Messyone, I'm sure you're just trolling, as I've seen you around doing so before, but really: how is blood in a silicone cup hanging around inside your body more of a health issue than a blood-soaked tampon hanging around inside your body?

It isn't. Even if you go 8 hours without emptying it and washing it, it just isn't the petri dish you think it is.

And jeez, it isn't THAT hard to rinse a cotton pad and throw it in the next load of wash. You'd think we were pounding them on rocks and washboards and running them through hand-wringers, the way you make it sound.

FWIW, here comes a gross childbirth story. 11 days after I gave birth by emergency c-section, I had a piece of the membrane come out of my body. 11 DAYS. I freaked out, of course, because I didn't know what it was, it was covered in clots, and boy, did it look like critical parts of me were falling out of my vagina. Once my OB told me what it was, I freaked out again, because ew, loose membrane rotting inside me for almost 2 weeks? He - you know, an actual doctor - wasn't concerned at all. And 3 months later, I can say with confidence that he was right - I never had a problem.