Threatened miscarriage - any advice please

[daisybob1]

After two previous m/c i am now 7 and half weeks pregnant. however early hours of yesterday morning started bleeding a lot (bright red) it stopped after about 4 hours (and is now a light brown). Have been for a scan and there is still a heartbeat (thank god). The hospital called it a threatened miscarriage. What i need to know is whether this is likely to recur again (if so when - is it a couple of days, weeks?) how likely will it be that i miscarry again and is there anything i can do to prevent this from happening? any ideas, experience and so on would be much appreciated, even if it is bad news then at least i can start trying to sort my head out - at the moment all i am doing is worrying which isn't much use or good.

Oh Daisybob - sorry to hear this.

I've had m/cs as well, but mine there was no mistaking - nothing when went for scan.

I can't really tell you if it will happen again - I suppose no one can. Just rest as much as you can - I think they say bed rest sometimes helps. If there is a heartbeat that is such a good sign. Can you get another scan soon? I know what you meant about needing to know one way or the other.

Ask for another scan in a week or so if the bleeding doesn't stop, or even if it does.

Thinking of you

So Sorry Daisybob - nothing i can say advise wise!

Just to let u know my thougths are with you and i have my fingers crossed

i thougt that there might be a kind of pattern that you bleed once and that's all unless of course you miscarry again but perhpas i'm just clutching at straws. i have another scan booked for next tuesday. i find this going to the loo to check whether you're bleeding or not all the time so stressful.

daisybob, how awful for you. so many women seem to bleed to varying degrees in early pregnancy and often there is no reason or explanation. i am 7 weeks at the moment and not only bled heavily for 2 days on days 24-25 of my cycle (thought i had got an early perioed but then tested positive) and then week 5-6 was spotting on and off for about 8 days. had a second trans vag scan yesterday and all ok, i got loads of support and advice from the miscarriage threads on mumsnet. if there was a heartbeat that is an excellent sign, as well as the fact htat you have stopped bleeding. i spend all day every day going to the loo to check, so my heart goes out to you. try and stay positive x

I found this useful - its a case study for medicas on how to diagnose misscarriage - if you scroll downn a bit there is a table which is interesting.

www.qub.ac.uk/cm/og/html/other/case2.htm

Seems to indicate that you just have to wait and see.

I think the fact there is a heartbeat is reassuring though.

Good luck!

lots and lots of sympathy Daisybob having been there and done that recently - had a sudden bright red bleed at 10.5 weeks, a scan and no indication of what caused it, followed spotting, then another (huge in my opinion and definitely the end of the pregnancy) last week at 11.5 weeks. Scan the following day showed baby doing its thing happily but something called a subchorionic haemorrhage, luckily nowhere near the placenta. I've got another scan in 4 weeks to follow up by which time they hope it'll have shrunk. All very scary as this is following a miscarriage earlier in the year - my first two pregnancies were completely uneventful so this is all a bit new and I don't like it one bit. I know what you mean about running to the loo, I'm doing it constantly. However I'm clinging to the statistic that once you've seen a heartbeat it's a 90% chance everything will be ok. As to what to do to prevent it, well for once I'm taking medical advice seriously, whether it's excessive or not. I've been told no lifting (bit hard with a toddler!) no exercise, walking is ok, take it easy in general and they said rest as much as possible, so that was all the reason I needed to stop tidying and hoovering! If it's brown blood you're spotting now that's old blood which again is a better sign. Hope some of this is helpful, I really do know just how you're feeling and it's not nice at all

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you but the only positive thing I can say is that it doesn't mean you will lose the baby.

I had threatened miscarriages throughout my first two pregnancies. Those kids had more pictures taken than posh and becks! Each time it happened I wasn't happy until I had a scan and saw they were still there. I got to know the early pregnancy unit really well - those places are wonderful! The thing I finally learnt though was that if there was no pain it was probably OK. I had a m/c after my ds's and that was totally different.

I don't think there is anything you can do one way or another, just try to be positive. But I know the feeling of laying in bed all night trying not to move just in case, so I'll send lots of warm and fuzzy thoughts to you and madgirl.

thanks for all your help and advice i guess it is just a case of wait and see - i am only going to do half days at work for the rest of the week (yes i know that's only thursday adn friday and not much at the weekend - madgirl you seem in pretty much the same situation as me but sounds like you'r eahndling it better!

What an anxious time for you. All I can add is statistically once a heartbeat has been seen, your chance of m/c is very, very small.

daisybob, hope you are doing ok today. i'm not really handling it very well at all- think i am going to get sacked for spending all day on mumsnet! seriously though, keep saying to yourself that your pregancny has as good a chance of progressing (sorry hate that medical term but you know what i mean) as the next one. pregnancy hormones don't help do they? i do find it much better when i don't have time on my hands. (but what am i saying- i have a 2 1/2 year old at home!

hello here. i have had 2 mcs and one baby (and another mc at the mo). I did have some bleeding with my baby at about your stage. I do not think there is any advice except to keep getting reassurance from the doc (lots of scans). I really feel for you about the going to the loo thing. I also had a disgusting habit of sticking my fingers in my knickers when I thought no one looking. But my dh saw. You are not alone.

brunhilda - haven't gone that far yet - but understand what you mean - mind you it would look pretty funny at work! madgirl - hormones are ok at the moment - think how i am meant to feel is being overshadowed by worry/panick - have you any syptoms? how are you feeling?

