Missed Miscarriage - How long can this go on for?

[Lucjo]

I should be 13 weeks pregnant in 2 days...but found out at 8 week scan that baby’s heartbeat had stopped around 7 weeks. I decided to wait for things to happen naturally but it’s taking so long! I’ve had no bleeding or pain at all. I’m avoiding surgical management at all costs as I had a D&C 2 years ago for another missed miscarriage and my lining did not recover well after it, requiring 1.5 yrs working with fertility specialist + expensive hysteroscopy to get back to adequate thickness to conceive. I’ve a long history of multiple fibroids/fibroid surgeries and have lots of damage to my myometrium which was probably why my lining struggled to recover. I’m now 43 so don’t have another 1.5 yrs, or thousands of pounds, to fix lining again so trying to avoid a D&C if at all possible. My worry though is because of my damaged womb maybe I can’t miscarry properly and it will never happen! I’d love to know what’s the longest people have waited to miscarry naturally and did it happen eventually...even after many many weeks? I’m coming up to 6 weeks past the heartbeat stopping and feel like I should wait as long as it takes but it’s hard and I haven’t heard of anyone waiting longer than this so am beginning to lose my resolve. Any input would be greatly appreciated x

Hi - I found out baby's heartbeat stopped a week ago, also at 7 weeks. Had a hospital scan yesterday to confirm it and decided to go down the medical management route. I didn't want a d&c, but given that nothing was happening for me after a week I just couldn't personally drag it out any longer. Is there any reason you wouldn't go down that route? Sending lots of love ♥️

Hi, thanks for your message. I haven’t gone down that route yet this time because I tried it twice for my last missed miscarriage and it didn’t work. As I’ve had no bleeding at all this time that means my cervix is closed so risk of infection is low as no air is getting into the uterus. Misoprostol (the medication) opens the cervix so I’ve haven’t taken it yet in case my body’s not ready to go along with it and it doesn’t work again but afterwards my cervix is open risking infection. I will probably have to take it at some point though if nothing is happening. Best of luck with yours, hope it works. If you feel up to it afterwards I’d be very interested to know how you got on with it x

Thank you - I got the misoprostol yesterday around 2:45pm and started bleeding around two hours later. I passed everything at around 7-8pm. I had pain but it just felt like a bad period pain - in my lower tummy and back. Today I'm not bleeding much at all and have no pain. I'm sorry that it didn't work for you when you were given it, I know everybody is different. I can totally understand while you wanted to wait for this to happen naturally.

That’s great it worked so quickly for you, best of luck with the rest of your recovery. If I end up doing it hopefully I’ll have a better result this time : )

@rach971 how long did it take for you to finish passing the tissue, if i may ask?

Can I ask @Lucjo how long you waited in the end? I'm in a similar position of trying to wait for my 9week+5 days miscarriage to pass naturally, am 2.5 weeks down the road of the missed miscarriage wait.

Hi @Drivenbiscuits , in the end I started spotting at what would have been 13 weeks (heartbeat stopped at 7 weeks), at that point I took Mifopristone. + Misoprostol and it worked in that I started cramping and bleeding heavily and passed the sac. Unfortunately the placenta didn’t pass and I took the pills again a couple of times over the next few weeks which didn’t work and so I still today have some placenta attached to the wall and am still getting positive pregnancy tests. I’ve avoided surgery to now due to past medical history reasons but am considering it now as it’s going on so long but I hate the thought of it as it’s not something I want. My doctor said what’s left is small so should absorb by the body over time but this could still take weeks or even months which would be very difficult. To be honest I don’t know what to do right now and am battling with the decision.

@rach971 hope things are okay for you now. Could I just ask if you did pass everything with the Misoprostol in the end or was there any retained tissue that had to be dealt with later?

Hi @Lucjo , ah no, I totally feel for you, that's a really long time to have had to deal with this. I hadn't realised the wait for the miscarriage to start might go on so long. Sorry for your loss too.

My previous miscarriage (at 10 weeks) was not a missed one but the bleeding/brown discharge took 4 weeks to totally disappear. So I guess that's how long my miscarriage products took to go. I hope yours clears quicker. I went for antibiotics in the end because I was convinced I must have had an infection (I didn't, apparently, but they prescribed them before my swab results returned as a precaution).
Such a hard one to call on what to do. Wishing you all the best with your decision. Xx