Early MMC - what’s going to happen?

[howthelightgetsin]

Sorry to ask, but I have no idea.
I should be 7-8 weeks but at a private scan yesterday there was an empty sac measuring 4 or less weeks, which is impossible given I found out 3 and a half weeks a go.
I guess I have to phone EPU at some point. I just want it to happen naturally. How many weeks do you give it? Am I “allowed” to just wait or is that inadvisable?

[Laney79]

I'm in this situation now but a few weeks down the line. Private scan at what should've been 9 weeks ish on 17/3. Baby measuring 5ish weeks (3.1mm) and no HB- referred to EPAU 19/3 where had to be scanned again and told it was exactly the same.

They said because it was so little and because they can't take private scan into account is have to wait min 14 days to be rescanned for 100% confirmation of MMC. The appointment is tomorrow.

I started to get brown/black discharge with a few granules on the Tuesday...that went on for 7 days (but barely enough for a panty liner and no red blood at all) then had three days where in the afternoon I'd have mild cramps and pass a few drops of red blood but very little (again not enough for a pad) then it would stop overnight. Not had cramps since. Still getting brown/red on wiping but no clots or even the tissue you get with a period. Just did a hpt which shows a very strong positive.

I'm assuming tomorrow they'll confirm my bean has died and confirm that the miscarriage hasn't happened yet. As I understand it as its so early they will let you do expectant management (wait it out for natural) and then tell you to test in 3 weeks-if still positive go back. But I'll know for sure tomorrow. Other options are the pill or surgery. Sounds like if you are ok to let nature sort it at such an early stage they will leave it so long as you show no signs of infection.

I'm so sorry-it's heartbreaking.

[Laney79]

I'm in this situation now but a few weeks down the line. Private scan at what should've been 9 weeks ish on 17/3. Baby measuring 5ish weeks (3.1mm) and no HB- referred to EPAU 19/3 where had to be scanned again and told it was exactly the same.

They said because it was so little and because they can't take private scan into account is have to wait min 14 days to be rescanned for 100% confirmation of MMC. The appointment is tomorrow.

I started to get brown/black discharge with a few granules on the Tuesday...that went on for 7 days (but barely enough for a panty liner and no red blood at all) then had three days where in the afternoon I'd have mild cramps and pass a few drops of red blood but very little (again not enough for a pad) then it would stop overnight. Not had cramps since. Still getting brown/red on wiping but no clots or even the tissue you get with a period. Just did a hpt which shows a very strong positive.

I'm assuming tomorrow they'll confirm my bean has died and confirm that the miscarriage hasn't happened yet. As I understand it as its so early they will let you do expectant management (wait it out for natural) and then tell you to test in 3 weeks-if still positive go back. But I'll know for sure tomorrow. Other options are the pill or surgery. Sounds like if you are ok to let nature sort it at such an early stage they will leave it so long as you show no signs of infection.

I'm so sorry-it's heartbreaking.

[howthelightgetsin]

Laney I hope it’s all over for you soon. So cruel to just not end.

I am going to EPU tomorrow. Couldn’t get hold of them and didn’t want to be turned away if I just showed up, so I now have a doctors referral. I am quite lucky I think in that I don’t have any symptoms so to speak of so have just decided that as of yesterday I am no longer pregnant and just to go on on that basis ( ). I just need a bleed so I can try again I guess. Don’t think I’ll ever be excited at a BFP again.

[KnitKitty]

Sorry for your loss.

It can take numerous weeks for your body to catch up with the miscarriage.

You have three options with MMC. Either wait it out, opt for medical management or surgical management.

EPU should go through these options with you and give you leaflets so you can think things through and decide what's best for you.

Medical management is either pessaries inserted in to your vagina and put near the cervix to open it up a bit and encourage the miscarriage along, or an oral pill (I think) which does the same thing... I think. I'm not certain about the oral pill because I had the pessaries. I was told there's a 10% chance of it not working. Unfortunately in my case it didn't work, twice. There are side-effects too, which you may or may not get. I had chills, mild period pain, diarrhoea and felt sicky for a few hours and was laid up on the sofa for two days. If it works it should take effect in 4-6 hours, you start to bleed and can have what they described as bad period pains, and should normally pass the pregnancy as though it was a bad period with clotting. (Although this is not how it panned out for me). I originally wanted to do it this way because I felt it would help me to grieve the loss more easily.

The surgery is done in a day and you should normally be sent home about an hour or so afterwards. I was given tablets to soften the cervix. I was put to sleep and when I woke up they told me that it was all over. I did have strong but not unbearable period pain for about an hour and bled a fair bit in that time, but then the pain pretty much disappeared and I had what seemed like normal period bleeding for a couple of days. I've had brown spotting since then. Mine was a week ago.

If I have to make the decision again I would opt to go for the surgery again straight away. Waiting for it to happen naturally can be really tough emotionally and the medical management seemed more invasive and drawn out than the surgery. Although I felt groggy from the aesthetic afterwards, I felt like I got back on my feet much faster after the surgery than after the medical management. And although I felt I would grieve the loss better if I passed the pregnancy myself, the hospital send the pregnancy to a crematorium and that was comforting to me.