MC management - medical or surgical?

[JBrd]

I've been bleeding since mid-December, and even though they found a heartbeat after the second scan, the measurements where a lot smaller than they should've been for my dates. Passed some big pieces of clot/tissue last week, and the EPU confirmed that I was having a miscarriage after all.
However, the clots were not pregnancy tissue, and I decided to have a private scan yesterday to find out what's going on (EPU weren't going to scan again). The gestational sac is empty, no heartbeat, but still present. Called the EPU again, and will now be going in later to discuss further actions. It seems that I can have a choice between medical and surgical treatment, but I'm not sure what to go for.
Medical sounds pretty horrific, from the way the nurse described it to me, however, even though the surgical route appears more straightforward, I'm wary, since it involves general anaesthetic and other the risks associated. Also a longer waiting list, medical I could have in the next couple of days...

What were your experiences? How long did it take to recover afterwards?

[MrsJohnDeere]

So sorry that you are going through this.

I took the surgical option (MMC seen at 12 week scan). I wanted it over and done with ASAP. I had mine done the next day, but have private health care. I have no regrets about the choice. The op was straighforward. I chose to stay in overnight but this is unusual (had op very late in the evening and I wasn't out of theatre/recovery until midnight). No driving for 48 hours after the op, and I felt very spaced out afterwards. It probably took another 2 weeks to recover (physically), and 6 weeks to be back to 'normal'. Days 3 and 4 post-op were the worst (when the effects of the GA wore off). Next to no bleeding afterwards.

[Geekster]

Sorry to hear you are going through this. I have experienced both a natural miscarriage and a surgical one. I found the surgical one was a lot quicker to recover from physically as I had next to no bleeding afterwards but with the natural ones I bled for up to six weeks. Personally I found the surgical option less traumatic too. There wasn't much to choose between them for the emotional recovery, but physically the surgical option was much better.

[MrsHelsBels74]

I had a MMC & opted for medical management (not offered surgical). I was very frightened but it wasn't nearly as bad as I'd anticipated. The pain was manageable with codeine (which I was given at the time).

Apologies if this is TMI but I could tell when I passed the sac, and that was upsetting for me.

Sorry you are going through this, please feel free to ask me any other questions, this happened October 2011 & I've since had a healthy baby so happy to talk about it in as much detail as you need.

[JBrd]

Thanks for sharing your stories, ladies, that is very helpful. I have decided to go down the surgical route, booked in for tomorrow . Really glad that it'll be over and done with so soon, hopefully, I can then try and start getting back to normal.