Confusion relating to bleeding after late miscarriage

[TaytoCrisp]

I had a miscarriage at 23 weeks just over 6 weeks ago (our beautiful little boy ).

I am very confused about what to expect in terms of bleeding and wonder when AF tends to return.

After a week or two of bleeding, it started to tail off and become lighter (though i still bled every day). Then after four weeks AF arrived. I was so pleased and felt like i was getting back on track with things. But the bleeding didn?t stop even after AF seemed to go. Now at six weeks i am experiencing heavy bleeding. I don?t know if this is my second AF in two weeks; or whether the first AF was just heavy bleeding. I saw my GP who referred me for a scan tomorrow, but i?m just every confused about it (and annoyed as i really want to get ?back to normal?, in terms of menstrual cycles especially as we would like to start ttc soon, and in any case i don?t fancy DTD until the bleeding stops).

I wonder if anyone else had anything like two AFs in a short space of time after miscarriage? Or what to expect in terms of bleeding.. My GP thought that the bleeding would have stopped by now, as did my midwife.

Many thanks in advance for any advice

Sorry Tayto, I've no advice to give,my only experience of MC is three first trimester miscarriages, but just wanted to say how sorry I am to hear you lost your little boy. Thinking of you.

Tayto I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your baby boy.

We lost our baby boy at 20 weeks in January.

I found that the first 3 AF afterwards were much, much heavier than usual for me, but they were roughly 4 weeks apart, rather than the 2 weeks you have had between.

I found them a real kick in the teeth- a reminder I didn't really want to have, so to have them 2 weeks apart must be beyond dreadful.

I think the scan is to check that you don't have any of the placenta left up there which might be causing the problems. I also had a scan to check this, but fortunately I didn't need a erpc. Apparently it is much more common to have this happen in a late MC.

The only other thing I'd say is that I started feeling physically bloody awful again and it turned out my v heavy periods had made me pretty anaemic, so it might be worth taking a supplement now to support your body. I also took a B100 vitamin supplement as others who had MC on here recomended it as being good for regulating your cycle.

Thank-you Irishmammybread for your kind words. So sorry to hear of your three miscarriages too. What an awful roller-coaster.

Captain - i'm so very sorry to hear about the loss of your little boy in January... Thank you very much for your advice and for sharing your experiences. Your description of the heavy AFs as a 'kick in the teeth' is really apt - i feel very frustrasted about it all today! Thanks also for reminding me that the scan is to check about eprc; in moments of weekness i wonder if there is something more sinister wrong with me. And really good advice about the vitamins, i too had been feeling much better until this heavy blood flow started again, i'll get the B100 tomorrow .

Hi Tayto just wondering how you got on with your scan yesterday and if you are OK?

Hi Captain. Thanks very much of thinking of me. The scan was fine; they did fine some "products relating to conception" (probably placenta) as you say, but only a very small amount. So they gave me some antibiotics for the week, presumably to prevent possible infection.

They did some blood tests but they did not contact me to say there was any need for an iron supplement, so things look good there.

Thankfully, since yesterday the bleeding has improved greatly; and they said it should really stop over the next few days which would be great. So i may have just had an AF, but i'm not entirely sure (nor was the doctor) as i assumed i had one two weeks ago.

So i guess it just really shows how irregular things can be after mc. Im just so hoping to get back to normal with it so we can start ttc. I would feel more confident about trying if i knew my dates (for a few reasons!).

Thank you very much again for you advice and reassurance earlier in the week.

I'm so glad the scan was OK!

I took (i think) about 3 months for my AF to get back to 'normal' (for me).

I hope it has helped to somehow draw a line under the whole horrible experience for you, and good luck with the TTC. (I am now 10 + 4, hopefully we will both have 2013 babies. xx

Congratulations Capatin. I hope you are keeping well. I will keep an eye out for you. I would love a little rainbow in 2013 too!

Just noticed your post. Glad all was well with your scan Tayto roll on 2013 xxxxxxxxxx