First study on menstrual products using blood published this year

August 14, 2023 9:19 AM

An important study for uterus-carriers and period-havers... but also cw: discussion of body stuff. "The study was conducted by Dr Bethany Samuelson Bannow and a team of colleagues, in an effort to demystify and destigmatize heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB) which, as it turns out, actually affects around one third of people who menstruate." [Marie Claire: The First Ever Period Product Study Involving Actual Blood Just Proved Why We Needed It]/[Link to BMJ study (free)]

According to the article period products are tested with saline solution rather than anything approximating menstrual fluid. So this study used expired donated blood no longer suitable for medical uses. They also highlight the variability in how people who menstruate use these products, and how a lack of study has made it difficult to understand what a "normal" period is leading to conditions like HMB to be underdiagnosed.

posted by eekernohan (41 comments total)

Also of note when you look up news articles about this study, the headlines by and large miss the point completely. They use it as an endorsement of the use of menstrual cups for heavy periods (using words like "better for" etc.), when the study was drew no such conclusion. Rather the study said women with HMB may gravitate toward the use of menstrual cups and emphasized with any period product it is important to understand individual usage and capacity to accurately diagnose HMB. Kudos to Marie Claire doing a decent job of capturing the point of the study.
posted by eekernohan at 9:20 AM on August 14, 2023 [10 favorites]

> Dr Paul Blumenthal, an emeritus professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at Stanford University, said, “I might ask a patient, ‘what’s your period like?’ and she might say, ‘Well, I soak a pad about every two hours’ – but I don’t necessarily have the time to ask what brand it is or if it’s super maxi.”

‘I don’t necessarily have time to provide competent treatment for women’s gynecological needs’, says a professor of gynecology.
posted by Callisto Prime at 9:37 AM on August 14, 2023 [95 favorites]

I hope this stops the "It's only a small amount of liquid!" pish-toshing of period-flow amount from way too many (usually cis male) scientists and doctors based on "studies" before this.

First, "liquid" misses a whooooooooole lot. Second, the earlier measurements were nonsensical and nobody cared.
posted by humbug at 9:52 AM on August 14, 2023 [10 favorites]

"vadges are icky" implies physician who went to school for a decade to study vadges. Get into the sea. What the even fucking hell.
posted by seanmpuckett at 9:54 AM on August 14, 2023 [31 favorites]

In 2023. 🤦‍♀️
posted by tiny frying pan at 9:58 AM on August 14, 2023 [12 favorites]

I wanted to use a cup and tried mightily. One version was too stiff and painful to use. The 2nd was easier but with a heavy flow it still was dicey to decide when was the optimal time to change it and it would be without the bio feedback of the feeling of a pad.

Oh! And sometimes the cup, although bragging it would HELP cramps, made mine worse. I still have one I guess if I need it for swimming.

I'm still shocked that period COMPANIES weren't using blood. How?!?
posted by tiny frying pan at 10:03 AM on August 14, 2023 [7 favorites]

(Emphasis mine)

End of article:

It also highlights our need for a better understanding of what actually constitutes a ‘normal’ period. It’s near-impossible for women to recognise the signs of abnormal bleeding when there is no proper directive around exactly how this is measured. (For context, only tampons undergo industry-regulated testing for absorption capacity). This, in turn, further contributes to the silencing of women’s pain, and the stigmatisation of period-related disorders.
posted by tiny frying pan at 10:10 AM on August 14, 2023 [9 favorites]

Yep, "it's just a teaspoon or two a day [you crazy hypochondriac]!" I always knew that was horseshit!

Also, this is... great, or whatever (it's just being done now? in 2023? Wild!), but I don't think old arm blood is sufficiently similar to what a pad, tampon, or cup is going to be tasked with to make it entirely useful for improving pads, tampons, and cups. What about the vaunted "tampon bypass accident," the existence of which Tampax taught me about? That happen because menstruation involves expelling not just "menstrual fluid" but big honking mouse-sized wads of uterine lining that can scoot right past the tampon? Is a "tampon bypass accident" something that happens because I menstruate wrong? Or because Tampaxes are designed wrong? Well, I dunno, but I'm guessing the fault lies with Tampax given that I am the product of either Almighty Infallible Holy God or howevermany thousands of years of evolution whereas Tampax is the product of some business bros in the 30s or something who thought hey, wait up, maybe roll up some cotton or paper or WhAtEvEr into tiny phalluses and have the ladies insert them and see what happens! Maybe lots of them won't even get the toxic shock!
posted by Don Pepino at 10:33 AM on August 14, 2023 [35 favorites]

A point only one commercial, to my knowledge, had ever hinted at:

Finally, variability in menstrual flow could result in a difference in product performance, particularly with the pads and underwear, as a significant increase in flow (‘flooding’) may overwhelm a product’s ability to absorb, resulting in overflow or leaking and product failure.

