In process of miscarriage: confused and need someone to talk to

[cheekychopsy]

Hi - I started spotting with brown clots on 22nd Dec and went to A&E (8wks preg), they told me to go home but naturally I knew what was in store. (my 2nd pregnancy/I have a lovely 4yr old)
Since then I began bleeding heavier and have been back to the hospital three times for three seperate internal scans and two blood tests.
The scan showed an empty sac and suspected miscarriage at about 5/weeks, but also a clot in my womb also. The added complication is that my HCG during the 1st scan showed really high levels 7000, and have only dropped a few hundred at each 48 hr test. In short,they wouldnt confirm a miscarriage, and only yesterday the doc siad she was 99% sure it was failing (surprise!).
My concern is that now I've had a heavy period type bleeding for 9 days, and sorry (TMI !!) but it has odour and very dark thick clots. I have a further apt for another scan on the 8th where I'll "be given some options", if I havn't miscarried naturally.
Is this all normal or what? I'm struggling here as it all seems so vague. I'm dealing with the loss mentally, but physically I've had enough, very tired and sick of the blood business. I dont even have confirmation that I've miscarried. Should I call the GP tomorrow, do you ladies have any tips or experience here? Any would be welcomed with open arms.

oh honey I dont know what to say other than to send you a virtual hug xx

ps, I had odourous bloody discharge post csection and it was a womb infection so I think it would be best to see your GP honey tomorrow xxx

Sorry I didn't want to leave your post unanswered as I have been where you are nad it's not a nice place.

I don't know about all the HCG levels and why they haven't confirmed a mc yet as it sounds to me like it is very definitely a mc.

Physically a mc is hard I would never have believed how hard it's not just a heavy period and leaves you really worn out. The options they are referring to I believe is having an ERPC an op to remove anything that may be left, they will scan you on the 8th to make sure it has all gone.

I phoned EPAS when I was bleeding really bad and got told that if I couldn't cope I should come in and be admitted, not really an option for me at the time. Do you have an Early Pregnancy Unit you can call tomorrow for some advice?

Sorry I can't be of more help but just wanted to give you some support.

I'm so sorry for your loss.

While some womenprefer to let mc happen naturally, it's really not on to let it drag on for so long without/before giving you another option. It sounds like you have a so-called incomplete mc (sadly the fact that the hCG has been falling is in effect confirmation). They really should offer you a D&C. I've had one natural complete mc, one incomplete with D&C, one blighted ovum with D&C (that latter one because I wasn't bleeding and might have had to wait literally weeks for it to start). The D&Cs were not too bad and did a great deal to reduce the physical trauma. Could you discuss this with your EPU? HTH.

firstly so sorry for you having to go through this -[hugs]. First m/c I had I bled on an off for about 2 weeks (only really heavily for about 2 days) so what you're saying sounds not dissimilar. The advice is I think if you are bleeding more than a pads worth in an hour you should to to A&E but that means you can still bleed quite heavily without

Are you in any pain at all (and did you get anything to help)? Tedious though it is best advice is to take it easy til bleeding passes (I really would stick to this advice - I didnt and it made me take much more longer to get over it). Treat yourself like you've got flu as you're not abnormal at all -it really does take it out of you.

I guess if scan next week shows not everythign passed they may talk to you about ercp or similar but it may not come to that if you are bleeding as you say.

Thankyou - its just dawning on me I might have an infection, I was hoping it was normal, Dr's really annoy me they never mentioned that I should watch for that, they just told me to go back if it got really heavy. TUT

So sorry Cheeky, not a nice thing to have to go through. I would go back tbh. Completely rotten to make you wait for another week, not really knowing what's going on. So very, very unfair.

Oh how awful, do you have a temperature at all? Sound like it could be an infection, in which case you need antibiotics and probably a D&C within the next 24 hours. You don't want to go into sepsis - been there, believe me it's not pretty!

I'm sorry to sound patronising, but you aren't using tampons are you? I know someone who didn't know you weren't supposed to and who developed an infection after doing so with an extended mc bleed. I bled for four weeks btw, same as post partum bleeding I guess.

Thanks guys, its really nice to be able to talk anonymously I havnt wanted to tell anyone except family...

Poppy, I hope you are right and it is all happening naturally. Painwise - I had some strong period like cramps on Christmas Day followed by a (ARGH TMI!!) passing of a v.large clot. I havn't had much pain since just constant bleeding - about four pads a day.

I feel fluey, lethargic and flat so I wont be doing much.
x

WMMchoc: no sweety I just used pads (I found that out through my research too and not the Doc! grr). I'm calling the gP not epau .

