be sure to consult a gynecologist if nothing comes out of the vagina already in the fourth week after the operation, and also, if the uterus is restored for too long, more than ten weeks. Quickly discharged discharge means that dead endometrial particles and blood clots simply cannot go outside for various reasons. They get stuck in the uterus, rot, provoke inflammation.
If the discharge after cesarean section, on the contrary, lasts a suspiciously long time, then it is possible that endometritis or an infectious disease develops in the abdominal cavity or pelvic tissues. It is especially dangerous when blood flows abundantly from the vagina for more than eight weeks, completely without changing color and texture. This is a sure sign that the uterus is contracting weakly. In order not to suffer from blood loss, a woman should immediately go to the doctor.
Also an unfavorable symptom if the discharge ends and then suddenly starts again. This means that the uterus is not restored properly. You must undergo a medical examination to find the cause of the deviation. In the first days after surgery, a young mother should monitor the profusion of lochia. Very poor discharge is a sign of blood clots or clogging of the uterine appendages.
Change in color and smell of lochia after cesarean
The occurrence of complications after surgery depends on how long the cesarean lasts and whether the woman in labor has chronic diseases. A change in the color and smell of vaginal discharge can tell about pathological formations in the body. Lochia after Caesarean section have an unpleasant, but mild odor, reminiscent of the stench from the betraying body. But if, two or three days after cesarean section, the smell intensifies, so much so that it begins to cause disgust, then in the reproductive organs, most likely, an infectious disease develops. After surgery, a woman is usually prescribed antibiotics, analgesics, and injections of the hormone oxytocin to improve the contractile function of the uterus.
Normal discharge after cesarean section is first red and then brown. Any other shade of lochia should cause concern for a young mother, because this is a sign of pathology.
If a woman has white, yellow or greenish discharge from the vagina, then she should immediately consult a doctor and undergo a medical examination. Pus of a saturated yellow or greenish color with a disgusting smell is a symptom of endometritis, that is, an infectious inflammation of the uterine mucosa. With this disease, body temperature often rises, there are pains in the abdomen and genitals. When the yellow discharge becomes abundant and acquires a mucous consistency, then endometritis flows into a chronic form. The disease can in no case be treated independently at home. Most likely, the doctor will prescribe antibiotics or even send them for surgery.
Green discharge after cesarean section is pus. It signals an infection of the uterus and the onset of an inflammatory reaction. A woman needs to undergo a medical examination to determine the causative agent of the disease.
An unfavorable and dangerous sign is leakage from the genital tract of a liquid transparent, like water, without any color or smell. Probably, this fluid comes out of the body, filling the blood or lymph vessels, which indicates a violation of blood circulation in the reproductive system. If the liquid discharge has the smell of rotten fish, then there can be no doubt that dysbiosis develops in the vagina.
White cheesy discharge after a caesarean section with a sour smell, accompanied by itching and redness of the external genital organs, are a symptom of the multiplication of pathogenic microorganisms. A woman must definitely consult a gynecologist. The doctor will take a vaginal smear for analysis to determine the causative agent of the disease and prescribe the optimal therapy.
Discharge after cesarean section, which are black and odorless, is also considered to be the norm. Discharge data after cesarean section caused by changes in the hormonal background. A deviation will be considered if the black discharge begins to go after a long period after the operation.
Keep track of the color of the discharge of the postoperative period and during the recovery period after cesarean, this will help you avoid possible complications. In the event of complications that may indicate changes in the discharge, after a course of treatment, you can normalize the course of the postoperative period and bring the body to normal at the very initial stage.
The amount and volume of discharge after cesarean section
During the recovery process, you should monitor the amount of secretions, as their volume will indicate how quickly the body is restored after childbirth. Abundant discharge in the first days after labor is considered the norm, which means that the tubes and uterine ducts function well, there is no clogging, blood clots, and if the discharge is minimal, then you should seek help, as this can cause problems with the reproductive organs.
It is important to be able to determine the norm of the number of secretions, since continuous abundant secretions after labor are also dangerous.
Several cases should be considered that may indicate deviations:
- The volume of secretions has changed dramatically and become excessively plentiful, or the number of secretions does not decrease for a long time. In the early days, heavy discharge after cesarean is the norm, however, if you change the pad every hour, with severe bleeding, urgent help is needed.
- The volume of secretions has become scarce or completely stopped. This indicates a violation of the outflow of lochia from the uterine cavity, which can be caused by bending the uterus or endometritis.
Hygiene after cesarean section
In order not to encounter complications after surgery, it is necessary to take cleanliness of the body seriously. A woman who has had a cesarean should be washed until the discharge stops at least twice a day. To care for the genitals, it is advisable to use special gels for intimate places and soap without aromatic components. During the first days of the recovery period, the young mother should change the pads every three hours. Gaskets should not be taken daily, but those that are used during menstruation have a high absorbency. Still giving birth to a woman must regularly change underwear.
In order for the rehabilitation period to proceed without complications, experts advise that in the first week after surgery, often lie on your stomach or put some cold object on it. Such measures contribute to the improvement of contractile function of the uterus, the alignment of the genital tract, the intensive discharge of mucus and blood clots. It is good if the woman who has given birth breastfeeds the baby. This means that a large amount of oxytocin is released into the blood, causing a reduction in the mucous membrane of the uterus.
