Missed miscarriages, how common are they really?

[Momma22]

Hi ladies, so I'm currently 9 weeks pregnant with DC no 2. I had a miscarriage at around 5 - 6 weeks in April, and I am so so anxious about it happening again.

So far I've had no symptoms to suggest I've had a MC, no cramping, no bleeding of any kind. However my symptoms have kind of came and gone. My boobs are still huge! But the soreness went away quite early on. I've been pretty bloated, but some days worse than others. I have been feeling quite tired, but it's hard to judge whether it's pregnancy related or just due to working shifts/looking after DD etc. I've not really had any sickness? However I had no sickness whatsoever when pregnant with DD.

I'm now terribly anxious about my first scan. I want to get excited about it but I can't! I only know of one person who's ever had a missed miscarriage, however this lady had a history of recurrent miscarriages and was significantly older than me, two factors I know push the risk of MC up slightly. There may well be several other people I know who've had a MMC but never told anyone? So I'm worried it may be a lot more common than I think. I seem to read about a lot of ladies on sites like this who've had a MMC, but I wonder if it's overrepresented on forums as ladies who've suffered a MMC are more likely to come onto forums for support, or if you actually get a more true picture of how common they actually are as you're more likely to speak openly on forums where you can be anonymous.

Does anyone have any actual statistics on MMC? Like what percentage of MC's have no symptoms whatsoever?

Thanks x

In reverse order, yes, there are a lot of statistics floating around about miscarriages. They vary from 1/6 to 1/4 pregnancies ending in miscarriage. I have seen a breakdown for MMC but don’t recall what it was.

My mother had multiple miscarriages. A friend of mine had a miscarriage. I am sure there are loads more but people just don’t talk about it. On one hand, why would they when it probably occurred before they had announced the pregnancy at 12 weeks like so many people do. On the other hand, I miscarried before 12 weeks and did tell quite a few people, all of whom were very sympathetic. Actually, I now remember a colleague telling me (very briefly) that she had a miscarriage too although that was in the context of going on to have her son after 40.

I do think this is something we should all talk about more. I’m very grateful to Zara Tindall for speaking out about it.

I’m pregnant again and my symptoms all disappeared a few days ago. I had a panic quickly followed by an ultrasound and was told that everything is progressing as it should at the moment.

I have been trying very hard to remember that statistically, you are more likely to have an uneventful pregnancy than a miscarriage. Easier said than done.

I hope all goes well at your scan. When is it?

My cousin and I were both pregnant with first pregnancies. Both had mmc. Both at 11 weeks but babies measured 7-8 weeks.

We did begin to bleed so found out before scan.

I had had a scan due to spotting at 6-7 weeks and saw heartbeat.

It's tragic but unfortunately happens.

Not sure when my scan is yet, just seen the midwife on Friday. So just awaiting a letter from the hospital, should imagine it'll be i the next 3 - 4 weeks.

Try not to worry. There's nothing you can do if the worst does happen. Try to stay positive. It's hard not to worry though.

Both my cousin and I now have 2 DD's each and I paid for private scans at around 9-10 weeks each time for a bit of reassurance.

I seem to remember that the probability of a MISSED miscarriage is around 1% - it is far more likely that a miscarriage will let itself known through pain and/or bleeding.

I was worried about it too, but I was ok. I know that my sister has never had one (4 healthy pregnancies all announced as soon as she got her BFP) and my sister in law has been lucky too (3 healthy pregnancies announced at around 6 weeks).

Of the people I know who have had miscarriages, none of those have been missed. They have all started with heavy bleeding.

Hope this helps

X

Try not to think about statistics and stay away from Google! If you can afford it book a private early scan

I was so so anxious about this before my scan. I had MC at 10 weeks and had scan at 8 weeks due to bleeding and saw heartbeat. The risk of going to 12 week scan and not having good news is as someone else has said, around 1%. It's very rate and forums/definitely make it seem more common than it is. I think these days people have scans earlier, pay for reassurance scans etc which adds to it. The majority of people who miscarry bleed before getting to 12 week scan, if you hadn't had any scans before 12 weeks you would have been none the wiser as to when baby died vs when you started to bleed. This time around I didn't have any scans and just sweated it out till 12 weeks, when I burst into tears as soon as I saw baby on the screen. Personally I really recommend just riding it out and staying positive and doing everything you can to be healthy - take folic acid, eat well (as u can in first tri! I basically ate carbs 24/7), rest and just look after yourself. After that, what will be will be. The huge likelihood is that everything will be great. Congratulations!

Of the people I know who have had miscarriages, none of those have been missed. They have all started with heavy bleeding.
I wonder though, in some of those cases the baby could have died - or there could even have been no baby develop and just a sac - but bled before scan? How easy is it to know whether the pregnancy ends with bleeding or if the pregnancy ends days/ weeks before bleeding?
I had a MMC, I started bleeding at 11 weeks but I’d had various scans before and there was just an empty sac growing so I just waited for it to end for weeks and weeks.
If I’d not had a scan and just started bleeding at 11 weeks would I have exactly known it was missed?

Anyway, OP your chances are pretty good at 9 weeks I think. Not long to wait until scan, and if you don’t want to wait you’re at a point where you can have a reassurance scan.

I’m early on with one again. It’s hard to trust that it won’t happen again, I would be really interested in reading the stats if anyone does have a link or anything. Not morbidly, but you know ... to prepare and hope.