The lochia become less and less coloured, and now, and not before the uterus undergoes that gradual diminution of size and bulk which we have just alluded to.
The dark and offensive lochia should be constantly removed by the most scrupulous attention to cleanliness, and by frequently washing out the vagina and uterus with warm water.
The management of the lochia constitutes also an important part of the treatment of a natural labour, for the patient's health will be materially affected by any alteration either in its quantity or quality.
The lochia has either not appeared at all, or has been suddenly suppressed; and in all probability, the secretion of milk has followed a similar course.
This state of hard contraction gradually disappears, and a discharge of blood called lochia follows, which having continued for a few days becomes colourless, and at length ceases altogether.
During the whole period of the Lochia in fact, even in ordinary cases, the female will be all the more comfortable, and better, for an occasional injection, and frequent washing.
The most frequent cause probably is cold or damp, which checks the lochia and the perspiration, and leads directly to inflammation.
Occasionally the lochia is very offensive, and in that case a simple cleansing injection may be frequently used of thin starch, or Chammomile tea.
In general it is favorable when the swelling subsides, and the pains abate in severity, and particularly if the milk and lochia begin to be secreted again.
In some few cases however, the lochia continues to flow, or even increases, and the breasts remain full up to the time of death.
If the amount of the lochia should be excessive it should be investigated.
The odor of the lochia is at first that of fresh blood; later it has the odor peculiar to these parts.
A faint but characteristic odor to the lochia proves very disagreeable to some patients, and on that account it was formerly customary to give them a daily douche throughout the lying-in period.
Somewhat later the lochia consists almost entirely of mucus, being only streaked with blood; but there will be an increase in the bleeding when the patient gets up; and injudicious activity may cause flooding.
Toward the end of a week the lochia changes from a bright red to a brownish color, because the discharge now includes certain products of disintegration.
The amount of lochia varies, and will likely fall below the average in small or anemic women and rise above it in those who are large or robust.
There is justification for this view in the fact that even normal lochia contain bacteria, and when inoculated into animals produce in them affections of an ichorrhæmic and septicæmic nature.
How is it possible, if even normal lochia possess virulent qualities, that childbed is ever unattended by accessions of fever?
The older beliefs in the suppression of the lochia and the metastases of milk have long since been relegated to the domain of old nurses' lore, and do not call for serious discussion.
After the birth of the first infant the lochia failed to flow, no milk appeared in the breasts, and the belly remained large.
If on getting up at the close of the second week the lochia should resume its red color, the patient should return to bed and notify her physician.
The sanitary pad is used to absorb the lochia after confinement, and needs to be changed many times during the day and night; fully five or six dozen will be required.
After another week (at the close of the fourth), if the lochia is entirely white or yellow, with no blood, she may begin carefully to go about the house.
These sterile pads not only absorb the lochia but also, among ignorant or thoughtless mothers, prevent contamination by the patient's hands.
The milk gave the organism in long chains of granules, and the lochiaonly the pus organism.
The lochia were sowed on the 18th; there was not the slightest trace of growth the next day nor the day after.
The lochia were full of the pyogenic vibrio and of the organism of furuncles, although there was but a small proportion of the latter.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "lochia" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
