I often see searches for MC pain and what to expect for women who may have recently been diagnosed with a MMC and wanted to share my experiences in the hopes it will help if but one woman in a similar boat.
Unfortunately no one miscarriage is the same. After 3 (and one further mmc confirmed just this week) I can confirm the pain and process for each has been completely different.
The first I was nearly 8 weeks when I went in for a scan after brief brown spotting to find out sadly there was no heartbeat. I decided to do medical management and after 3 rounds of misoprostol and very strong cramping I still hadn’t managed to pass all the tissue. A week later the tissue began to infect, I was feeling light headed hot and cold and the blood was becoming smelly. I went to A&E and they gave me some antibiotics for endrometitis and informed me a D&C was the safest way to get rid of the tissue and infection. After the D&C I was sore a couple days and bled for another week but was happy to be through the worst of it. It took about 7 weeks for my period to come back.
The second miscarriage was the worst. Again brown bleeding took me to hospital where they confirmed a mmc at 7 weeks. I decided after all the hassle and heart ache with the last to just watch and wait. Nearly a month later I’d had some black clots lightly for around a week when it finally happened. I was experiencing contractions for around 3 hours which had me in tears and just when I thought I was ok I stood up and the whole sac literally dropped out of me. So much blood gushed out I nearly passed out, weak and feeling intense head pressure I couldn’t stand back up and sat there for around 45 minutes bleeding. I was soaking a maxi pad every 5 minutes for 2 hours so I called for an ambulance. At A&E they removed the large clots which were causing the excessive bleeding and kept me in for the day. Bleeding tapered off over the week and my period came back after 4.5 weeks.
The third I found out the same way as the last but early at around 6 weeks. I had what I would call strong period pains - one day of heavy clotting and then a week of light bleeding. Some tissue retained and had a light infection caught early and again took antibiotics but of them all it was the easiest experience, likely due to the pregnancy being earlier on.
This time I’m 9.4 weeks so anticipating there to be heavy bleeding and clotting which again I’ve opted to manage naturally. I’m still very much in the early days my hormone levels are still high and no spotting as of yet.
Personally I’ve much preferred natural management. I’ve felt much more in control of my health and haven’t had to worry about the associated surgery risks in my last 2 miscarriages. The downside women need to consider is the wait time and the emotional impact it has knowing the baby is still in there and having to physically see your baby pass.
Ladies if you have any questions I’m all ears and here to help.
Hoping this has helped and wishing you all good luck for your future pregnancy journeys