Booked in for d and c on tuesday any advice welcome

[tom57]

Booked in for d and c on tuesday,pregnancy failed at 8 weeks.I would welcome any advice on things I can do to prepare,what I can expect,recovery times and anything you wish you had known.I just hate not being in control!Thank you.

oh poor you. The D&C is very fast - you are usually discharged the same day. Go home and take it easy for a day or two. Some people have bleeding afterwards but I didn't. You have it under anesthetic, which can make you feel a little sick afterwards - eat something small and plain for a day. But you should honestly, honestly be fine physically after 2 days though the emotional roller coaster can take longer. Much love. It's horrid.

Oh, I am sorry for your loss. I had 2 erpc/d&c last year (molar pregnancy, hence two), and the whole thing was so much better than I'd expected. Not much you need to do to prepare - there can be some hanging around, so take a book/magazine, and you won't be able to eat beforehand, as it's GA.

You're under for just a short time, so I had no side-effects of the GA, but you will be very tired afterwards, so make sure you have someone to look after you for a day or so afterwards, and let yourself rest properly.

I was out about 3 hours after the procedure - they got me to have a sleep, then brought me lunch, and then called DH to come and get me. It's important that someone pick you up, as you will be a bit wibbly and sleepy.

There is some bleeding afterwards, but not much iirc.

Nothing I wish I'd known, except that it wasn't anything to get stressed over - I was positively chilled for the second one! Afterwards give yourself enough time to deal with the emotional impact of what's happened - that is harder.

Good luck.

Don't be freaked out afterwards if you still feel woozy and crappy for a few days afterwards. Second what habbibu said, there is a lot of waiting around. Take a book/magazine that doesn't require much concentrating.

I am so sorry about your loss. I have found Mumsnet a godsend in terms of emotional recovery. I hope all goes well on Tuesday.

Have had 2 ERPCs. Take a book/magazine for while you are waiting to go to theatre. Felt really tired after and bit groggy that day - went to bed early (best to avoid booze). Rested the next day and then more-or-less ok from then on (physically that is). Bled with my first one for 12-14 days after. Unfortunately had to have another ERPC 2 months later as still had retained products. In between I thought I was PG again but the test was still positive from retained products as they are so delightfully called.

Emotionally still a rollercoaster but mainly due to the probs I had - it's fairly unusual. I'm sure you will be ok. Good luck. let me know if you want to know anything else.

P.S take some decent shoes with you in case they walk you to theatre! Not allowed to go barefooted - had my manky old birkenstock with me the first time and the theatre nurse had to carry them back to the ward. Not really that important I know but.....

p.s not really that painful - think I only had 2 lots of paracetamol after each one.

I'm so sorry that you are going through this.

I've had two ERPCs - physically they are very easy tbh. The whole thing takes less than 30 minutes from going down to being back on the ward, but you may have to hang around for a long time before and afterwards. So get in some really trashy magazines to pass the time as you just want to hide from everyone.

Be prepared that you might be on a ward with pg women, or those that have chosen to terminate their pregnancy - an Ipod would help if so as you don't have to listen

I had a day under the duvet with junk food after each of mine, but more because I didn't want to face the world rather than anything else. The bleeding lasted for 5 days or so - reasonably heavy. Remember you have to use towels, not tampons - the Always Nighttime ones are good.

I bought some cheap pyjamas so that I didn't mentally spoil my nice ones

I had hardly any bleeding after, I had it for an incomplete miscarriage (MC no. 3 for me ) and it stopped the bleeding. I found it much less stressful than I thought.

I was on a mixed-sex ward with no privacy and there were women having miscarriages and women having terminations, but the doctors and nurses were all nice and it was OK. I was in and out and home again really soon after. Had no pain at all.

Took the next day off work anyway (I didn't tell them what I'd been in for as didn't want them to know I'd been pregnant), which I actually enjoyed, did nice relaxing things. It was good to put the experience behind me physically, though after the initial relief came back down again emotionally a week or two after.

Oh, went out boozing the night after (don't normally drink, but thought would cheer me up) - not good plan!

What would I do without this forum! That's brill advice.Am going to book pedicure for weekend and will take nice shoes/horrid nightie combo and stacks of reading material. Do any of you know if partners can stay or will he just feel like a spare part. Thanks for taking time to respond it really means alot to me.

Dh stayed with me all the time. Nothing he could actually do, but needed him there for moral support, esp when people came and said stupid things

Mine stayed with me the whole time apart from theatre bit obviously! But mine was at about 4pm. It is nice to have someone with you. And I was put on a ward pre-op and at about 11am. He was great for popping for snacks, magazines etc. And also it is lovely to have someone to hold your hand. But tell him to bring a book etc. My dh took a lot of Top Gear magazines. And make sure you treat your self loads afterwards. Miscarriage is an emotional roller coaster.

Sorry to hear that Tom.
When I had mine I wished I had taken more stuff to prepare for the waiting (I got bumped to later on due to an emergency) Books etc. Dh stayed with me the whole time except when I went down to theatre.
After you come round, as soon as you feel ready to go home, push to be checked & discharged. I had to wait 4 hours after I felt I was ready as I didn't keep chasing and all I wanted was to get out of that place & go home.
Re the pedicure, check first with the hosp if you are allowed. I was told no nail varnish as they look at your finger and toenails for blue tinges as a wellness check during the GA.
Definitely treat yourself a lot after.
The evening after I locked myself in the bathroom with book, wine and choc for 2 hours.
Let people know if you do or don't want to talk about it - often they don't know what to do for the best and it is easier on you both if you just say.
Will be thinking of you on Tuesday.

