Pregnancy is desired by every women and few of them are aware of the series of events that undergo inside the body before and during the phase.
Implantation is one of them, in which the fertilized egg, after travelling all along the fallopian tube attaches and adheres to the uterus. Bleeding or spotting is common at this stage and here is everything you want to know about it.
What is implantation bleeding? By definition, it is an extremely small amount of bleeding, very close to spotting, that occurs usually during implantation, since the fertilized egg implants itself to the linings of uterus. The timeline is shortly before the next menstruation cycle, and is often mistaken as periods.
What does implantation bleeding look like? Implantation bleeding differs from normal period in many ways. Firstly, the color is not fully red, it may vary from being pinkish to dark brown. This latter might look like blood which is aged, in comparison to fresh blood, which is bright red in color. Secondly the flow will be much less like it occurs during period and also, won’t last long more than a day or two.
How long does implantation bleeding occur? There is no hard and fast rule as how many days the implantation bleeding will last for. Few women have mentioned that it lasts for few hours and in some cases it might last up to 2 to 3 days. It also differs from woman to woman if they are currently going through their first pregnancy. In this case, implantation bleeding lasts for longer than women who have conceived for the second or third time.
How heavy is implantation bleeding? In majority of cases, implantation bleeding is much lighter in flow and will stay like that for the entire duration, unlike normal menstruation cycle which starts with a lighter flow but gets heavy with time.
If you are having implantation bleeding, it will also not cause any blood clots like in normal periods. Women have also come up with experiences where the implantation bleeding is nothing more than a spotting that has gone off within few hours as well.
Implantation bleeding color
You can also check out the color of bleeding during implantation. The discharge is pinkish in color, sometimes dark brown as well, since it is not fresh blood during menstruation.
The reason is that when the embryo attaches itself to the uterus lining, blood stuck in it for ages might shed off as the egg gets implanted. Some women have also reported the color to be as dark as black. In rare cases the blood is light red, which signifies it is just shed off the uterus after attachment.
When does implantation bleeding occur? A woman with regular menstruation cycle of 28 days would have her ovulation occurring between 12-14 days of the cycle. At that time, egg is released from the ovary that travels down the fallopian tube to the uterus which might get fertilized with sperms and the fertilized egg now needs to attach itself into the uterus wall, so that pregnancy can carry forward for next nine months.
This occurs around 6 to 12 days after fertilization and it is around this time, when few blood vessels present in the linings of uterus may get ruptured and thus implantation bleeding occurs.
To follow the timeline, implantation bleeding occurs just few days before next due period date, and of course before a woman undergoes pregnancy test, many women, without knowing them being pregnant, fee that to be an “early period”.
How many days after ovulation does implantation occur? As mentioned, if ovulation occurs on day 14 of menstruation cycle, then implantation will occur from 6-12 days after that. The bleeding may start immediately or may be few hours or days after that. Women with a variable menstruation cycle might discover the days to be slightly different but the timing of the process revolves around the same time more or less.
How dark is implantation bleeding? The darkness of blood in case of implantation bleeding can vary from being dark brown to dark black that varies widely form women to women as well as whether they are pregnant for the first or second time. It is definitely not bright red, which signifies period blood but can sometimes be very dark red as well.
Many women find it difficult to differentiate between initiation of period spotting and implantation bleeding. This happens in cases where the menstruation cycle is not of 28 days in women, which varies due to various reasons like age, any gynecological problems or due to external stimuli like medicines etc.
So if you are finding spots few days before your period is due, you must wait for few more days and get a pregnancy test done. This will ensure whether you are about to get your periods within few days or about to enter into the most beautiful phase in your life – motherhood.
