My MVA miscarriage experience - gestation sac too small

[Katie397]

hi - typing this from a few months ago but hoping it might help someone if they're going through something similar.

I was about 6 weeks pregnant when I began to have brown spotting. It lasted about 2 weeks before the dreaded bright red wipe. It felt really terrible to see in that moment as it was my worst fears coming true.

We went to St George's (the closest hospital) for a scan and while there was a heartbeat, the scan person called in the lead nurse who gave us the difficult news that the gestational sac around the baby was way too small. She gave us a 96% chance of miscarriage. It was a really brutal diagnosis but I honestly can't praise St George's enough - the nurses discreetly gave us space in the room to cry and gather ourselves and the head nurse gave us hugs and really went on the journey with us. She (Gayle) was utterly wonderful. Thank you, St George's EPU.

We went home and had to wait a week for the miscarriage to start naturally but it didn't. The wait was excruciating. We went back for a scan the next week and we told the nurse we didn't want to see the baby. She kindly turned the screen away (and also advised us to leave the room when later she was printing off photos for the file, very grateful for that). During the scan, we were told that the baby's heartbeat had stopped. We were somewhat braced for that moment but it was still incredibly hard to hear.

We were then presented with some choices: 1) wait for natural miscarriage (could take weeks) 2) have pessaries to induce miscarriage to have it at home 3) have an MVA (like D&C but with suction instead). We opted for MVA and felt comfortable in our choice. I didn't want to wait (honestly, waiting was the worst part). I didn't feel emotionally prepared to handle a natural miscarriage at home and they advised the pessaries are more painful than natural as they chemically make your womb cramp.

I was expecting to have a 2 week wait for the MVA but was told they had an appointment in 2 days which I jumped for. I was having the MVA under local which might have helped with the speed of appointment. The appointment day was lots of tests (x2 bloods, lots of pills to take to soften the cervix). Unfortunately, I threw these up (managed to get a bowl just in time) and then also gave me suuuper bad runs once I was home so maybe make sure you're near a toilet if you're going through this. Also they asked what to do with the foetus so make sure you've thought about this as it could throw you a little (I opted to have mine disposed off with other remains in a ceremony the hospital does). In the procedure room, there was x1 female doctor, x1 doctor assistant, x1 person there for me (a patient welfare person), plus my other half. I felt grateful to have everyone in there, especially the patient welfare person.

The procedure itself wasn't pleasant but was over with quickly. I found that doing big deep breaths helped with the sensation. It wasn't nice at all but lasted about 3 minutes and when the doctor said "that's it, all done" I broke down crying. It was super hard but I felt the relief wash through me that it was over and the waiting was over. Again, my other half and I were given space to recover. We were home by lunchtime.

I was told to take a pregnancy test (seriously, who comes up with this stuff?!) 2 weeks later to check that nothing remained inside which it didn't. It was pretty hard to go through the actions of a pregnancy test tbh.

Apart from that, the recovery was ok physically, but it knocked me emotionally. I'm doing better now but it felt important to have the time to mourn everything that had happened.

Anyway ... a bit long. And a bit hard to relive. But this was a wonderful community that helped me along my journey and I wanted to give something back if someone is going through something similar. Big hugs to you all x

[AmericanStickInsect]

Thank you for your kindness and bravery in sharing this for others x

[Louise2021]

Thank you so much for bravely telling your story.. I’m so sorry you had to experience this. I am currently going through similar and looking at my options, your story has definitely helped me and I’m so grateful for that, sending love to you xx

[Katie397]

@Louise2021 I'm so sorry. It's a really tough thing to go through but I'm glad my story helped, even a little bit. Sending big hugs your way, look after yourself lovely x