I had a similar experience. My postpartum bleeding dramatically slowed down 1 week after delivery. Then at 2 weeks postpartum, I sat on the potty to pee and I passed a piece of placenta. I didn't realize what exactly it was at the time. I was freaking out. Then, the flood gates opened and I started bleeding at a ridiculous level. I went to the ER and they did an emergency D&C. A piece of placenta was still attached to the uterine wall and it finally gave way 2 weeks later. It happens alot but most of the time, women don't notice the piece of placenta because it's usually a small piece and the bleeding is minimul because the blood clots the open area off in the uterine wall. In my situation, the piece of placenta stayed attached and blood clotted around it so I didn't notice an unusual blood flow. Unlike you, I had no cramping which is kinda strange. Your body on the other hand did what it was suppose to do. Your uterus was aggravated by the attached piece and kept contracting down on it trying to get it released and your uterine contractions slowed down the blood flow which caused the steady stream of old blood rather than a bright red gush in my case.

I ended up needing 2 blood transfusions because I lost soo much blood. My uterus did nothing and just sat there. Your constant contractions after birth although were painful, probably saved your life. My attached piece of placenta suddenly ripped off and my body had no time to think and couldn't stop the blood flow. They did the D&C to make sure there was no more placenta left and they gave me a Pitocin drip to cause my uterus to contract and that stopped my blood flow. They did the D&C on you and removed what was still a partially attached piece of placenta and then your uterus was finally able to "clamp" down on the area and stop the bleeding. Women do experience this frequently and some don't even realize it. They don't notice a significant difference in blood flow and just assume it's the normal postpartum bleeding and the body heals on its own and the placenta was small enough, it was passed unnoticed and in some cases, a woman will reabsorb the small attached piece. In our case, the piece that stayed attached was big enough that it couldn't be reabsorbed and still maintained a blood flow that it caused major problems. Our situations were on the extreme end and there's no rhyme or reason to it. It just happens sometimes. I understand your frustration. When I passed a piece the size of a golf ball I wanted to kick somebody for leaving that in there. You can't help but wonder how they would miss it considering the doctor sticks their arm inside you up to their elbow. It's unfortunate that this happens and I think every woman sould have a uterine ultrasound before they leave a hospital after giving birth. Our experience could've been prevented probably if they had given us an Ultrasound.

Occassionally a placenta may have a small additional lobe of tissue.  After the birth of the baby when the placenta is delivered, that extra piece may separate from the rest of the placenta and be left within the uterus, undetected.  A D&C is the way remnants of placental tissue are typically removed.   I'm glad you had good physicians to look after you and hope you're doing well now.

thank you for replying to me, i was starting to think that i was the only one out there that this has happened to, and you are right they should do an ultrasound to all women before they leave the hospital, the doctor did tell me that if i wouldnt have came in it might have turned into a life or death situation. i am so happy to hear some one explain it to me, i really do kind of understand it, i am glad you pulled through as well. i is really frustrating because i have a 3 year old and a 1 year old and when this happened it really di limit me to a lot of things for about a week and as we know 3 and 1 year olds are very needy lol. thank you again for explaining it to me it really helped.