Possible missed miscarriage - feeling rubbish and confised

[MrsGiraffe12]

So, this is very hard to write but I need some advice from someone who has been there.

On Wednesday I had to go to hospital for an early scan (was 8 weeks exactly on Wednesday) as I'd been having some pretty strong cramps and my doctor was concerned it could potentially be an ectopic pregnancy.

The staff at my local EPAU are lovely and out my mind and rest and they did an external scan which showed not much due to being early so they did an internal one. The good news is that my pregnancy is not ectopic which I should be thankful for, but the scanner lady asked how sure if my dates I was, and I'm 100% (due to charting my fertility etc) plus I know for certain the date of my last period. Plus only had intercourse on 1 night since my last period since hubby has been working away, so 100% of dates.

However, I should have measured 8 weeks yesterday, but baby only measured 5 weeks and there was no heartbeat.

They have an appointment for me next week on Wednesday for a repeat scan, but from the way they were talking its not looking hopefull as they said a baby doesnt mornally measure 3 weeks behind, especially as i only have a 28 day cycle. It seems like I've had a missed miscarriage I've barely stopped crying since they told me it might not be good news next week. Part of me is hopefull but I know deep down its over.

I'm worried about what to expect next. I havent a clue what will happen regarding natural misscarriage/ medical miscarriage or surgical removal

[Featherbag]

Is there any chance you ovulated a second time, at an odd time? Have you an appointment to have betaHCG blood levels taken?

[MrsGiraffe12]

Sorry, that meant to say 8 weeks on Wednesday, wrote this post on Thursday but only just posted it :-(,

[MrsGiraffe12]

No, haven't had any blood taken at all? Should I have? I've no idea how all this should work x

[ZolaBuddleia]

That's awful, you poor thing.

I had a missed miscarriage at 9 weeks and managed it naturally. It was unpleasant, I'm sorry to say, cramping and nausea, plus I felt the sac pass, which I found upsetting and a bit gross. That said, for me it was the best way to go as I wanted the minimum of medical intervention in case it had a detrimental effect on conceiving again.

Look after yourself and rest up.

[Featherbag]

If your rescan is inconclusive, ask about getting bloods done. They'll normally take 2 samples 48 hours apart, and if pregnancy is progressing normally HCH levels should more or less double in that time. Hope all goes well for you, and that you have good support if it doesn't x

[MrsGiraffe12]

Thank you to those who have replied. Just feeling upset and confused, and somewhat hopefully they are mistaken. At least I have a supportive husband and family :-) its breaking my heart though at the though of telling our DS (4) that there isn't a baby in mummies tummy anymore. I thought being on the younger side (me 26 and hubby 27) kind of made our chances of this kind of thing less likely :-(

[mikkii]

I had a very similar experience to you. I was at a Christmas party, and even though I wasn't driving, the wine wasn't going down well. I did a test before we went out and got a positive.

I had episodes of spotting and also went To the EPU. On the first scan they couldn't find a heartbeat, but based on what they were seeing size wise they just thought I had my dates wrong. I was rescanned a week later and was told all ok but my dates were wrong. I went for the 13 week scan and they couldn't find a heartbeat.

We were devastated, I was seen on the next working day under BUPA, I was offered an ERPC or could wait and see. I wanted to move on, so opted for the surgery. In fact, The surgeon I used routinely tests following MMC so I actually discovered that the baby had a chromosal problem that was incompatible with life. I found this helped me to see the MC as more positive than a late MC or stillbirth.

I went on to have 2 more DCs but had pg complications in both.

Good luck

[aloysiusflyte]

I had a similar thing very recently, I had some slight bleeding when I thought I was about 6 weeks, by the time I got a scan I was 7 weeks but they said I was only measuring 5 weeks and they couldn't see a heartbeat. Like you, I am pretty certain of my dates, could only be a couple of days out not weeks. We were pretty devastated and expecting the worst.
However we were told to come back in a week but the doctor at the epu wasn't very positive and suspected I would start the miscarriage before that. BUT, a week went by with no more bleeding and we went again and saw a heartbeat but still measuring 2 weeks behind my dates. The doctor has at the moment just put it down to it being too small to accurately measure and that it will probably speed up. I have another scan in 2 weeks to see how it's going but I still have pregnancy symptoms so we're keeping our fingers crossed. I really hope for a similar outcome for you, it may not be the worst case scenario

[MrsGiraffe12]

Thank you aloysiusflyte, this has given me some hope :-)

[Smerlin]

Depending on the method you were using to chart fertility, you could have ovulated up to a week after intercourse and become pregnant still which would change the dates by a week straight away.

