has bedrest helped stop a threatened miscarriage

[nellyk]

I had a miscarriage about 3 months ago and am trying to conceive. One of the things I regret is not resting in bed when I first started to bleed. I carried on pretty much as normal incl going to work (although my emotions inside were def not going on as normal). The advice I got at the time said that if the pg couldn't withstand light exercise then it prob wasn't viable. Then at the weekend I find this book printed 1999 which tells you to lie flat at first sign of bleeding and only get up when you need to go to the toilet. I can't help wondering would bed rest have helped?

Please don't beat yourself up about this, you are not to blame. I was told to rest when I was m/c (1995), I did and it made no difference at all, I still lost the baby. Current advice is that if it is going to happen it will, regardless of what you do.

Hope you get some good news soon.

I too was told that either its going to happen or not and that resting does nothing for you. If anything you'll simply lie there feeling far far worse. Please please please don't think that the baby would have survived if you'd simply rested. I came across another theory that said a pregnant woman should never raise her arms above her head. I had a miscarriage 3 years ago (now have a beautiful dd2 who is 11 months). You really do spend a lot of the time wondering if you had done things differently and what ifs. I lost mine a couple of days after new year and I still wonder if the couple of drinks I had on New year's eve caused that miscarriage. The problem with a miscarriage is that no one can tell you why but I do believe that either the pregnancy is meant to be or unfortunately its not. Keep trying and good luck - I shall watch out for you

Wills

There's an article in this week's BMJ about the treatment for threatened miscarriage here . If you don't want to trawl through a scientific paper, one of the main points is that bed rest is often recommended but there's little evidence of effectiveness. Good luck trying to conceive & HTH.

nellky - resting in bed would have made absolutely no difference at all. Please do not blame yourself for what happened. I am a midwife and we do not recommend that women rest in bed for the reason you posted. You will get pregnant again but it is an anxious time until you get that positive test and get through those first few months. Take care.

nellyk, I agree with everyone else - I don't think that bedrest would make any difference - if it's going to happen it will. The women on the ttc board are extremely friendly and helpful - it's worth a look if you are ttc again. HOpe you are preg again very very soon

thanks for the advice - at first when I read the bit about lifting arms above shoulder level I laughed and thought yeah right! But now I have to admit that if I did conceive it would be something I'd try to avoid!!

I have to say that 4 months on it is getting easier and not to the forefront of my mind any more. At first m/c dominated my every waking thought and I was worried I was turning into an obsessive, looking at baby mags etc etc. Still ttc so it is harder at period time - hormones - plus bleeding reminds me of the bleeding in pregnancy - but it does get easier.