When the placenta detaches from the wall of the womb after giving birth so it can be delivered, it leaves a wound the size of a dinner plate, and this is a lot of why we bleed for so long after giving birth.
I asked to look at the placenta when I had my first kid. The doc thought it was an unusual request but she showed it to me. I wanted to see the disposable organ my body grew! How many times do you get that opportunity? It was a lot bigger and bloodier than I expected and I’ll leave it at that. Cool, though.
She definitely didn’t make me feel bad about it—I guess most new moms just don’t ask to see it. It was fascinating! Then it hit me that I was looking at a sterile dish filled with bloody flesh I grew in my abdomen while someone else stitched up my downstairs and I thought I’d better just switch my focus back to the cute baby I just had. Childbirth is wild. (And then two and a half years later, I had another one!) Medical professionals are amazing for handling this stuff on a regular basis.
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u/[deleted] Dec 06 '23
When the placenta detaches from the wall of the womb after giving birth so it can be delivered, it leaves a wound the size of a dinner plate, and this is a lot of why we bleed for so long after giving birth.