How long to wait for natural miscarriage?

[lulu1414]

I'm looking for some advice. I recently found out that I have suffered my 3rd missed miscarriage. The first I opted for a D&C, I had a bad experience of that and so for the second I decided on expectant but when things didn't progress I opted for medical management. This time I would like to wait as long as possible for it to happen naturally. Any ideas at what point will I need to seek medical help?

[Loubilou09]

Hiya I am not sure when you need to seek medical help but I had my first MMC at 11+4 weeks, gestational sac looked to be about 6 weeks according to the doctors so it took nearly 6 weeks I suppose. This time I miscarried at 12+2 and saw a heartbeat at 8+4, I am not 100% sure when heartbeat stopped but looking back symptoms dropped dramatically from 9+1 BUT I did get bigger and suddenly pop out and look pregnant at about 10 weeks so somewhere between 9 and tend weeks I think so this one took 2 - 3 weeks and when it was a relatively quick process.

[kitpuss]

Hi Lulu, I'm not sure whether I'm understanding your question correctly, but here's what happened with my miscarriages.

The first one I had a scan at 10 weeks which showed a missed miscarriage. I went home and finally miscarried about 11 days later, it was fine, the worst bit only lasted a few hours. I had no medical input until a scan a week later which showed that everything had gone and all was fine.

Second time was a bit different, I did not have a scan but had light bleeding for a week and finally lost the baby at home. Again had no input other than a scan a week later to check things were OK.

Is that the sort of info you wanted ?

[Velvetcu]

Hi Lulu

I had MMC - gestational sac was 6 weeks and I finally had ERPC at 13 weeks so that was a 7 week wait and I didnt have any bleeding or cramping beforehand.

I was told it can even take 10-12 weeks.

[GrizzlyMum]

Hi Lulu,
I had some bleeding at 11 weeks, and was checked for mc. The nurse said I had probably miscarried around 7 weeks so that was a 4 week wait. The main bleeding didn't start until 13 weeks and lasted for another 2.
I was glad I waited for a natural miscarriage - I really didn't want extra hormones on top o everything else.
I'm sure your nurse can give you more detailed information if you need it.
Best wishes.

[Jakey87]

Hi Lulu, i think everyone is different in terms of how long they will waitfor mc to happen naturaly, and different hospitals have different rules, my hospital said i could wait as long as it took if that is what i wanted.
went for scan at 5+4 and there was a tiny heart beat, went for another at what i thought was 10 weeks and it showed no heartbeat and no growth since last scan, i waited 9 weeks from the day of the 'Bad News' scan then opted for medical management as it seemed life was going on without me and the only way to save my self mentaly was for the physical part to be over.check with your hospital and see if they have a time scale or not, if not its up to you how long you wait and when your bodys ready.
take care.

[WillowM2B]

Sorry you are going through this.

As everyone has proven here, it does vary wildly in the amount of time it takes to miscarry naturally.

If you feel you are not coping with the waiting, then contact the hospital and see if they can assist you with the other options available.

Whilst waiting, if you have any very heavy blood loss or pain that you cannot cope with then contact the hospital asap.

Also if it goes on for over 2 weeks without having miscarried fully then do keep an eye on your temperature/vaginal discharge/blood loss as infection is possible.

The hospital should have given you some literature on how to deal with conservative management - Please do contact them if you feel you are not coping at any stage.

Best wishes.

[lulu1414]

Thanks, everyone. You comments are very helpful. Everything is a bit complicated as I am abroad and so don't have a doctor here- I just took off once I found out I had lost the baby as I wanted to be with my DH. As I said I have been through two miscarriages and called my GP who gave me some advice, but I just wanted to hear how long it might take to wait it out. I really appreciate you sharing your stories as the waiting game is a bit difficult!