strange bleed

Hello, I am a 27yr old mothere of 2 children age 4 and 18mths both born by c-section. My periods have always been regular on a 28day cycle. But last month 2 weeks after my regular period I have a bleed that lasted a day that was abit like jelly almost followed by bleeding and it was red. I came on my period as normal after the bleed exactly when I was due on from my last period. I have had an ultrasound scan - all normal, a swob for infection - all normal, and my pap smear was done a year ago and was all normal. What could this have been?? I am concerned about things like cervical cancer, could this have developed since my last smear?? My doctor says that these things may never have an explanation and could have been stress, what do you think or recommend I do from here? Many thanks rebecca

[Elaine Brown, MD]

Hi!
I think your doctor is right!  Whenever we are dealing with hormones, there are lots of things that are beyond our understanding or ability to predict/explain.  If you were my patient, I would have done the ultrasound, the check for infection, and perhaps another pap smear.  Oh, and also, I ALWAYS do a pregnancy test.  If all of those were unrevealing, I would simply ask you to wait and see what happens from here.  If your next several periods are normal, then great.  If not, and the bleeding becomes a pattern, we could investigate further with something such as an hysteroscopy.
Hope this helps!
Dr B