Hello all. Sorry for the long winded message. I have put my story below and some questions I have. The TLDR is that I was wondering if anyone would share their experiences of expectant/conservative management following a missed miscarriage.
My partner and I found out we were expecting in November - out first pregnancy and very excited. We had dating scans around 6 weeks to confirm our conception date. During our scan we saw an appropriately sized six-week embryo with a strong and healthy heart beat that we were fortunate enough to hear.
In my 9th week around Christmas I noticed my symptoms dissipated (no bleeding or cramping though) and started to worry about a missed miscarriage. At a scheduled appointment with our OBGYN on the 30th of December (supposed to have been 10+4), I expressed my concerns. She did a scan on one of the machines in their office. I noticed she became concerned while looking at the image and so did I. I could see there wasn't a heart beat and I think she could as well but didn't say that yet. She took us to a different machine in their office, an older one that she said she could use better. But that machine also revealed it was undersize and she couldn't find the heart beat. My OB quickly left to the radiologist in the building for a quick chat and then came back and took us to get a second opinion from the radiologist. I knew what the results were going to be, but we went anyways. The radiologist did an abdominal scan showing an undersized nonviable foetus. I requested a transvaginal scan, which she obliged (she was very compassionate). It agreed with the other three abdominal scans, that the foetus was only 23mm and had stopped developing at 9 weeks.
Once we were back in my OBGYN's office, we discussed our options. For the time being, we decided to go with expectant management in hope it would pass on its own. I think I wanted that for closure, or perhaps I was to overwhelmed to think about surgical or medical management.
However, that was almost three weeks ago and roughly four weeks since foetal demise. I would have been 13 weeks today. I have had irregular cramping for the last week, and only started having infrequent brown (like prune juice) spotting since last Thursday. I had one day with about a teaspoon of dark reddish brown blood. And now, almost nothing but clear discharge with hints of brown in it and very occasionally what looks like it could be a millimetre or two of lining. I wish I knew it was going to happen soon but it really doesn't seem like it.
I have been looking out for signs of infection (temperature, flu like symptoms, etc) and I have a follow-up appointment with my GP on Monday and my OBGYN the first week of Feb. But I am starting to feel really disheartened about the progression. My partner and I had hoped it would progress naturally and we wouldn't need to go the medication or D&C/ERPC route.
Although I know everyone experience is different, was wondering what others have experienced when they chose the expectant/conservative management route. And has anyone done anything to help expedite the process (other than medical management or surgical intervention)?