How do I know if I have miscarried?

[zebedeethezebra]

Hi girls. I know you're not doctors but I'm wondering if your own experiences might help me.

Today is Saturday. If I'm still pregnant it will be 5 weeks and 1 day.

Last Wednesday night, 2 days after getting BFP, I had terrible pains all night mostly in my right groin which didn't ease with either paracetamol or brufen but did ease slightly after a poo later in the night (sorry if TMI but I'd been terribly constipated so don't know if the pain was that or connected with a miscarriage). Then during the night every time I went to the loo (which was about 3 times I think) and wiped myself there was fresh blood on the paper. I had to wipe myself several times to get it all. But no clots and although I put a sanitary pad in there was never more than a streak of blood on it by the next morning.

I called the doc who said it was too early in the pregnancy for a scan and to hang in there and do another pregnancy test next week on Monday. He thought I might have been miscarrying or threatened miscarriage.

I had no significant pain after Thursday lunchtime and no bleeding for the rest of Thursday until Friday evening when, since then lots of brown discharge (dried blood), again mostly on the loo paper, and a streak on panty liners only. There was a small clot I think in the loo this afternoon (about the size of a baked bean).

So I'm not sure what's going on or if I'm still pregnant or not. From reading through many people's experiences here, it sounds as if there should be far more bleeding than I've actually had. Also I've had no pregnancy symptoms so far, but I didn't prior to the bleeding starting either.

I can do another pregnancy test on Monday but I've heard it can be falsely positive for weeks after a miscarriage. So if that test isn't reliable, and its too early to do a scan, how will I ever know if I've had a miscarriage or not? Does anyone have any idea? Also is what I've just had a precursor to a miscarriage? Is it all going to start flooding out at any time?

I've kind of resigned myself to not being pregnant any more. My age isn't on my side either. I'm 43 although I had a normal pregnancy last year and DS is 10 months.

[randomimposter]

Hi Zeb
It's not uncommon to have spotting in very early pregnancy usually due to implantation activity. So what you describe might be nothing more than implantation blood loss... alas you'll have to wait and see, and do another test as advised by the GP - hopefully that will be a stronger and quicker line.

Worse case scenario and this is the beginning of a MC, at such an early stage it's likely to be a slightly heavier than usual period.

Good luck. Hope all works out well.

[jasmine51]

As before, not uncommon to have all sorts of spotting in early pg. I have polyps that are buggers for causing small bleeds. If it reassures you I bled for 6 days at 5 weeks and assumed I had mc but it suddenly stopped with no clots - my screwed up hormones were blamed as I has not recovered fully from previous mc and am now happily 12 wks.
I am also 43 by the way.
I can advise for sure whether you are definietly having a mc, its the toughest thing to say but you will just have to wait and see - its might start flodding or it might stop. Look after yourself xx

[OracleInaCoracle]

ok, you need to go back to your doctor and ask for a 6w scan, just to put your mind at rest. tbh, the amount of bleeding youve described doesnt actually sound like a miscarriage, I had this when I was pg with ds. in fact I bled from 5w-21w and he was absolutely fine. I just had to rest. a LOT. straining for a poo could have caused any dried blood lurking in your vaginal passage to come away and bleedng in early pg (especially at the 5w mark) is not uncommon. but you do need a scan at 6-7w, just to be on the safe side. in the meantime, rest and if you get pains again take paracetomol rather than ibuprofen. if you start bleeding again or get more pain call OOH doc. fingers crossed x

[zebedeethezebra]

Thanks everyone, that's reassuring. If I don't get a negative pregnancy test I'll ask when I can go for a scan.

I'm having such a rubbish week! Me and DS have caught some sort of tummy bug and we had diarrhoea and vomiting all last night. So now my bleeding is red again rather than brown, but no more than before at the mo (not filling any pads up), other than a few tiny clots (less than half a grain of rice in size).

[thirtysomething]

I had very similar at that stage with DS - was convinced I was miscarrying as blood bright red but when I went for a scan (around 6 weeks) they said it was the placenta having difficulty attaching itself or somesuch and that as it was v. near the cervix a bit of it had difficulty embedding I think....Anyway it stopped bleeding within 10 days and DS is now 12!

Good luck x

[racetobed]

'mostly in my right groin'? i am no expert - in fact i know very little on the subject - but isn't pain on one side only a symptom of an ectopic? i really don't want to scare monger, but a scan would be one way of ruling that out. anybody else any thoughts?
sorry if i'm being excessively alarmist.

[zebedeethezebra]

The bleeding has turned into more of a proper period now and I did a pregnancy test this morning and the line was so faint it was for all intents and purposes a negative one (it wasn't this faint last week) since my HCG level must be dropping, so I assume I am now having a miscarriage.

Can anyone please answer the following questions? How long will the bleeding go on for and how do I know that I have passed everything? Do you get an obvious sac when it was less than 5 weeks before the embryo died off? Can I use tampons? Can I go swimming? How long before we can try again?

I will phone the GP tomorrow but you lot on here seem to be more helpful!

[jasmine51]

Hi
I think the answers to your questions are not straighforward, sorry!
Bleeding - thats the hardest one, it could be days, it could go on for a few weeks. From my own personal experience (4 mcs at around 5 wks) I bled steadily for about a week then suddenly got very crampy and passed obvious clots and stringier material that was tissue. I didnt notice the yolk sac but then I did have big clots that I didnt examine. I was scanned for 2 of the mc to check everything had passed, the other 2 I had blood tests to check absence of HCG, ask your GP about this.
Tampons - no, not advised generally
Swimming - probably related to the above - no tampons = probably no swimming
Trying again - here is where you will get lots of conflictng advise. Standard advice might be to wait until your cycle returns to normal. However I didnt and no harm done apart from bleeding early in pg due to hormones being up the spout....so if you can wait then might be better to.
Good luck, sounds like you are thinking very pragmatically
x

[randomimposter]

so sorry zeb
Jasmine's given excellent relevant advice.

Hope your recovery is quick. Pop and see us on the 40+ thread if you fancy a chat. here