Missed miscarriage at 10 weeks - how long did you wait?

[Drivenbiscuits]

I had a missed miscarriage diagnosed at 10 weeks and the baby died at 9weeks+5. I opted for it to pass naturally because I'd had brown discharge throughout the pregnancy and two episodes of bleeding, so I thought that the miscarriage would happen easily. (I had a scan after each bleed - the first time the baby was fine, the second time they said its heart had stopped.)

It's 2 weeks later now and nothing has happened yet, no bleeding and the brown discharge tailed off shortly after the diagnosis. Why would the bleeding stop after so much during the 'live' bit of the pregnancy? I'm wondering how long the wait might be for a missed miscarriage at this stage. Could anyone on here share their stories? Did anyone on here do anything that they think helped it pass naturally?

I wanted to avoid intervention because I had my daughter by c-section 18 months ago and ... I'm really over being intervened with unless necessary. I've had two previous miscarriages, both at around 10 weeks, one natural that just happened (just before my current pregnancy) and one surgical straight after diagnosis - it too was a missed mc (before having my daughter). Both were ok physically.

With any of the miscarriages I've had (3 at 5-6 weeks) I haven't ever started bleeding until the hCG was very low. For me it seems to be to do with the hCG levels. The 4th was MMC and stopped growing sometime shortly after my 6w3d scan. Normally I can tell as I measure the hCG for a few weeks, but this time stopped checking after the first scan when the hCG was 15000 as I thought things were going to be ok then the scan at 9w2d showed a MMC. The sac containing fluid and placenta were all still intact.

I tested the hCG again so I would know how far it had to drop and the day after it was just under 8000 3 weeks later, so dropping gradually. I had a managed miscarriage on Sunday, but only needed the first tablet taken on the Friday, which made me start spotting, then miscarried about 36 hours later. The placenta looked like it had still been developing. It's mainly that I wanted to get the hormones reset faster, rather than waiting for it to resolve naturally and I wanted a gynaecologist to make sure nothing was retained and to send the embryo for genetic testing. I don't think I could stand to wait naturally, though with the earlier ones, the hCG never got very high, before starting to fall and they were more like very late, very heavy periods. Looking at my hcg it would have taken another few weeks as the drop was more gradual with the pregnancy tissue still resent. I am glad I found out before the 12 weeks scan.

Sorry for your loss xx
I had a mmc at 21 weeks, baby measured 15w. I too was post c/s (24m). I am not sure if that changed things, maybe only in relation to maybe being more susceptible to retained products. I'd assume you'd be medically managed, not surgical, so I dont think being post cs would affect much (im just basing this on my own experience). For me I was given 2 doses of medication to pass the baby vaginally... I did have a retained placenta however and haemorrhage that required surgery, but again nothing was mentioned re. my c/s.
If it wasnt for the retained placenta and bleed, no one even touched me.

Sorry to hear this, it’s heartbreaking. I’ve just been through the same. Was 8 weeks 1 day and scan showed heart stopped at 7 weeks 3 days, I had no bleeding or cramps beforehand. I opted for medical management as I’m going through IVF so wanted it cleared asap without any issues with having surgery. I took the meds 2 days after the scan and experienced slight bleeding and cramps for the next 2.5 weeks while still testing positive. 2 weeks 3 days after the meds the pain and bleeding increased over night and it passed the next day, that day I also tested negative. The hospital advised the meds didn’t work and I eventually passed it naturally, they did advise to call back after 3 weeks if it hadn’t passed and test remained positive. Luckily it did so no long lasting issues. Wishing you all the best x

Thank you for responding and telling me your stories. I'm so sorry you too had this experience though and those losses, it's a terrible thing to go through. My heart goes out to you all. ❤
It's reassuring to hear the medication can work ok sometimes or at least trigger things to happen naturally@SH998 and @BasKaro , even after c/s, though I can't imagine how traumatic such a late MMC must have been @BasKaro . Interesting about the hCG levels @somethingluscious, I must test mine.
Wishing the best to all of you. Xx

About 3 weeks, nothing was happening so opted for medical management but I wish I’d gone for surgical, I found the medical unpleasant at that stage.

That's totally understandable after a few weeks of waiting@starlightmagic , I'll probably get to that stage too. Thanks for sharing. Interesting to know you thought surgical would have been better. Can imagine medical management could be distressing. Sorry for your loss, thinking of you. Xx

Hi I had a missed miscarriage at 12 weeks but baby stopped developing at around 8+5. So took around 3.5 weeks to happen naturally for me.