Or had late implantation for similar.

At that stage, the difference in size is mere mm as well so easily mistaken.

Best wishes that it works out well anyway- I went through a lot of anguish with early scans so thinking of you

[clabsyqueen]

Miscarriage is horrible. Scans are so nerve wracking especially when they can't tell you anything for sure. I've had 3 missed miscarriages over the past 3 years, I currently have a toddler and am 29 weeks pregnant so try not to despair if your worst fears are confirmed as it a very common occurrence and the only reason we are not more aware of it is because there is a certain taboo around mentioning them. I truly believe we would all cope better if women revealed a little more to each other in this topic. I miscarried naturally for all mine - 2 were at 11weeks pregnant ( zero signs of trouble prior to this) and baby measure only 5 or 6 weeks in both case so basically hardly grew at all but my body hung onto them. In these cases I'm glad I hadn't had an early scan as it would have meant the dilemma of waiting for it happen naturally or have a D&C which would have worried me. The third time I started spotting at 8 weeks and baby was again about 5 weeks size on the scan. In terms if pain - at 8 weeks it was like a heavy period and at 11 weeks they were both like labours. I ended up taking myself to hospital for some morphine on the second one as I wasn't prepared to go through it again with no reward at the end. There's basically no way to predict how it will go but certainly make sure you are home and your little girl can't hear you if you start to bleed/cramp. Take care of yourself and give yourself permission to be completely miserable for a little while. Then try to get baby making again because Fertility is supposed to be higher after a miscarriage (no science behind this as far as I'm aware but it was certainly true for me)

[terilou87]

thats awful, cant imagine what it would be like to wait, i had a mmc in 2011 i had no idea and turned up to what should of been a 13 week scan and the sonographer asked how far i thought i was and i said 13 weeks id had positive test since 5 week and she said only a sack and yolk measuring around 5-6 weeks, thinking of you on your upcoming scan

[Rockchick1984]

Hi MrsGiraffe I'm so sorry you're going through this. I had a MMC at 12 week scan in April - had a scan at 8 weeks and all was fine, heartbeat there etc although measuring a week behind for dates. Get to the 12 week scan and no heartbeat and only measuring 8 weeks.

Hopefully you will be fine when you get another scan done, however if its bad news (or if you want to prepare yourself either way) I found miscarriage association to be incredibly informative. I opted for surgical management which was the best option for me, feel free to PM me if you want to talk about it.

Good luck for Wednesday

[Reebok]

Mrs giraffe, I'm so sorry you have to go through this. I had a mmc last summer at 9 weeks. Baby had not grown and like your situation, there was no heartbeat. I had the surgical procedure however had to wait 2 and a half weeks for it which was awful as I am sure you can imagine. The procedure itself was quick and painless. It lasted half an hour and I don't remember a thing. The physical after effects were ok too. Hardly any bleeding or pain. I won't lie...it's not something you will ever forget but you learn to move past the pain no carry on. And I don't know if this will help but I managed to conceive straight away after waiting 3 months (I needed to heal mentally) and I am now 31 weeks with a healthy baby on the way. I honestly wish I had known about mumsnet when I had mc..you will find so much support here...sending you gentle hugs. Another fellow mumsnetter here if you need a chat. X

[EuroShaggleton]

Sorry to hear you are going through this.

I miscarried at 8 weeks in March. The sac hadn't grown since about 5 and a half weeks, so I was in a similar position to you. I managed to miscarry naturally. Mine was an IVF pregnancy and I think stopping the drugs you take after that helped trigger it. I also had acu to try to help expel what was there because for reasons I won't bore you with, I was desperate to avoid an ERPC if I possibly could.

The mc itself was not that bad, really. I bled for about 2 weeks and on the third day passed a small sac (this is quite graphic, but it was about the size of a blueberry and looked similar). I was in quite a lot of pain for about 24 hours around the time I passed the sac and used codeine to get through it, but otherwise I was well enough to be at work and just took paracetamol as I needed it. The worst bit was not being able to use tampons. I hadn't used towels since my teens and I found them bleugh.

I hope you have a different outcome. The miscarriage boards on here are a great source of info and support if you need them.