Sorry, find this fascinating. Don Pepino, exactly.
posted by tiny frying pan at 10:33 AM on August 14, 2023 [4 favorites]

One third? ONE THIRD?!! Ooooh, this has me all the hot under the collar. I remember our elementary school puberty education where they cheerfully reassured us that we shouldn't be scared of getting our periods because it was only 1-2 tablespoons of blood so it was no big deal! Absolutely no mention, ever, in any education I got, that actually there's variation and some people bleed more than others.

I spent my teen years wondering how it could be that pads apparently could only contain a small fraction of a tablespoon, and being ashamed of how bad I was at managing my period (all the bled-on clothes and sheets, a problem other people didn't seem to have). It was tremendously upsetting and vindicating when I started using a menstrual cup that had a handy 15 ml mark on it and I found out that I was bleeding not a tablespoon in a week, but, on my heaviest day alone, at least a tablespoon an hour. For ~24 hours straight.

And I've always felt alone in this. But it's one third of people who menstruate?!?!?!?!
posted by mandanza at 10:36 AM on August 14, 2023 [36 favorites]

It also highlights our need for a better understanding of what actually constitutes a ‘normal’ period. It’s near-impossible for women to recognise the signs of abnormal bleeding when there is no proper directive around exactly how this is measured.

It wasn't until just a few months ago when I saw a tiktok video, of all things, that I realized I was menstruating out at least half-3/4 decidual casts on every period as a teenager. I had NO IDEA. Christing hell no wonder my periods were so traumatic. All I knew to say is that it was "heavy" and "chunky" and "I am quite literally bedridden for two full days a month because I am in such excruciating pain."

Re the heavy and chunky people would tell me lol sometimes it be like that. And re the pain I had thankfully no pushback going on birth control at 18 to manage my periods, and I've been skipping them entirely running packs back to back for years. Because NEVER AGAIN with that shit. I hit puberty rather later than average so thankfully it was only a few years of this trauma rather than a lifetime, but STILL.

Blood does WEIRD SHIT.
posted by phunniemee at 10:38 AM on August 14, 2023 [5 favorites]

I had peri-menopausal flooding. I thought I was gonna die. Had to buy new pants in the middle of the work day.
posted by suelac at 10:43 AM on August 14, 2023 [12 favorites]

decidual casts

!!!!!!!
That was NOT in The Care and Keeping of You
posted by Baethan at 10:45 AM on August 14, 2023 [9 favorites]

Totallytotalllytotally, mandanza! And woe betide you if you start out bleeding heavily when you're just a kid. If your mother had a different experience or just remembers wrong--or, come to think of it, had the belt-and-suspenders rig whereas you have the newfangled stick in the underwear pads where there are size options--she might be tempted to buy for her young child the weentzy pantyliners with all the marketing of the "daintiness" and "petiteness" that will relieve her child of the horror of wearing a mattress in her pants. Nice thought, but it's not dainty, god damn it, it's a bloodbath; make some shit that works or eff the eff off. I was layering stupid pantyliners trying to go to middleschool... Oh my God, I don't know how I even survived.

Hey, fellow one-thirders, let's band together and sue every scrap of skin off the makers of all "light days" pink, baby-powder-stinking daisy-quilted bullshit marketed to first-time menstruaters for destroying our 6th-grade year.
posted by Don Pepino at 10:49 AM on August 14, 2023 [15 favorites]

Reading this news annoys me so much because it's why my menorrhagia was not diagnosed for years! Eventually I had to ignore what my previous doctors said about how many pads I used, and just said that it was happening enough that it was giving me extremely heavy bleeding that was making me incredibly uncomfortable, and I needed a Mirena IUD. I knew the recommendations were suspicious, so having to adjust my language and really emphasize my patient self advocacy was so tiring and took time and attention away from other important parts of my life I needed to focus on. So pissed!
posted by yueliang at 10:50 AM on August 14, 2023 [6 favorites]

Hello mandanza, fellow at least a tablespoon an hour bleeder. I guess I've been "lucky" in that many of my friends ALSO have horror-show periods so I never felt like I was an outlier.

