Help - what's the course of action if you have an early miscarriage?

[dejags]

I am about 5 weeks pregnant and I think I may lose the pregnancy - I was very, very crampy yesterday and this morning have had light spotting.

I am in Malaysia and never having been through this before, what do I do? I will leave nature to take it's course now but do I need to see a doctor though?

I assume it can be dangerous if there is retained matter - but not sure how I'd know.

any help appreciated

Thanks - tbh, I feel quite pragmatic about it. At this early stage I hadn't go too attached to the idea of being pregnant and I'd rather find out now than later.

I also have two beautiful boys who I can concentrate on, so not feeling too sad.

I've had a couple of slightly later miscarriages and from what I know, you can have a scan to check for retained matter, but that isn't actually 100% reliable anyway. If there's retained matter you will:
a) keep testing positive on pg tests - maybe test every week or so to see if the hormones have settled.
b) get infected. Obviously watch for scary smells, fever, etc etc
c) not get your period again.

Your body normally sorts out retained matter. If you are soaking through a giant pad in an hour (if I remember rightly) you need to see a doctor. Otherwise, they can't do anything for you, so best to stay home.

I'm glad to hear you're not too upset about it, m/cs suck.

thanks NQC.

Well have seen a local Ob this morning. He scanned me and can see the sac which matches getstational age but couldn't see a heartbeat. He has advised that I stay in bed for at least a week and go back for a scan next week.

This is a bit difficult because we are supposed to be travelling. But we'll manage - I don't mind what happens but I hate not knowing.

DH blames the spotting on the flight we took yesterday - we are due to fly again day after tomorrow but will cancel that.

Now this is the crap part of travelling - I should be at home to give the baby the best chance

Flying isn't great for fetuses, I'm afraid. Air hostesses have a slighly elevated risk of m/c. Obviously flying isn't a huge risk, though, otherwise they'd m/c much more.

You generally can't see a heartbeat at 5 weeks, it's more common to be able to see it around 7 or 8 weeks, ime. They're happy to try at 6, but they don't generally succeed, or at least they don't on me.

Like others have said-5 weeks can be too early. The baby develops a heart at 5 weeks and this starts beating at the end of week 5 but scans can't pick them up usually. Also spotting does not mean you have mc necessarily. xx

do you know your blood group?? im rhesus negative so when the hospital were sure that id miscarried and nothing was left so i didnt need a d&c they gave me an anti d injection so it would give me a better chance of not losing any future babies.
really hope that things do go okay one way or the other.rest and make sure you go to the next scan so you're sure of what is going on.if you start to bleed heavy id get checked though & not wait a week.
good luck

Sil was RH-ve was told she didn't need anti-d if m/c before 8wks.

i dont know if it differs in different areas or if its changed as i mc'd in 2000.i had the anti d and i was 7 weeks then.

sometimes spotting is the foetus embeddin gitself i was told , but cant remember how many weeks tha twas , however it was earliesh!

Hi All,

Well no further spotting or unbearable cramping since yesterday and I woke up this morning feeling sick as a dog - so perhaps all is not lost.

I am AB- and DH is B+ so I am a candidate for Anti-D. Current guidelines are that unless there is major bleeding or surgical intervention before 12 weeks then there is no need for anti-D (the likelihood of foetal blood coming into contact with mine is minimal at this stage).

Normally I am a total control freak so I am actually quite surprised at my attitude towards this. I know it's something I can't change so we'll continue as normal - I'll have my dating/nuchal scan in 6 weeks time and then we'll know for certain.

Thanks for all your support, it means a lot

glad the bleeding and cramping stopped, that is a positive sign. I don't want to give any false hopes jsut in case, but I had the same with every pg and when on to have healthy babies. 5 weeks is very early to see a heartbeat, so fingers crossed for you!

Hi dejags,
any more news?
I am keeping my fingers crossed for you. xx
(Are you still in Malaysia?)