Likely MMC - What Next?

[AnxiousLady1]

Hi all. It's my first time posting here. I'm 34 and on my 1st pregnancy. I had a scan at the EPU and they confirmed a heartbeat and that I was 5w3d along. This would have made me 8 wks yesterday. I went for another private early pregnancy scan today and she did both abdominal and internal scan. Neither picked up a heartbeat and notes said I measured about 7wks. She said she couldn't say either way and simply advised that I go back to the EPU for another scan. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand this is most likely a MMC. I don't know where to go from here. Anyone been through same? If a MMC is confirmed tomorrow I'd like to hope we can try again soon. But don't know whether I should even continue taking the pregnacare multivitamins I've been on the last 4 weeks.

Hi @AnxiousLady1,
So sorry to hear your story. It does sound like you should be prepared for bad news tomorrow although you obviously can't be 100% certain until then.
If you go to the same EPU or somewhere that has access to your early scan result they should be able to say for certain tomorrow. Then, they will likely give you three options - wait for natural miscarriage, medical management, or surgical management. If you poke around this board you can find stories about experiences with all 3.

I have continued to take my vitamins and iron as I think my body needs all the help it can get in the healing process, and also we are hoping to try again fairly soon so don't think it can hurt to keep the vitamins in my system.

If you wait for it to happen naturally it could happen tomorrow or in a month, it's hard to say. Medical management or surgery speeds the process along but then some people find they have to wait a while after surgery for their cycles to regulate.

I myself chose surgery (erpc) because I wanted to get it over as quickly as possible without possibility of miscarriage any day hanging over my head. I am a week and a half out now and have found the recovery ok.

Please stick around and ask any questions you have, everyone is here to help. Best of luck.

Thanks @coconutlatte44. I've had the confirmation from the EPU that it's a Missed Miscarriage. Before I went in for the scan I noticed some light pink discharge (sorry if that's TMI). So I'm hoping that the process might take it's course naturally. I will give it a week and see, before considering the ERPC route. The whole situation feels a little surreal. My husband and I have already said that we would like to try again soon (reluctant to wait too long due to my age) but I'm already worried about going through this again.

Hi @AnxiousLady1, sorry to hear that it was confirmed but glad you're not in limbo anymore, the waiting to confirm is awful.

How are you doing this week?

Understand what you mean about trying again, I think if/when we all try again we will feel very different about the process the next time around - I don't think I would be able to truly celebrate until I reached much further along, whereas this time around I found myself ecstatic from 4 weeks on.

Hi @coconutlatte44. Doing much better emotionally. I think going back to work (which I did after a couple of days) really helped. I found sitting at home made me overthink and obsess on things more. Unsurprisingly I am still waiting for things to finish naturally. I've set myself the deadline of Easter to wait and if nothing then will discuss the medical management route. It's strange as physically I feel fine but obviously have it in the back of my mind that this is coming. I agree with you that it will be much longer before I allow myself to relax next time around. But I am feeling more positive that it will happen, and that's important. How are you doing now??

Hi @AnxiousLady1 glad you are feeling a bit better. Sorry you are still waiting for the process to happen though.

I also started feeling much better after I went back to work, the first few days were a bit wobbly for me and I felt like nothing at work was really important, but I got back into the swing of things after a few days.

I am now just over 3 weeks post ERPC and feeling pretty much ok. However, I had an anembryonic miscarriage ("blighted ovum") meaning that by the time I had a scan at 8 weeks there was no embryo to see - so I feel more that I have lost the idea of a child than an actual baby, if that makes sense? I know not everyone feels this way but that's how I'm processing it and trying to move forward. I was totally devastated for a few weeks but I feel mostly at peace with things now.

Please keep us updated with how things go, I hope you aren't stuck waiting for too much longer.