But the first time I experienced endometrial lining shed/decidual casts I thought I was having a miscarriage, which, when you're a 16-year-old who has never had sex of any kind, is QUITE UPSETTING.

I wish I had been able to take ANY kind of hormonal BC. Not only do I have horror-show periods, I have severe nausea/vomiting with estrogen and progesterone makes cysts grow on my ovaries. Thankfully, it's only been REALLY bad in the last five-to-ten years and I'm in no hurry to remove my uterus given I'm so close to menopause. "Thankfully." *eye roll*

I cannot believe it's the year of our lord 2023 and we're JUST NOW using actual blood to test period products. Not sure how we'd get uterine blood/tissue to use in testing but that's somehow got to be the next step, for the love of jeebus.
posted by cooker girl at 10:50 AM on August 14, 2023 [11 favorites]

Are you there, Science? It's me, Kim.

HOW HAS THIS TAKEN THIS LONG TO USE ACTUAL BLOOD? (Don't tell me, I can guess.) And yes, let's start simulating tissue as well because while it's too late for me & my traumas but the current and next generations of menstruators could really use some more evidence-based medical opinions.
posted by kimberussell at 10:59 AM on August 14, 2023 [10 favorites]

Part of the reason we post-menopausal folks get a rep for Totally Not Giving Any More Fucks is that since we're no longer using a high amount of our brain's processing time managing our bleeding (pre-, during, and post-menstruation), we now have cognitive cycles freed up for things like really working up a good head of rage.
posted by Mary Ellen Carter at 11:03 AM on August 14, 2023 [34 favorites]

I've wondered about this ever since pad advertisements showed a beaker pouring a liquid on a pad.

We're scientists. We have million dollar machines that can measure things like viscosity and density, and count cells and even sequence the genes in them. We have very fancy computers that simulate fluid dynamics of weather systems, including the effects of salinity. People spend their careers on this stuff, for centuries.

..... water? really?
posted by Dashy at 11:13 AM on August 14, 2023 [5 favorites]

Women had a lot to do with the invention of tampons. I was always told WWI nurses took a look at all the rolled bandages available and went "hmmm."

Regardless this is a good but late step, and yeah, 1-2 tablespoons my ass, because I was passing out.
posted by emjaybee at 11:20 AM on August 14, 2023 [8 favorites]

...she might be tempted to buy for her young child the weentzy pantyliners with all the marketing of the "daintiness" and "petiteness" that will relieve her child of the horror of wearing a mattress in her pants.

Or she might not be aware that technology has advanced (somehow, despite the bros), and there are products that absorb more and faster than the cheap, generic, inch-thick pads. When a friend loaned me an Always ultrathin pad, it was a revelation.

Nowadays, I hope all the menstruating kids are learning about menstrual cups—not that they work for everyone, but they're an option to explore that their menstruating (or non-menstruating) parents might not be familiar with.
posted by BrashTech at 11:22 AM on August 14, 2023 [6 favorites]

If you've never read Connie Willis's short story "Even the Queen" it's an excellent accompaniment to this discussion.
posted by emjaybee at 11:33 AM on August 14, 2023 [10 favorites]

Fingers crossed that a better understanding of heavy menstrual bleeding leads to improved pain relief options, more tranexamic acid prescriptions*, and lab orders for iron panels as the standard of care.

Show of hands, fellow 1/3-ers, if you were ever prescribed antidepressants without a thorough exam to rule out any underlying physical conditions (like iron-deficiency anemia and hypoferritinemia) which trigger depression and fatigue.

*used to treat HMB [heavy menstrual bleeding] for over four decades in many European countries. In the US, however, tranexamic acid was not approved for the treatment of menorrhagia until 2009
posted by Iris Gambol at 12:32 PM on August 14, 2023 [7 favorites]

Also relevant: copper IUDs are well documented to cause heavy menstrual bleeding but whether cups are safe to use with IUDs at all is a matter of much FUD. My doctor advised me not to "just in case."
posted by potrzebie at 12:43 PM on August 14, 2023

Also important to note, this measure has not been updated since newer period care products came onto the market, like menstrual cups and period underwear. In huge news for menstruating individuals, the study found that many period products are mislabelled according to their capacity for absorption, with most having a lesser capacity than previously thought when tested using actual blood.