love to all going through this - I'd just add that even if you get another bleed and it's bright red and even if you also have sharp pains, it still doesn't mean that you've lost the baby so do try not immediately think the worst (I know - easier said than done!. ) I had all those symptoms a couple of times during the first trimester, caused by a haematoma, and am now at week 27 with no bleeding for ages.
good luck with your next scans

daisybob, trying to take each day at a time, don't have any preg symptoms, but then again, i didn't have any with ds. brunhilda rofl at your hand in knickers as i have done that- don't think anyone's seen me do it yet! morocco, what exactly is haematoma?

haematoma is something I'd never ever heard of before a couple of months ago! apparently it means 'bruise' which sounds a bit better. anyhow, it shows up on scans so they'd tell you if you had one, it's a dark area like a clot or bruise (I imagine it as a kind of blood blister, don't know why). I've been trying to find out more about them ever since but without much luck. Mine is under the placenta (which is working fine) and could be caused by the placenta implanting too hard for example or coming a bit 'unstuck'. No-one really seems to know (well none of the midwives I spoke to anyway). But it is 'abnormal but common' and nothing to worry about according to them. Anyhow, for me it caused bright red bleeding and pain - presumably the pain was from when it happened - and then later on dark red 'old blood' every now and then coming from the bruise.
hope that helps
good luck everyone

v brief message morocco to say thanks for explaining this- can't bear it when i post big messsage and then feel like it was all wasted time!

DB1 _ I had what they think was a threatened misscariage with dd1 at about 7 weeks. I had lots of bleeding and cramps and was convinced i'd had a mc. I had an internal scan and thankfully a heartbeat was located, but they also found an empty sac, so they think i may have oringinally been having twins. They also discovered that i have a bicornuate uterus (basically shaoed like heart, almost divided into two sections). I continued to bleed for several weeks on and off but baby stayed put. Hope that is of some help to you.

Hi daisybob1. No suggestions but just to say that I can understand your worries and really feel for you. I started bleeding last Saturday at nearly 7 weeks, bled right through until Christmas Day. I have had a scan and they have seen a heartbeat and am too trying to rest (hard with Ds nearly 4). Everything made all the more scary after m/c earlier this year.
It is so hard not to worry isn't it? Unfortunately like everybody else has said nobody knows what is going to happen. I have taken to doing things to take my mind off it, bought a book to read, do endless puzzles with DS, drop him at friends so I can rest during the day and (here I know I am lucky) will be handing in my notice at work as soon as it reopens on 5th Jan. Money will be a bit tight for a while but peace of mind is worth it and I wasn't planning on returning after the birth anyway.
Little tip, don't wear anything red, went to the loo to check knickers the other day and saw red specks, Dh ahd to really reassure me was cotton threads off clothes!!! Can now see the funny side.
Am sure non of this will stop you worrying but if nothing else everybody here on mumsnet is thinking of you.
Sibble X

nutcracker,
i too have a bicornuate uterus....when was yours discovered and did you have a vaginal birth or c-section???
very interested as i'm 30+ weeks with my 2nd pregnancy and have a consultants appt in the morning with decisions to be made..
my dd arrived 7 weeks prem(put down to bicornuate uterus)she was breech so delivered by emergency c-section

ps;also bled at around 7 weeks in this pregnancy

CHATEE - My bicornuate uterus was discovered when i had the scan to find out if i had mc. It was my first baby but they asked me if i knew i had it (how would I). They worried me half to death saying baby would be prem but she wasn't. She was breech though so i had an elective c-section. 2nd baby was also breech until i went into labour at 35 weeks, she had turned round got cord stuck around her neck and was in distress. They were going to let me try for natural delivery but she was to distressed so i had an emergency section. With 3rd baby i had to have section and he was also breech. Did they check to see if you have two kidneys ?? Because apparently some people with b/uterus only have 1. I have 2. I would try a natural delivery if baby is head down as if you have another section you then have to have a section if you have any more children and 3 is supposed to be the limit.

thanks nutcracker,
yes this new hospital and consultant have checked my kidneys and their position(i have 2 in the right places)but my last hospital who detected the bicorn uterus did nothing except put the frighteners on me for when i have no2.
the thing that worries me is because i haven't given birth naturally and am also quite small, baby is 'tucked in neatly' to one side of my pelvis and not breech-will he get stuck??because of the shape of the uterus?
my dd has cerebral palsy? and i'm just trying to reduce any risks of lack of oxygen/distress etc.
i think as this is definetly our last i might just opt for elective c-section as also had a nightmare labour last time before emergency c-sec....hope consultant agrees!
thanks for your info

Personally then i would opt for section too. I can't see your consultant refusing, goiung on your history. Good Luck It's nice to know i'm not the only one with strange insides

not been on for a few days, had my appt and all went well, left the hospital and travelled down to parents, on arrival went the toilet and things had changed in a matter of 2 hours.i had started to spot bleed..panic..definetly didn't want to go to that local hospital(where i had my dd)so as there was no pain and only slight didn't say anything and just left the following evening as planned as fast as poss(leaving dd as planned)got home and phoned my hospital and went in for checks...just got out!have had steroid injections to develop babies lungs just in case so have been told to rest and relax...uhhmm easier said than done, dd arrives home this evening and although dh is off work tomorrow and monday so can help.....what am i supposed to do?
dd has cp diplegia is 3.5 years of age and weighs over 2.5stone....can't stand unaided-go to the toilet-pull herself onto a chair to eat...sorry starting to panic now she's not back at nursery either until 12th aaaahhhh

hi again chattee - I didn't realise what you meant by problems looking after your daughter on the march thread - can your dh take more time off work to help out? anyhow, lots of well wishes once again - what did the consultant say about a c section by the way?