I am a 40-year-old married woman with two children (6 and 4). The only birth control methods I have ever used are condoms and gel. We are using them now. My period started in the night on Saturday. There was no warning cramping. I was surprised, because I felt it was early, but I hadn t been tracking my periods, so I couldn t be certain, just a feeling. It started with a lot of large, bright red clots, which was unusual. In total, they may have been almost the size of an egg. By the second night the clots stopped and things seemed to be progressing normally. Bleeding had stopped entirely by Friday morning. That is maybe a little long, but I wasn t too concerned. Bleeding began again Friday night. Throughout Saturday there was a black, flaky discharge of apparently long-dead blood . In the middle of the night, heavy menstural bleeding began again. There has been no unusual pain. Normally my periods last about five days without clots. Before I had children, I often went several months without a period, but they have been fairly regular and monthly since I had my children.