Post Partum Bleeding
For the immediate postpartum:
Bleeding post partum is like a heavy period. A few things that are suprising to women are:
*Your lochia (blood) will have a different odor then your period blood. It will smell earthy, kind of sweaty. This is totally normal.
*If your lochia smells very foul, like a rotten piece of fruit or a dead animal then it is very likely an infection.
*You can bleed quite a bit and have it be normal. It is not normal to bleed through more than 2 pads in one hour or if you are sitting on a chux pad and you fill it in one hour.
*You can pass pretty sizable clots. It is not normal to pass a clot bigger then the size of an egg, but egg size is normal. Often when you are laying in bed you will pass a clot when you get up to go to the bathroom. This is totally normal.
*If you are laying around and you notice that you are suddenly bleeding you can dig into your belly and massage your uterus until it feels like a grapefruit but very hard.
* When you nurse your baby it will cause contractions and can b-give you afterpains and cause blood to come out. This is normal and great because this is how your uterus shrinks back down.

For the days and weeks after you have your baby:
*You may bleed for as short as a couple of days but you may bleed for a couple of months especially if you have older children that you are running around after.
*Your bleeding is your guide to how much activity you should be doing. If your bleeding slows down and then starts up heavier it probably means that you are doing too much.
*If you ever feel pain in your belly and it is sore to the touch and your discharge smells foul CALL your Dr immediately it is most likely an infection.
*Your bleeding is not going to progress the same as your period bleeding. It will start out red and then get lighter pink then it will get brownish /yellowish and finally end like clear discharge. It can be pink or clear and then go back to red if you have been very active.
This is posted as per Pooks request . I did this off the top of my head so let me know if there is any info missing.