I started spotting 3 days after my scan, and then passed everything 2 days after that. I was actually booked in for the surgical management the next day but this was my first baby/first miscarriage so I was terrified of dealing with it naturally. I still went into hospital and they scanned me and confirmed everything had passed so no need for the surgery.

so sorry for your loss xx

Sorry to hear about this, hope you are doing OK today.

With my first missed miscarriage I found out at 11 weeks that they had stopped growing at 8w6d. I got to 13 weeks before I ended up having the D&C and didn't have any bleeding in that time.

I'm currently waiting at the moment to pass my 2nd miscarriage (embryo didn't seem to grow past 6 weeks). Found out at 8 weeks and now at 12 weeks - so I guess 6 weeks waiting in total - I have a hospital check up tomorrow where I am going to ask for the surgery as I can't stand to have this dragged out anymore! I've tried to keep active to see if that 'spurred' anything on and have had a few drinks but still no bleeding - and my digital tests are still showing as 3+ weeks pregnant.

I hope your appointment went well today @icb2022 , I totally see why you don't want to drag things out any longer. Four weeks is a long wait and having gone through it before is tough too. Such a cruel trick of nature to be pregnant but also not pregnant. I hope you're doing ok and looking after yourself, and plan in plenty of rest after the op. Sorry for your loss.

I've definitely found waiting for the miscarriage to happen to be an emotional strain and preoccupation. But I just can't face an intervention...yet... but I'm getting to that point. I too have been trying to do plenty of exercise and have been drinking bucket loads of coffee, partly in the hope of it moving on the miscarriage. I have been considering using castor oil but not sure about that one!

Sorry for your loss too @May94x , what a horrible shock for you with your first pregnancy and scan. It's something that everything passed on its own, although I totally know what you mean about feeling terrified of it.

Here's to wishing us all better luck next time! Xx

@Drivenbiscuits at the end of the day you know best how you feel, and if another week or so feels like the right thing I would stick with it. Thank you for checking up on me. One of the reasons I wanted to push forward with the surgery is because I have been very sick and unwell for the last 2 weeks - unfortunately my scan today showed it was not a ‘normal’ miscarriage but a molar pregnancy which explains the sickness. I’m booked in for surgery on Monday 😓

I found out at my 12 week scan that the baby had died at around 9 weeks.

I opted for home management, which happened around 2 weeks later and the day before I was due to be reviewed at hospital to discuss intervention.

I'm so sorry you're going through this.

Hi everyone. Sorry to you all going through this. September 6th I attended my 12 week scan to be told there was no heartbeat. I originally opted for medical management. After being in hospital for 5 days I was still unable to pass the baby, and was told I needed the surgery. I had surgery September 14th. The first week I got home I had very light bleeding (I’ve had worse periods) and the pain was manageable. The second week the bleeding was heavier and I am now 19 days post surgery and still bleeding. Yesterday I passed 2 large clots (sorry tmi) so today they have swabbed me at my GPs to check for infection, although have said it’s unlikely.
for those of you who have gone through this - how long did your bleeding continue for, and when did your period return?
for info this is my 3rd miscarriage & baby grew to 11+4. Thanks.

Hi, I'm really sorry to hear about your losses everyone. So sad to find out at the 12 week scan. I wish hospitals/epu had some kind of info about the range of how long a wait to expect with natural management and how long a bleed after surgery/natural.
I hope all went well yesterday @icb2022 with your surgery and that you are getting plenty of rest. What a horrible shock for you to find out it's molar on top of everything, thinking of you. I hope your sickness has gone now.
About the bleeding @Sophiey11 , from memory of when I had surgical management (end Jan 2020), I think I bled/had brown discharge for about 3 weeks. I remember it being longer than the 2 weeks they'd said to expect. My periods took about 2 months to return, although I don't know whether that's because they said they had to give me a good scrape 😯to get everything out. Whatever the case, we conceived my daughter 2 ish months after periods returned. With my natural miscarriage, the bleeding took about 3 weeks to clear and was brown discharge for 1 week (thought I had an infection, had precautionary antibiotics, but swabs came back negative) then I had the period that resulted in the pregnancy I've just miscarried. Sorry, this is probably too much detail!
My miscarriage started passing properly on Sunday night after a bit of brown discharge for a day or so. That was exactly 3 weeks after they said the heartbeat had stopped. Gotta say the bleeding/pain has been worse than last time and almost fainted on the loo in the middle of the night! Anyway, just glad it's started passing.
Xx