Yeah, like, period underwear is a joke, in my experience. Maybe it works for people with dainty light periods or who only want a backup for tampons, but yeah, it's not in any way a substitute for other products.
posted by limeonaire at 12:55 PM on August 14, 2023 [1 favorite]

The Nature podcast had a segment a couple months ago that blew my mind. As scientists were looking at hormone levels during menopause, they thought that there would be some historical data that they could mine for patterns. What they discovered was that scientists, forever, have opted to use male animals of species because...well...because. The historic bloodwork data was 100% useless because of this researcher bias (did not want to deal with mensurating female lab animals). So, in 2022 they (women scientists and doctors) had to begin the undertaking of building data sets, of female blood. I am working from memory of the podcast but believe it to be the situation.

When people wonder about systemic misogyny...it goes deep...

Appreciate you sharing this post.

Edit: Here is the podcast.
posted by zerobyproxy at 1:49 PM on August 14, 2023 [19 favorites]

I've always had miserable periods. I started using a cup when I was in my third year of medical school because I was worried about being able to consistently change a tampon every 4 hours (or more frequently, depending on the day).

Positives: It did seem to help (but not eliminate) cramps. I learned where all of the single stall bathrooms in every hospital I worked at were located. I was finally able to quantify the heaviness of my periods.

Now, as a hematologist, I spend a decent amount of time querying women about their periods and administering IV iron. I'm not so in tune with the OBGYN literature, but these findings surprise me not at all. Women don't usually compare their periods to other women. The way that we are trained to query period heaviness (How long is your period? How often? How many pads/tampons/etc do you use on your heaviest day) is not at all helpful, it turns out, in finding out what periods are actually like. Luckily, I work with a ton of PCPs and OBGYNs who are very quick to intervene and treat menorrhagia and refer for iron deficiency.
posted by honeybee413 at 3:33 PM on August 14, 2023 [12 favorites]

During the Covid lockdown period I went through some months with very heavy flow, and I was grateful that we were home all the time and I didn't need to calculate how many pads/tampons to take along for a day away from home. I still rely on pads mostly because they deal with uterine lining best.

Uniqlo makes nice 'period briefs' for those light days at the end of the period. They are also great for overnight coverage in addition to tampons (that invariably leak somewhat).
posted by of strange foe at 3:40 PM on August 14, 2023

I knew that much touted 2-3 tablespoons per period had to be bullshit! Count me in as another tablespoon per hour person during my heavy days! I can’t believe this is the first study that used blood instead of water or saline. And as the researchers said, menstrual blood isn’t exactly the same as other blood, but hey, it’s a start.

I was fascinated to see that super tampons hold about 30 mL rather than the 12 mL it says on the box. That means I’ve been underestimating how much I actually bleed!

I’ve always been a heavy bleeder with bad cramps, but perimenopause is a level up: in addition to the new hot flashes, night sweats, and anxiety, I’m also getting flooding that makes me have to scrub blood out of my outerwear, underwear, and socks in the middle of the day.

I now use a super tampon plus a (washable) pad as backup. It has saved more than one pair of pants—usually changing tampons once per 90 minutes is enough, but not always, so it’s good to have the pad there to soak up the sudden overflow as I bolt up from the meeting table/classroom/whatever and sprint to the closest toilet.

I use washable pads to reduce my impact on the environment, and I really like them, but it does add another level of management—hand washing them and making sure the wash/hang to dry routine is timed properly so I always have enough clean ones.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 3:43 PM on August 14, 2023 [5 favorites]

I’m so glad to see Actual Research going on around this subject. I am an Old, and periods for me were miserable. Starting at age 11, 7-10 days long, and the first three days a bloodbath. Tampons made my cramps worse. Cups were not A Thing yet.
As I entered perimenopause, I had horrible cramps, super-heavy flow, diarrhea, and a migraine for 24 hours *every month* for about 2.5 years. This made working full-time fun indeed, if I didn’t get my period over the weekend. The only good news was that my periods were only three days long, finally.
Anyway, the sisterhood of the 1/3 is long and deep. I know we all feel one another’s pain.
Oh, and why is it always blue fluid in the ads? So stupid.
posted by dbmcd at 7:00 PM on August 14, 2023 [3 favorites]

