Hello, this is my first post but I have lurked on mumsnet since I learned I was pregnant, and unfortunately was diagnosed with MMC and recently had a natural miscarriage and MVA a couple of days ago.
My heart goes out to anyone experiencing this, it's not something you would wish on anyone. The posts on mumsnet have helped, even just to know others have gone through this awful experience and made it through.
I thought I would share my experience too. But TW as I mention blood and clots etc.
I was spotting from the start of the pregnancy so went to EPU but they kept telling me to come back again in 10 days, so by the time I was 11 weeks they confirmed the embryo stopped developing at 5-6 weeks. I knew something was wrong as I was spotting every day and some of my pregnancy symptoms disappeared. It was still devastating news for me and hubby, and this was our first try at starting a family.
I decided to opt to let it happen naturally, but after a week of nothing I hated having it hang over me and made an appointment later in the week at EPU for medical management. However 2 days before my appointment I got awful cramps and started heavy bleeding around 5pm and passing tissue which I later learned was very large clots.
I bled so heavy that I filled a maternity pad in minutes so we phoned the gynaecology ward and they told us to go straight to A&E. It was a 20 minute drive and I managed to fill another pad on the way that when I stood out of the car I had soaked my jeans. I was a bit of an emotional wreck at this point and so thankful for hubby being supportive. At A&E the receptionist wasn't very friendly, she could see the state of my jeans and that I was crying but made me wait to confirm every single details about my name address, tel, husband's phone number etc. I know it was her job but she could have shown some empathy.
The nurse who saw me was lovely, she checked my vitals and gave me wipes to clean myself and trousers, pants and a larger pad to wear. A lot of clots were passing out at this stage and it took a lot to clean myself - hubby was also amazing and helped me every step of the way and I was getting more upset at the mess I was in. My cramps were getting a lot worse too.
They sent to the gynaecology ward, but we were waiting a while to be seen by a doctor and I wasn't allowed any water or pain meds at this stage. I passed a massive clot larger than a golf ball, but afterwards felt a lot of relief from pain as the cramps eased up so had hoped that was the end of it.
The doctor examined me a couple of hours later, and removed some tissue using a swab and a speculum. It was a little uncomfortable but not painful. Another hour or so later another doctor arrived to do a scan to see if there was any remaining tissue. He confirmed there was so gave me the option to either let it pass naturally but he was concerned with how heavy I was bleeding, or to do medical management or the MVA. He said if I was to do natural I would have to be kept in overnight and I really didn't want that.
I was really tired, sore and just wanted it over with so I opted for MVA. I asked for pain relief and they gave me some co-codamol to take which helped with my cramps. And about another hour later they were ready to do the MVA.
They explained the risks of it but that it was really low risk, and explained during the procedure my body would start cramping a lot which would be uncomfortable but it would be over with quickly. They gave me gas & air as pain relief and put a numbing gel on my cervix.
I'm not going to lie, the MVA was incredibly painful for me. It was like period cramps x 20 in one go. I actually pleaded for them to stop at one point, and they kept reminding me to use the gas& air but it did nothing for my pain just made me really lightheaded. Thankfully it was over with after about a minute and poor hubby beside me said it was so hard to watch me go through it.
After the MVA, the bleeding became a lot lighter but I was still getting occasional cramping. I was allowed to go home after 20 minutes. By this time we'd been in the hospital for over 7 hours so we were exhausted and hungry.
I am very thankful to the NHS, most of the staff were very caring, empathetic and considerate of my wellbeing and hubby's.
It's a couple days after that happened and I get moments of sadness, and moments of remembering the horror I felt and how vulnerable I felt. Hubby has been upset too and thankfully we have each other to get through it.
My heart goes out to anyone on this thread, even if you're here just for information or reassurance, know that you are not alone and that you will get through this.