Advice after a natural miscarriage at around seven weeks

[raxel]

Looking for some advice on what to do following a natural miscarriage at 7 weeks. I only found out I was pregnant on Easter Saturday, it was very unexpected since I'm 43, have only ever previously conceived via IVF and am still breastfeeding my 1 year-old. I got my first postpartum period in November and have had slightly whacky cycles since then so I'm not completely sure when I conceived, although since DH and I are hardly at it like rabbits, I think I was around 6 weeks when I got my BFP. Anyway, a week later (so last Saturday) I started having brown spotting which increased to a light brown bleed over the rest of the day. On Sunday, the bleeding picked up over the morning and by mid-afternoon I was bleeding a lot and having painful cramps. Over the course of about 90 mins on Sunday afternoon cramps intensified to be extremely painful and I passed a lot of clots before the pain subsided a bit. I continued with fairly heavy bleeding and clots over the rest of Sunday and Monday. Tuesday and yesterday bleeding continued but more moderately, with just intermittent heavy bleeding. Today, it's pretty light.

I called EPU on Sunday while it was all happening but they didn't answer and I couldn't face going in. Called GP on Monday and the receptionist just said sorry, no appointments this week. I am feeling OK now (at least physically) so my question really is just do I need to see / speak to a doctor or can I assume everything has passed as it should do?

Sorry for the long message, this is my first miscarriage and feeling slightly stupid for not knowing what I'm supposed to do about it is just compounding all the other sad and shitty feelings.

I'm so sorry for your loss. I had a similar experience at 11 weeks, happened very quickly, and I did go to A&E on advice of 111 as I felt very faint and dizzy. Triage nurse did take blood pressure etc but then we left after waiting 6+ hours to see the doctor as sitting in A&E in that scenario was awful!
I had a private scan the next day which confirmed everything had passed.
If I were you, I would follow up with the EPU (they might require a referral from your GP) to get a scan, to check everything as passed, as if there's anything left behind it can cause infection. Don't feel stupid, it's hard to know what to do. Did you already do a self referral to the midwife (if that's how it works in your area? If so you'll need to contact them to tell them so they take you out of the system for scans etc.

Thank you, and sorry to hear you've experienced something similar, it's truly horrible. I hadn't yet registered myself with the midwife or told my GP or anyone else about the pregnancy. Perhaps I'll try to make a phone appointment with a GP and see if they want to refer me to EPU.

I would definitely speak to the GP, they should be able to refer you without necessarily seeing you. Maybe this isn't a concern for you, but mine was my first pregnancy (natural) and I wanted to make sure the miscarriage was on my medical records in case I had more and wanted to get referred to a recurrent miscarriage clinic. Fortunately the 2nd pregnancy stuck!

I'm so glad your next pregnancy was healthy 🙂I'll see if I can get hold of someone, it doesn't help that it's nigh on impossible to see a GP these days...

I’m sorry for your loss, I also had a miscarriage last week. I had to go to EPU just to have a scan and check everything had passed. I could self refer to my local EPU though I don’t know if that would be an option for you if you called back? Would save battling with the GP.

Don’t feel stupid, I also had no clue what to do (first pregnancy!) and it’s an awful situation to be in but they were really helpful at EPU with what to do and next steps etc..

My consolations on your loss, too, I hope you're doing OK. I think I can self-refer to EPU, they just never answer the phone! I'll try them again too if I don't have any luck with the GP. I suppose I could just go in but the webpage does ask people to call first.

So sorry OP.

Definitely a good idea to either self-refer to EPU or get your GP to refer you, so they’re aware at the very least and can advise (and also so it’s on your records).

I’ve been pregnant twice and had two miscarriages (first was natural around 6/7 weeks and second was a missed miscarriage for which I had medical management). Both times, my local EPU had me take a pregnancy test 3 weeks after the miscarriage and ring them if it was positive (thankfully it wasn’t, as this can indicate a problem and requires follow up). I guess they may suggest this to you, too - so I thought I’d mention - but good to check the procedure with them.

Edited to add: if you can’t see GP or get in with EPU (my sympathies on both counts! My GP surgery is also long waits, and I’ve had many many 5-hour EPU stints over the past year, which I imagine would be logistically v tricky with a little one!) then my understanding is that if your pregnancy tests go back to negative within 3 weeks - grim and sad and rubbish as this is - then medically you’re likely to be okay. Tests staying positive/getting darker or any increased pain, especially pain in lower right or left hand sides of your stomach, or shooting up to your shoulder tips, are bad signs and mean you need do see someone ASAP. Note I’m not a medic though, just someone who’s gone through it!

Oh and any really heavy bleeding or very large clots are also signs that you should seek emergency medical attention according to my local EPU. They always made clear that this would be via A&E or similar (ie not via EPU). But from your OP it really seems like you’re through the worst of it, physically speaking.

Other than giving me the above advice (and endless leaflets…) they’ve always been quite happy for me to manage at home and do the follow up home pregnancy test 3 weeks later.

So sorry you’re going through it - especially with no medical support - it’s just so horrible.

Thank you, and for sharing your experiences. I’m so sorry you’ve been through it too. It’s really helpful to know what the process was for you. I’ll do my best to see or at least speak to someone, but good to know that doing a test at 3 weeks past is a sensible check-in. I’m hopeful that everything has passed now but of course there’s no way to really know.