Second failed medical management for MMC

[KnitKitty]

Hi,

I just came here to let off steam really.

This is my first pregnancy, and so far this is what I've been through:

18th Feb, found out I was pregnant after a very strange/light period.
20th Feb had bleeding, followed by several days of brown spotting.
Had EPU referral and scanned on 23rd Feb because of the bleeding - they could only see yolk sac, told to come back for another scan to check on progress.
Had second scan on 7th March. Fetal pole measured 3.8mm, no heartbeat visible. Was told the pregnancy could be a lot earlier than they thought, but they wanted to scan in a week's time to check on progress.
14th March had a third scan and told I'd had a missed miscarriage. Went home to mull over my options.
Chose to have medical management, which I did on 20th March. In short, it didn't work. I did bleed a bit after about 10 hours, but it wasn't even as heavy as a normal period bleed and then stopped again for several hours. Had one more bought of bleeding the following morning and then nothing again after that. So I had ANOTHER scan on Friday (23rd March), and they confirmed the pregnancy was still in there.
I really don't want surgery, so decided to give medical management another go, thinking that since I did have some bleeding it might just get things going a bit better this time. So I had my second lot of pessaries on Saturday, but I've pretty much had the same thing. A small amount of bleeding - one small clot - and then just brown spotting/discharge.

I've just been on the phone to the hospital again and I have my 5th scan tomorrow morning. The nurse said if it's still there I'll see the doctor, and since I mentioned maybe the surgery being a last resort option she said not to eat or drink anything after 7am just in case.

I'm just so fed up; this is going on and on. I feel like I live at hospital at the moment and I just want it all to be done with so I can move on. I really wanted to avoid surgery. I've had a few gynae surgeries before for different things and I just didn't want another one. I know it's not the end of the world, but I'm just really bummed out.

Has anyone else had two failed medical managements? What happened after yours? Did you have the surgery? Did the surgery work?

Why has my little pea not come out yet?!?!

Hi, I'm so sorry for what you are going through. This sound very very tough and I hope you have support.
I don't want to scare you but I think at the stage where two medical managements of failed I think you need to consider surgery. For infection risk and complication risk.

I had a failed tfmr there were still retained products and I barely bled for weeks after the first procedure. I had no follow up and it was assumed all had passed. Last weekend I suffered a massive bleed with lots of clots etc, had to be rushed to hospital by ambulance and needed emergency surgery to remove the large amount of retained tissue. They said it was also vascular tissue and if I had not had the surgery I would have bled to death even if it came out naturally.

So I really think you need to consider the surgery. Last thing you would want is a severe infection due to retained tissue etc or suffer a massive bleed.

I hope you're okay and manage to get this fixed asap.

I'm sorry you went through that!

I do at least feel like they're taking really good care of me and keeping an eye on things really well.

I have resigned myself to the thought of surgery - as you said, it would probably be best. The nurse said I'd have to see the doctor to confirm the best way to go "due to my history"... not sure if that meant the two failed medical managements or my other gynae issues. I guess I'll just have to see what happens tomorrow.

There is a slim, slim chance it may have already passed... but I'm very doubtful as I've had no pain and not a lot of bleeding.

I wonder why it's holding on so steadfastly still? Bodies are a mystery.

@knitkitty I can understand, bodies are such a mystery and it is quite startling how long these processes can be. I'd definitely speak with the doc and see what your options are.
I was the same didn't bleed had no cramping then boom it came quick and became life threatening.
Please update and let us know how you get on. Good luck

After getting confirmation that my pregnancy wasn’t viable, I waited 2 weeks hoping for a natural miscarriage. I bled quite abit in those 2 weeks with small clots etc but no severe cramping.

Then a scan confirmed I hadn’t lost the sac so I was given medical management.
Mine didn’t work either. In fact, the bleeding stopped almost completely for 2 days after inserting the pessary’s.

5 days later a scan confirmed some tissue still remained but that the sac had somehow dissolved and I’d lost it without noticing. The last small bit of remaining tissue would come out on its own, I was told.

4 weeks later I was still getting positive pregnancy tests, and I was given another scan that confirmed quite abit of pregnancy tissue remained and had stuck to the side of my uterus. I had been getting mild pains for a couple of weeks.

I was instantly given surgical management (but with absolutely no pain relief whatsoever) and it was horrendous. The worse pain I’ve ever been through and it left me traumatised. This was just 4 weeks ago.
I’m now going through a complaint with the hospital.

It is such a traumatic time and I’m just trying to let you know that if you go down the surgical management route (which is the best option for you at this time) make sure they put you to sleep or give you pain relief.

I’m trying to make sure no woman ever goes through what I went through but if a scan shows that you have lost most of the pregnancy tissue but just some still remains, don’t let them get it out without pain relief.

I'm so sorry you are in this situation. FWIW, I had surgical management (a D&C) after a MMC at around 10 weeks. Physically it was very straightforward - I had very mild cramps for a day or two after, some light spotting that lasted around a week, and then I ovulated on time as normal the following month.

I hope this is all resolved for you as quickly and as smoothly as possible.

Hi @KnitKitty

So sorry your going through this too. I had confirmation last Thursday of a missed miscarriage at my 12 weeks scan. Tried medical management over the weekend x2 over 24 hours in hospital but did nada (just mild cramping for a couple of hours and then spotting on and off). I was told options were either surgery or watchful waiting at that point (waiting and scanning intermittently to check things pass naturally). It was recommended that I have surgery to reduce risk of retained products & infection though. I chose surgery partly due to risk of infection & as my OH was leaving to work abroad for a couple of weeks and didn't want me to go through this at home alone for safety reasons. Had the surgery yesterday under general anesthetic & was very straightforward. Severe period pains for about an hour post procedure and then very mild period type pains and mild bleeding. Know how to feel though I really didn't want the intervention route either. It all just generally sucks doesn't it! Best of luck going through all this both physically & emotionally. Xxx

Hi all,

Thank you for your kind messages, and so sorry you ladies have been through the mill too.

I had my scan on Tuesday morning and they confirmed the pregnancy was still in there. I was then seen by the doctor (because I have a complicated gynae history), and I felt a lot better after seeing him. He was very nice and reassuring about the miscarriage and took the time to explain the procedure thoroughly.

Because the nurse had recommended I starve in case they could do the surgery the same day they did actually manage to get me in in the afternoon. So it was a long day of waiting around and the pills they gave me pre-surgery made me feel really sick, but I had the anti-sickness meds. They really looked after me and the surgeon came to see me beforehand and was also lovely; and explained they'd be doing the procedure until ultrasound because of my gynae history, which was reassuring.

I've not had too much bleeding since; only what's expected and only some mild period pain. I also have a delightfully large bruise where I had the cannula in my hand (it took them three attempts to get a vein).

Resting for a few days but I actually can't wait to get back to normal and go back to work.

The only thing I'm dreading now is doing the pregnancy test in a couple of weeks time and seeing that BFN. I think that's going to be hard.

Thanks again for your support.