This shocks me but also doesn't because it's CLEAR these products are better at soaking up water than period blood. Maybe now things can improve?
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 7:16 PM on August 14, 2023 [1 favorite]

Re: the actual study: Very interesting how heavy bleeders disproportionately choose to use menstrual cups and discs! I know the cup was absolutely a game changer for me. (Cup + pad meant that I was able, for the first time in years, to sit through a movie or a two-hour lecture on my heaviest day! And I didn't have to set an alarm halfway through the night!) I've never tried a disc and had no idea that they had such a large capacity. Intriguing!

I also had a bit of a chuckle at the period underwear section and felt vindicated that I'd never believed the hype enough to buy a pair. But I know there are people who like them! Are they really just used by people with super-light periods or as a nicer alternative to a pantyliner, or was there something amiss in the methodology here, that the absorbed volume was so small?

I really hope that this study accomplishes its goal in getting clinicians to ask more and better questions about periods. I know it would have saved me a lot of stress and shame if my pediatrician had asked enough questions (or any questions, lol) to be able to understand that I was bleeding heavily. Anyway, shout out to all of you who experience(d) and understand the struggle.
posted by mandanza at 7:59 PM on August 14, 2023

Are they really just used by people with super-light periods or as a nicer alternative to a pantyliner

I use period panties as a backup to tampons or menstrual cups, or on the last days of my period when my flow is light. I feel slightly dysphoric talking about this, but, ugh - the first day or two of my period is always heavy. They absorb more than a pantyliner, and are much more comfortable and stay in place better than a pad. I have a lot fewer leaks.

(I deleted an entire paragraph ranting about how pads never worked for me, because if they work for you, you do not need my trauma!)
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 8:51 PM on August 14, 2023

With all the wonders of modern science, shouldn't they be able to create a substance to simulate menstrual blood in all its variation and complexity to test with? But that would be assuming the wonders of modern science are being directed at the problems of people who menstruate, a proposition for which there is no shortage of evidence against.
posted by lookoutbelow at 3:37 PM on August 15, 2023

Artificial menses fluid, United States Patent 5883231A (1999) There is provided a bodily fluid simulant made from red blood cells in an amount between about 10 and about 60 weight percent, egg white in an amount between 20 and 50 weight percent, and plasma.
Menstrual fluid simulant containing blood product, gelatin, polyacrylamide and buffer US patent 7659372B2 (2010); "Menstrual fluid simulants of use for in vitro testing of feminine hygiene products."
Artificial Menses Fluid or Simulated Menses Fluid (BZ266) This simulated fluid is only used in the field of scientific research and for in vitro use only
Human Donor Menstrual Blood Samples

January 2023: "'We have assembled an outstanding team to develop a bio-synthetic whole-blood product that can be freeze-dried for easy portability, storage, and reconstitution,' said study principal investigator Allan Doctor, MD, Professor of Pediatrics and Director of the Center for Blood Oxygen Transport and Hemostasis (CBOTH)" at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. "It will be designed for easy use in the field by medics at the point of injury, and will perform like a traditional blood transfusion to, for example, stabilize a patient’s blood pressure or facilitate blood clotting." UMSOM will manage the $46.4 million four-year research project administered by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), in collaboration with the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy (UMSOP) and more than a dozen universities and biotech companies.

Vostral, S.L. (2020). Of Mice and (Wo)Men: Tampons, Menstruation, and Testing. In: Bobel, C., Winkler, I.T., Fahs, B., Hasson, K.A., Kissling, E.A., Roberts, TA. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Menstruation Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0614-7_50 (Open access)
posted by Iris Gambol at 6:28 PM on August 15, 2023 [3 favorites]

Can't Tampax et al. just pay people to hang out in a hotel and menstruate for a week? Isn't this, like, laughably obvious? In 1995 UPMC paid me $800 to let them infect me with a rhinovirus and stay in their fleasy Pittsburgh study hotel for a week. I got three squares a day from room service (baked scrod!) plus the chance to party with other cold-study participants* in exchange for handing over my nightly production of snot every morning at 6:00 and undergoing such indignities as public ear-wax examinations. I spent the week writing a paper for my lit crit class and went to Europe with the $800.

