I know this is a sensitive topic and hope to not upset anyone, but I'm looking for experiences of anyone who successfully opted for an SMM under local anaesthetic, or MVA (manual vacuum aspiration), after finding out their pregnancy wasn't going to continue. And also I just want to write this out.
I'm about 8-9wks along, there was a dot in the sac and apparently the sonographer could see a heartbeat in an abdominal scan at the EPU at 5-6wks but nothing at the second scan (both abdominal and internal) at 7-8wks, and blood tests have now pretty much confirmed the pregnancy isn't going to continue. I've a scan in a couple of days to confirm this, and at that appointment they'll discuss my options.
I've previously had one MMC at 6wks, which occurred naturally at 11.5wks at home and was horrific - right up there with the labour pain of having my son a year later, but spread over several days instead of a few hours. I was prescribed cocodamol which unfortunately gives me severe headaches and makes me vomit, so wasn't a great solution to managing the pain - I ended up just taking paracetamol which didn't even touch the sides. I've also had a couple of very late, very heavy and very painful periods since having my son (now 3) as well as more normal periods. Those 'periods' were pretty awful but nothing compared to the MMC. I do not want to go through that level of pain again if it's possible to avoid it and there's no good reason for it. I'm quite calm about this unsuccessful pregnancy, but the sheer agony of miscarrying naturally over several days with no real pain relief left me in a dreadful state for months and contributed to horrible stress during late pregnancy and labour (which didn't go too smoothly either).
I'm better prepared this time, and have read about the options for actively managing things this time round: medical, MVA or surgical under general. I don't think there's a need for me to have general anaesthetic (unless obviously there turns out to be a medical reason) and the medically managed option sounds as bad as miscarrying naturally in terms of pain; the only benefit I can see to this option is kickstarting things than waiting for it to happen naturally. Obviously I'll have to see what the doctors and midwives say, but at the moment I think the best option for me would be the MVA.
Would anyone who has had this mind sharing their experience, both in terms of requesting it and actually going through it? And the aftermath?
I am in Scotland, if that makes any difference, and the midwife I spoke to was fairly open in terms of there being three options so I think this is likely to be available, barring medical reasons - I'm working on that assumption anyway. I'm very much a planner and like to have things clearly mapped out, so knowing a bit more about the process would be a great help to me in getting through this. Thanks in advance for sharing any experiences.
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Miscarriage/pregnancy loss
Managing MMC with an MVA? Any experiences?
Clarabell33 · 12/06/2018 09:34
Hi OP. I didn't want to read and run. I miscarried in October at nearly 10 weeks (baby died at 8.5) and had medical management which I felt was the right decision for me. It wasn't as painful as I was expecting (I had some pretty strong painkillers) but I spent about 5 hours unable to get off the toilet and losing a really scary amount of blood.
Unfortunately it wasn't completely successful and so I had an MVA a month later. I didn't feel the need for full anaesthetic emotionally as I'd already passed the baby so I went for the local procedure. I read loads about how women found it pretty painless but for me it was really traumatic and painful. I don't know if having an inverted uterus made it worse as they had to do a fair amount of poking around.
In terms of process, it was pretty easy. I was booked in about a week after they discovered I had retained products, I turned up early morning and there were 3 of us in the morning theatre slot. The staff were fabulous. I was last in but had been given tablets to insert vaginally and also strong painkillers. They also injected local anaesthetic which didn't hurt at all. Being on the table wasn't nice at all but the surgeon was so kind and the midwife who seemed to be there just for reassurance was lovely - as I sobbed my way through the procedure. They say you can ask them to stop at any time if it gets too painful, although I figured if I did that it would simply take longer and I just wanted it to be over. It took about 30 mins including the scan before they started to see where things were and the scan after to check there was nothing left. I left the hospital after lunch so was there maybe 5 hours. I bled a fair amount after it (like a very heavy period), I'd been bleeding for 5 weeks by then anyway so that wasn't a surprise.
I personally wouldn't go for an MVA again. I'd have medical management again if someone could tell me it would be successful, so if I'm unlucky enough to go through this again, I'll opt for full surgery.
I hope I haven't scared you. I just felt very let down as I hadn't realised how painful an MVA could be (and I have a pretty high pain threshold). 
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