Fluey, flat and lethargic are not good if you have offensive smelling discharge. PLEASE GO SEE YOUR DOCTOR! It is urgent. The problem is if you have a piece of retained placenta and it's had more than a month in there, can you imagine the state it's in. It begins to poison you.

I've had septacaemia - not caused by mc but by something else, three times. Each time I've ended up hospitalised for at least a week, once with heart problems because I went into complete shock from the infection. You can go to A&E if you don't trust either your GP or your EPAU. But do get treatment!

I dont have a temp, I dont feel ill enough to trudge out to A&E - but I am really scared now.I will go to A&E in the am....this is really upsetting. Miscarriage is just as shrowded in mystery as childbirth. I had no idea how disturbing it could be.

Sorry I didn't mean to scare you but you do need to take this seriously. It's not a simple miscarriage if you have offensive discharge. But you are right, the information you are given is just rubbish. It took me a lot of prodding to even get them to confirm that I had had a miscarriage the second time. Despite the fact that I was losing so much blood I couldn't stand up!

It's horrific the way women are treated when they miscarry. I know with scarce resources doctors have to concentrate on those with a chance but you can't just discard patients and expect them to get on with it

Sorry to hear what you are going through.

I can only echo what WMMC advised, you should definately see a doctor tomorrow.

I live in Germany and here a D&C is routinely done after a missed miscarriage. I had 2 m/c and the first D&C was quite traumatic (due to the complete and utter incompetence of the medical staff, and the fact that I was put on a normal maternity ward with new mums). After the second m/c I asked my (new) doc if I really had to have the D&C and she said that it was important to prevent infections.

I now realise that this is a bit of a German obsession, for if it were so common, many more MNetters would have had problems. When I first came on MN I was so surprised to read that the British docs advise waiting for it to happen naturally.

Still, it would be a good idea to get yourself checked out.

Just reread what I wrote and want to emphasise that the bad experience I had with D&C was due to the hospital. The second D&C was no problem and I recovered swiftly.

Thanks kinder and WMMC - just to reiterate - I am getting a 2nd opinion tomorrow...aside from everything else, it makes no sense to wait another week before they decide it hasn't happened naturally. It just seems the hospital staff are covering themselves by not confirming a miscarriage, just in case that 1% is that the pregnancy is normal (completely unlikely).Meanwhile I'm in limbo, BTW the bleed has slowed significantly as has the odour (I hope for now it is just that it is old blood, but will find out tomoro).

Anyway, I could ramble on, but thanks again, the support has given me the confidence I need.

Hi CC - just wondered how you got on at the hospital? Let us know what they said.
I had similar with my first mc - they wait for it to happen naturally if possible as there are risks with medical management & D&C (v small but they like to avoid if poss) I ended up having a D&C 3 weeks after I found no heartbeat. 2nd time was a blighted ovum and happened naturally over 2-3 weeks.
Hope you are ok

Hi Jackstini - thanks for the message, actually I hit a huge low yesterday and felt really depressed (prob hormones) - I couldnt face calling doc or being fiddled with in AnE, also having panicked (sorry ) everything looks to have really settled down so I opted for rest.I'll update after EPA scan...the support is really helpful thanks everyone

No probs cc - will be thinking of you and waiting to hear how the scan goes x

It sounds like you might have an infection, I got one after my 3rd mc, my baby died at 10 weeks but wasnt picked up till my 12 week scan. Is it possible to go to another hosp. I had my 1st 2 mcs at the same hosp who were every good and got me in very quickly. I then moved house just before my third preg, when I started bleeding I went to our new local hosp who told me I wasnt pregant but just having a late period after arguing with them for a while that I was preg my blood results came back which confirmed I was preg. They then told me that they could not scan me for two weeks. As I had already had an infection because I carried my first baby dead for two weeks and I ended up quite seriously ill, I was not very happy. We left the hospital drove down the motorway to the original hosp who again was very good and got me in for a scan the next morning. They shouldnt be leaving you in limbo. Hope you ok, sending you hugs

How are you today cheeky?

Hi cc - are you feeling any better? If nothing has happened over the weekend hope they can tell you something on Tuesday

Still thinking of you, hope you ok

hello lovely people, and thank-you for supporting me it means a load.

The upshoot after todays scan is that I am clear of any infection . They STILL have not clarified or even said the word miscarriage even though I know I have had one. Bizarre? The scan shows there is still left over bits and which I presume means imcomplete as the bleeding is now just spotting. I'm waiting for another bloods to come back this afternoon to see whats going on with the hormones, and then will have something else to formulate a decision I guess.

laters x