I would absolutely have spent another week menstruating on Tampax's dime. What a lark after years of paying Tampax $20+ a month for the privilege! And since wages have been flat for decades, Tampax probably wouldn't have to shell out much more than $800 today to get their menstruators! And it would allow them to see with their own heretofore innocent eyes what happens to bedsheets if somebody in the one third makes the mistake of relying solely on commercial products supposedly designed for "nighttime" instead of buying puppy pads or layering a bunch of black bath towels. (Before I finally finally got a cup, I used nighttime winged Always plus Tampax Super+ for the full 24 hours for the first three days. At night I supplemented with bath towels in a frequently vain attempt to protect the bedding.** )

*Protip: Did you sign up for one of those study lockdowns? If you can smuggle in extra alcohol and cigarettes for other participants who use all of theirs up day one from the boredom, you can quadruple your proceeds.

**Life Hack: Seriously. If you are a first-three-days flooder, do yourself a favor and try a cup. It may not be for you, but if it is for you? The earlier you can stop hurling your money at dumbass Tampax for their products that DO! NOT! WOOOOOORK!!! the vastly, vastly, infinitely better.
posted by Don Pepino at 6:48 AM on August 16, 2023 [4 favorites]

Something I’ve wondered about for a long time and cannot figure out how to Google it—how exactly can HMB lead to anemia? The uterine lining is not part of the blood circulating through the rest of your body (right?) Is it because your body uses a lot of iron to build up that lining earlier in the month?
posted by fozzie_bear at 5:22 PM on August 16, 2023

The uterine lining is not part of the blood circulating through the rest of your body (right?)

I might be incorrect here on the exact mechanics, but there's still blood. Yes you're shedding your endometrium, but your uterus is also bleeding, and your vagina is still doing its thing, secreting all its...secrets. Menstrual fluid is complex.

Your uterus is a living part of your body, it's not just a little sack that collects a baby and/or waste product for 3 weeks. The skin inside your uterus is fed by arteries and capillaries, just like the rest of you. It's active and alive. If you shed the lining of the skin on your arm, your arm would bleed until the skin on your arm builds back up.

This is one of the reasons that endometriosis fucks you up so bad. Endometrium grows on places in your body that aren't built for the constant shedding and rebuilding, but your hormones signal it to shed anyway, so over time those places develop lesions and scar tissue (including scar tissue that causes internal tissues that aren't meant to touch to bind together as your body is desperately fighting to repair itself), often causing terrible pain.
posted by phunniemee at 7:03 PM on August 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

On the one hand, reading the comments makes me grateful that I'm no longer doing the bleeding thing any more. On the other hand, OMFG how have we gotten to 2023 and not done better studies?

(I know: reproductive cissexism.)
posted by gentlyepigrams at 7:59 PM on August 16, 2023 [3 favorites]

I'm in the one third and I'm also a doctor.
After about twenty years of doctoring, a random chat with a hematology colleague led to me being prescribed tranexamic acid.

I couldn't believe how much it changed things. And I am still so sad and angry about all the years when I was absolutely miserable the first two days of my cycle - and knowing it didn't have to be this way.

Now tranexamic acid lives in my purse.
I am also asking every single menstruating patient more detailed questions about their period, and send labs when necessary.*

My hematology colleague said most patients say their periods are "pretty typical I guess" because many women with HMB had family members with HMB so heavy flow was all they knew.
*Also, sometimes it's a mild bleeding disorder.

That off-hand comment by the ob-gyn professor though. Wasting his valuable time asking his patients questions about their symptoms. Like... seriously?
posted by M. at 1:24 AM on August 19, 2023 [3 favorites]

Thanks for the articles and the discussion. My daughter is developmentally delayed, and I'm learning about all this stuff alongside her. Sometimes there's only a couple of teaspoons of blood every few hours, and her diapers have no problem containing it. But sometimes it seems like there's blood fucking everywhere.

And the diapers at best *contain* it, they don't absorb it. It's almost as if blood was designed to form a barrier when exposed to air rather than being sopped up like a normal liquid...
posted by clawsoon at 2:29 PM on August 19, 2023 [1 favorite]