Pedicure will be fine . Agree though that it's best to leave fingernails free of polish - will need to have an oxygen saturation probe on one of your fingers during surgery (can't pick up a signal with nail varnish on).

I had the nail varnish on my toes removed before my d&c. just a warning!

Sorry to hear that, tom, but it's really not bad at all, under for about 30 mins (I was told, had an miss at 9 weeks the end of May).

Bit knackered and woozy after, take the painkillers they give you in advance, just in case, but I had a little pain, but only for a day or two. My DH stayed a while, but was a bit of a spare, and went at my iinsistance! Make sure you have a lift home!

No jewellery either, best give to DH

Oh, and great advice there re ipod on the ward - I had a pregnant woman in the bed next to me who kept talking about her damn scan. AND showing me the pic.

I'm really shocked at the number of people on open/mixed/antenatal wards - that's just grim. My hospital has a suite where you go for ERPCs, and terminations, but it's almost all single rooms - the biggest is a double, and they try to avoid putting you in there if they can - you rarely see anyone else, and have a tv, etc. We also had pm results from dd1 in the gynae clinic, rather than antenatal, which was also so much better, and post ERPC histology results in the EPU. This isn't some fancy private hospital, but a big NHS city teaching hospital. I'm so sorry for people like littledee and others, having to deal with all of this PLUS the insensitivity of where you're placed. I hope the MN code of practice gets taken on board in other hospitals.

My first ERPC I had to wait on the day surgery ward - so mixed, open and with everyone looking at the sobbing woman in the corner. After theatre went to the gynae ward, which was also open, but handily opens onto the childrens ward. So I woke up to hearing a baby crying.

Second ERPC I was on a gynae ward again - old fashioned Nightingale ward where I was in a bay with pregnant women admitted for hyperemesis etc

"Best" bit was when I was seeing the recurrent miscarriage consultant. His scanning sessions (also for infertility patients) were in the antenatal clinic. AN clinic wasn't in session, but whole place plastered in baby posters, and with babytv in full force.

I complained formally about the whole thing (its a long and tedious story), and they did change somethings as a result.

Good luck for tomorrow Tom - let us know how it goes.

I had this done last Thursday. It's a v quick procedure and you should be out by lunchtime though they kept me in overnight as I was losing a lot of blood. I had a mmc at about 8 or 9 weeks. Still bleeding a little but seems to be okay.

My hospital (Kingston) was excellent. Am horrified at some of the reports here about being on mixed wards/wards with ppl who have chosen to terminate etc.

Good luck and much love xxx

had op today.had to go in at 7.30 to be told no beds.Text advice from Dr friend was don't accept this [she knows how hard the last 4 weeks have been with bleeding,cramping,childcare etc and fact baby died a week ago was starting to get to me]was in mixed day room,mostly elderly ladies with hystorectories, in tears from 8 till 11 mainly pregnancy hormones and the not knowing. eventually they asked three others to come back tomorrow[one was a 5 hour breast reconstruction post MRSA].Felt really guilty. Op itself was fine but the just before they discharge me they asked if we wanted to take the remains of the pregnancy home and if not they would incinerate it and ?bury?it in the local not very nice crematorium. I had no probs with the incineration bit I assumed that would happen anyway, pregnancy never developed a heartbeat so I almost felt it never really got going,but this almost elevated it to someone else burying my 'child' so reluctantly we now have to collect it later in the week and bury it with goldfish cats etc.Just drags the whole thing out a bit longer.When I had d and c with twins at 8 weeks 7 years ago I did ask to keep if poss-we had seen heartbeats for weeks so felt far more attached.but that was not an option then.Maybe there's just no pleasing some people!On a lighter note have bought daughter a baby ferret as distraction.It's fab!

P.S.all your advice was brilliant, even little things like the nurse carrying your shoes back from theatre was so helpful.The dilema was do I go to theatre with knickers and pad on as I was bleeding quite a bit, to then have the humiliation of handing them over to the nurse at the door or risk bleeding on way.I chose no knickers and trying to lie horrizontally on plastic chair in day room for half an hour[no bed yet]surrounded by patients and partners was awful,yes in backless hospital gown too.....God I'd just forgotten how horrid that bit was.

Oh, bloody hell, tom. I'm sorry you had such a rubbish experience. I cannot get over how different it is at different hospitals within the NHS. I'd be tempted to write and send them the MN code of practice for miscarriage, and ask if they'll take it on board - when you're feeling up to it.

Re pad - at my hosp I was wheeled in my bed with no knickers, but a pad between my thighs, which wasn't removed until I was under GA, and a fresh one replaced before I came round. Not humiliating, and surely simple enough for any hosp to do.

When we lost dd1, we bought a Japanese maple for the garden - perhaps when you bring your wee one home, buy a plant you like to plant with him/her - a beautiful reminder of your lost little one.

Good news about the ferret, though - they're lovely!

Glad you got through it ok. I too cannot believe how awful some hospital services are - the fact you had to wait until y'day was bad enough I thought, without being asked to come back. Good for you for staying put. I was put on the theatre list as an extra each time. Was lucky to have an almost empty 4 bedder the first time and side room the next. What an awful experience for you, as if it isn't bad enough. Hope you feel better soon xxx