Experience of medically managed miscarriage - help

[AMT37]

Hi, on Tues at our 9 week scan we were told that our baby had stopped growing at 6 weeks and had no heartbeat. I am booked in for another scan next Tuesday to confirm and straight after that assuming there is still no heartbeat I'll be given the drug mifepristone and 48 hours later have to go into hospital for a pessary. I'm told that we have to stay in hospital for about 6 hours depending on what happens. I'm quite scared about this and wondered if anyone has any experiences to share - is there much pain, how long does the bleeding last for and how long do we have to wait until we try again. I can't quite take all of this in as there were no signs and I've still got pregnancy symptoms. Any support would be welcome. A

AMT So so sorry hun for your loss

I have had this before too You should be given one pill 48 hours before the appointment and then when you go in a pesserary (possibly). The pain is like a very strong period pain but you should be offered painkillers to help during the process. I think the bleeding varies from person to person. You will be made to have a follow up appointment to make sure everything is clear about a week or two later.

Rememeber we are here hun if you need to talk at all.

Takecare

So sorry to hear this

You poor darling, what rotten luck. I am so sorry I can't tell you what to expect as I (luckily? Unluckily?) started bleeding spontaneously both times I miscarried, but wanted to let you know that we went on to have a healthy baby afterwards each time and to keep your eyes on the future. It is a horrible thing to go through but you will get lots of support here if you need it. Big hugs.

AMT37,

I'm so sorry for you and know exactly how you are feeling atm. I had almost exactly the same last year except I had carried to 17 weeks. When I was told I was going to have to give birth I was terrified - I hadn't got around to mentally preparing myself for that just yet.

I can tell you that physically it's not bad at all. The contractions you will experience are very very mild - like bad period cramp. If they do get at all painful you can be given morphine as they do not have to worry about the effect of strong pain killers on the baby.

When I had by baby he was so tiny that he actually just fell out - there was no pushing or anything like that. I can't quite explain it but I can promise you that it wasn't at all painful.

I went into hospital at around 9am. I had delivered the baby by about 1.30pm and I was home again by tea time.

I'm so so sorry for your loss. I was ok up until the birth as I felt I had to concentrate on what was going on. I fell apart once I got home I'm affraid but the grief did pass.

I'm not sure about your hospital but at mine we were given the chance to see the baby. They also took a photo for us and arranged a funeral. Because I had carried to 17 weeks they were also able to carry out a post mortum to determine cause of death.

This helped me a great deal afterwards.

Take lots of time for yourself - this is a horrible thing to have to go through and I hope it passes without too much heart ache for you.

Just for info the Dr's told us not to try for 3 months but we ignored that. I was pregnant again in under 2 months and we now have a beautiful 9 month old ds.

Higs to you and yours sweetie!

p.s. If you need any help, support or advice please feel free to CAT me.

I know how lonely you can feel at a time like this!

Hi AMT37

I am currently going trough a missed miscarriage as well. I have had an ERPC already and it didn't work so now they want to do another one which could potentially damage fertility as they are so close together. So I really want mifepristone instead but at my hospital they wom't do it. I have heard that it is a loit safer that an ERPC. What area do you live in as I'm trying to be transferred to a hospital that will do it otherwise I'm going to have to go private and pay £500.

AMT and Nicki, I'm very, very sorry for your losses. I have just had 2 miscarriages within 2 months and 2 D&Cs. Both my miscarriages were more or less painless. I bled for roughly a week after the first one, am still bleeding after the last.

Nicki, don't worry about the second ERPC. It is probably better for you than the risk of some material' (terrible word, sorry) being left and causing an infection. It will not damage your fertility, i.e. chances of conceiving, and the risk that it will cause adhesions in the womb is small.

Hi. I ama gynae nurse with vast experience of the medical management of miscarriages. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask me. You can contact me via email if you wish.

Hi all,
thank you so much for all your messages. I really appreciate it.
Nicki - so sorry to hear about your situation. I am in South Wales with the Royal Glamorgan Hospital.

Typhoonsmum - I would appreciate emailing you with a few questions but I don't know how to find your email address?

Typhoonsmum - the main questions I have about the medical management are: 1)what's the pain like - some have said it's like bad period pain others have said you have contractions like a mini labour 2)on average how long will I bleed for - guess both of these vary a lot. 3)can the drugs affect our chances of conceiving again 4)How long do we have to wait until trying again - some have said to wait for another period but others have said straight away as long as we feel emotionally ok. We'd like to try again as soon as poss as we'd like to have two and I'm not getting any younger. Thanks so much for your support. A

AMT sorry for your loss. I had an assisted miscarriage at 20wks with our DS1 (already had a DD and have since had DS2)

My experience: I was given a pill to halt the hormones for pg on the Fri. On the Sunday I went into hospital. Was examined by consultant again. Given suppository at 9am, was due to have another 2-3 hrs later, but had gone into labour at 11am, Robert was born at 3pm. The labour pains were bad enough that I had morphine. Having said that I gave birth to my DD with just G&A and DS with nothing, so could be the whole experience. Was home by 6pm. Bled for 4 days, then started bleeding heavily, some placenta had been left behind, so then bled for almost 3 wks, had my first AF about 7 wks post birth.

Went on to conceive 5 mths later -- consultant had recommended a 6 mth wait. The consultant said that a full term birth normally takes 1 yr to recover from. As we had an autopsy, and DS was genetically OK and they suspected a placental failure.

If you want to talk, please email me.

Hi AMT, sorry to hear of your loss, I had a medically assisted mc in July, I was 12 weeks but the baby had stopped growing at 8 weeks. I had had quite a lot of bleeding and pain prior to going into hospital and therefore the bleeding was not as heavy as I expected. Reading the literature etc from the hospital I was expecting to be in severe pain throughout the process but as others have said it was more like period pain and nowhere near as painful as labour pains. The sack passed through eventually and I was sent home, I bled quite heavily for 1 week and then this eased but continued for another week. I had my first AF 2 weeks later, consultant advised me to wait for this to come before TTC to allow me to recover physically and emotionally.

Hi Misspopov,
thanks so much for your message. We went back to the EPU yesterday and the scan confirmed what they had thought. There was less to see this time as it looks like some has been reabsorbed. They gave me the Mifepristone and I'm booked to go back in tomorrow morning. Nothing has happened so far - I wish it would as I'd rather be at home but I guess I've got to go with whatever my body decides. We're feeling ok - in a funny way seeing the second scan gave me peace of mind and whilst I still feel very upset it feels good to be doing something instead of being in limbo. Thanks again for sharing your experience.
Annie