Help me understand miscarriage

[Rainyshowers]

So last September I was pregnant and found out at 15dpo. I took a few tests over the next few days and all a strong positive. About two weeks later I took another test and it was positive but not as strong. I just thought it was because it was evening urine (daft I know) Sotheby's next morning with fmu took another and had another strong line. I would have been around 6 weeks pregnant. At 8 weeks I had a bleed. I kept bleeding. I went and had a scan and there was no baby. But no sac or any sign of pregnancy. The scan just looked like it was a period. The bleedlasted the length of my period and seemed like one. So what happened? If I was pregnant why did nothing come up on the scan? I had no miscarriage symptoms. Nothing.

I'm nervous as I finally got another bfp a year on. But I'm very anxious as last time I lost it with no real clue. If anyone has any knowledge of miscarriage please advise as I just feel like this pregnancy won't happen either but that I won't know. I don't really get early symptoms so feel pretty normal. I'm 5 weeks.

I’m so sorry for your loss.

I’ve never had a MC, so this is just what I’ve gathered from being on here. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will come along soon.

How long was it between your bleed and your scan? Is it possible that you had passed the sac between the 2? In which case, that might explain the scan results?

Once again, I’m so sorry but I have everything crossed for this pregnancy for you xx

I’m afraid with miscarriage you aren’t likely to ever know but it is highly unlikely that it is anything you could have controlled. My first pregnancy ended in a missed miscarriage, so it wasn’t discovered until my 12 week scan. I was devastated; I thought I was in the clear as there had been no bleeding.
The sad thing is roughly one in five pregnancies end in miscarriage. It’s usually down to chromosomal abnormalities which means the fetus isn’t compatible with life. After my miscarriage I was shocked at how common miscarriage is and how many people I knew who have had one.
My next pregnancy was rough and I was scared a lot. However DD is 3 and her sibling is due in the next few weeks. You are at no increased risk for a miscarriage this time.

I really hope everything is ok this time and definitely ask for an early scan for reassurance. I think around 8-9 weeks is best. It helped me a lot!

Hi. I'm very sorry if any of the following description/ explanation sounds cold or callous - I always just attempt to remain scientific. I am very sorry for you loss and can utterly sympathise with the tension/anxious wait you're currently going through.

Hcg is the hormone detected on pregnancy tests and is only present in (relatively) large amounts during pregnancy. The presence of this hormone alone does not indicate a pregnancy is progressing. Bloods to check the rise at 48 hour intervals can confirm a pregnancy is progressing as expected. The rise cannot be detected with hpt because dye levels aren't universal, strength of wee can change, time of day can have an impact on hcg concentration.... etc... there are just too many variables.

So just because there is hcg present does not mean there is a growing sac and it could have been only mm in size, meaning it passes with the utterance lining. Hcg can decline quickly or slowly once the body recognised that the embryo isn't growing as it should. If the body doesn't recognise that the embryo isn't growing as it should, and it is only found to be a problem at a scan, this is called a missed miscarriage. The vast majority of miscarriages are spontaneous (the body recognises something is wrong and bleeding starts on its own) or chemical (which occurs when the embryo is too small to be seen on a scan and can only be detected by bloods or hpt). A chemical pregnancy is generally reasonably similar to a normal period because the feral tissue is microscopic or a few mm in size and because the uterus hasn't build up much more lining than usual.

I would hypothesise that essentially your previous pregnancy had not got very far at all and it took the body a bit more time to realise there was a problem with the growth of the embryo.

Early scans can be reassuring or cause more anxiety if the embryo isn't fitting the 'normal' or expected pattern of development. Despite not always growing as expected, there are not always negative outcomes.

I am sorry if my scientific language has been offensive as I am very aware that a miscarriage is so much more than a medical/ biological event...

Thank you so much for the explanation. I really needed to understand it all in medical terms. As I had the scan and that was that. But I didn't really understand as there was no sign of ever being pregnant. I think an explanation helps you move on. So in this pregnancy it is a good sign if I get positive pregnancy tests but only scans can confirm all is well?

Once the embryo is large enough to see, yes. Once a heartbeat has been seen, the rate of miscarriage drops considerably. I wouldn't recommend a scan before 8/9 weeks because the rate of development is different and if dates are even slightly out if can lead to massive panic and anxiety even though the embryo ends up being fine. Early scans should all be transvaginal as the embryo is still within the pelvis and external ultrasounds don't penetrate the pelvis well.

HCG doubles every 48 hours in early pregnancy and is generally a good indicator of a healthy pregnancy, but bloods would need to be taken every 48 hours.

So there is nothing that you can do at home to see how the pregnancy progresses except wait. And the waiting is the worst.

Hi
The way you described it is very similar to my first experience. It's very common first time as your body has never carried before. But there's no reason to think that will happen again so please try not to stress. The 2nd time I got pregnant I couldn't relax so I booked an early scan at 8 weeks (privately) and then had the normal one at 12 weeks too. I've a lovely little baby now! Best of luck