Is it a bad idea to conceive the same cycle as miscarriage if you had an infection?

[Mibbly]

So I had a 10 week MC in late November (three weeks ago). Had retained products and a mild infection which is now sorted. Bleeding stopped and HCG negative two days ago.
I expect to ovulate soon. I know it's normally fine to conceive on the first ovulation post miscarriage, but is it still okay if you've had an infection?

Normally I'd just skip this month to be safe, but we only have three cycles left to conceive before we have to stop trying forever (multiple major life event reasons). So I don't want to skip one of our three chances unnecessarily!

I asked the EPU but they wouldn't give an answer either way. So I'm hoping people here will know, or have personal experience?

Hi, OP. We saw you didn't get any replies when posting this in Chat, so we've moved your thread to our Conception board now - hope that helps.

Thank you!

Difficult one as I understand the pressure you are under with whatever deadlines you have coming up but personally I wouldn't - I didn't - and ended up nearly dying from a ruptured ectopic and also lost my tube which had a huge effect on my fertility x

Hi OP, personally I would take it that if EPU didn't explicitly say no, I'd do it. Especially if I only had a few cycles left to conceive, I definitely wouldn't waste any of them. I don't really see how an infection which is now cleared up could cause any issues... but I'm not medically trained of course.

I was going to say similar to this.

As long as the infection is gone and you're medically fine to have sex, I'm not sure what would cause an issue.

But I'm also not medically trained!

Maybe call your epu and ask. I expect they'll say the same advice of don't have intercourse or use tampons until all signs of bleeding and infection have stopped. Which it sounds like they have. I can't imagine it'd be damaging if the infection has cleared and healed, but of course I'm not a midwife so don't listen to me. My EPU were very receptive to all my terrified calls during my MC, they were so supportive, so maybe try giving yours a bell.

Good luck either way! We didn't conceive in our first post MC cycle and then straight onto ivf this month so sadly couldn't try in second cycle. Hope it wasn't the wrong decision. Hope you get your healthy pregnancy soon and sorry for your loss, that must have been very difficult 💐

Thank you everyone, this is so helpful. I have asked the EPU but as I said they were non-committal. They just said the old chestnut about it being good to wait until after your period for dating reasons, but didn't particularly advise abstaining from sex or anything. They wouldn't comment on whether there was additional risk because of the infection. I suspect they don't know, or the NHS has not issued a party line statement on it!

@somuchtodonextyear that sounds really tough, I'm sorry. I don't think a cleared up infection would particularly leave you at risk of ectopic though, unless they specifically said the infection caused a blocked tube or something? I really appreciate the warning though and I will consider it.

Does anyone else have any experience of or knowledge about this?

Hi,

I was unlucky and got a nasty infection after my second miscarriage. It knocked me for six and made me very unwell on top of my body trying to recover from a mc.

personally I needed a break mentally and physically from it all so we waited for a while. The recurrent mc unit did tests and discovered why I am having mc so advised us not to ttc for qt least 3 months which is slightly different to your experience but it was a good excuse or reason not to try.

you have to do what you feel is right for you

Thank you for sharing your story. Sounds like you have had a really tough time 😔 I'm reasonably confident I've not got any issues which would cause recurrent miscarriage as this loss was my fourth baby and first miscarriage. I hope everything is going a bit better for you now.

Awww thank you ❤️ I finally feel back to myself. It took a long time to feel ready to try again.

just take it easy. Your body has been through a lot x

You probably shouldn't but we lost ds2 born too soon at 27 weeks. I fell pg the next cycle and had an early mc, probably no more than 5 weeks. After that I bled for two to three weeks and went to see a gynaecologist privately, he did some tests and confirmed there had been a little infection due to some white blood cells. He advised me not to get pg until a clear cycle and confirmation the infection had cleared.

DH and I had a blazing row and made up! DD was conceived. She was born 51 weeks after losing ds2.

She's sitting a few feet away from me, 26.5, healthy, smart and happy. It was a bit of a rocky pg, unstable at first, then beset with placenta praevia that righted itself, then a breech baby who turned at the last minute.

Nature's a funny old thing. She does what's meant.

Thank you @RosesAndHellebores Another one with a very rough ride of it. It seems sadly so much more common than I believed in my pre-baby naivety. It's a tough world, but you are right, what happens happens.

I would go for it. Infection is only dangerous when you're pregnant, once it's cleared your body it can't affect your ability to conceive or implant.

There isn't any science that tells us to wait if there aren't any other conditions wrong. And I also haven't seen any science that says we're more likely to miscarry by trying too soon - the guidance to wait is for dating purposes, and so you know your cycle is back on track. Life's too short to wait for no reason if you physically and emotionally feel up for it. Good luck!!

Thank you!
I guess I was more thinking would the infection have damaged the lining or something, and I'd need to wait until it built up again next cycle. But I don't have any science to back that up! So much guesswork.