Incomplete Miscarriage

[Shell90]

Hi ladies just wondering if anyone has been through a similar experience. I was told this morning that my pregnancy is not viable but I haven’t yet had a miscarriage. I’ve been given three options with how I’d like to proceed: naturally, medical or surgical.

I am inclined to go naturally because I’ve been crampy and have had some spotting today so I think it’s the start of the miscarriage. Though I wondered if anyone has any experience with the surgical route? I feel like if it doesn’t happen soon I’m not sure I’m strong enough to be sitting around waiting for it to happen.

Any advice would be appreciated!

You'll likely get better advice on the misscarriage topic on here. Personally I had surgery under GA at 14weeks and it went as well as it possibly could, given the circumstances - painfree and quick. People who had MVA surgery under local seem to have had a range of experiences from painful to fine.

Hey, sorry you're going through this. I have been through this. I opted for a natural but 4 weeks later when I went in for a follow up I found I was still technically pregnant and ended up having no option other than surgical. I do think I was unlucky to be fair.

So sorry for your loss, I miscarried twins at 16wks and had to take the medical route as my body just wasn't recognising it but unfortunately there was retained products so was back in a month later to have surgical removal. I don't know the facts of how many people this happens too though.

Hi, so sorry you are going through this. I had this happen twice.. First time happened naturally, but ended up having surgical a few months later due to retained product and second time ended up going for surgical straight away. All went well. Hope your OK. Please ask any questions about what to expect.

I am very sorry for your loss.

I had surgery recently following a MMC picked up at the 12 week scan (baby had stopped growing at 9 weeks). It was all quite straight forwards. I arrived at the hospital around lunch time, had obs done and got into a gown. Went down to theatre about 3.30, had GA and was back in the ward by 5. I had some dinner and left the hospital around 7.30. I wasn’t in any pain, and experienced only minor bleeding for a couple of weeks. Obviously there are risks, but for me it was all very quick and physically painless.

There is a support group over the miscarriage board, and lots of people are happy to share their experiences there.

In terms of the stats - the three options have equal risks of infection (small for all 3), natural has the highest risk of being incomplete and needing either medical or surgery afterwards. Surgery has the highest "satisfaction" ratings, not that anyone is happy at having to take any of these options, but that's what the research shows.

Sorry for your loss @Shell90. it is really tough decision to make, as everyone reacts differently. I had a miscarriage recently, i found out i had a blighted ovum, so baby hadn't developed and there was just placenta and gestational sac left which i've had to pass.

I opted for medical management, which wasn't pleasant and there was lots of heavy bleeding. I chose that as there was not foetus so i felt i could cope, plus the natural way i wasn't keen on waiting, as it had already been two weeks after i found out before i could have any management. Due to covid restrictions, the hospital wouldn't scan me for early bleeding so i had a private scan to find out and then i got referred, hence the delay.

My management didn't work - i had three weeks afterwards of bleeding and then a positive pregnancy test. So I went back to the EPU and i was going to opt for the MVA, as the General anaesthetic option wasn't available due to covid, which meant that to have an MVA there was two weeks wait - so I decided to have another medical management dose. 5 days later i'm in agony and passing huge blood clots, 8 trips to the toilet every hour, so i called the unit and they said to come in. Thankfully i did, as there was a part of the placenta trapped in my cervix which was causing camps and excessive bleeding and clotting.

The first dr could see it stuck and couldn't get hold of it to get it out and then the option was evacuation via GA, the registrar wanted to examine me as well as they really wanted to avoid theatre, ( by this point i'm 6 weeks since finding out we were going to miscarry and 4 weeks from first management ) luckily this lovely Dr was able to dislodge it and get it from my cervix, it was approx 2cm and hence why was giving me so much grief.

If I had my choice again I would go for the MVA, as there is no guarantee that everything will pass with the management and it feels slightly less traumatic than being at home bleeding constantly - but that is just my experience. I was a rare case apparently with less than 1 % of miscarriages ending with a piece stuck.

I've been looking for other women like me that have had this experience as it only happened yesterday - but it seems it is rare.

I wouldn't wish this on anyone and it is physically and emotionally draining but when you get out the other end it is better. I"m sure you'll make the right decision.

Sadly i'd picked my username when i first became pregnant and now i'm not, so it's a little sad posting with it.

@Firsttimemum38

Sorry for your loss *@Shell90*. it is really tough decision to make, as everyone reacts differently. I had a miscarriage recently, i found out i had a blighted ovum, so baby hadn't developed and there was just placenta and gestational sac left which i've had to pass.

I opted for medical management, which wasn't pleasant and there was lots of heavy bleeding. I chose that as there was not foetus so i felt i could cope, plus the natural way i wasn't keen on waiting, as it had already been two weeks after i found out before i could have any management. Due to covid restrictions, the hospital wouldn't scan me for early bleeding so i had a private scan to find out and then i got referred, hence the delay.

My management didn't work - i had three weeks afterwards of bleeding and then a positive pregnancy test. So I went back to the EPU and i was going to opt for the MVA, as the General anaesthetic option wasn't available due to covid, which meant that to have an MVA there was two weeks wait - so I decided to have another medical management dose. 5 days later i'm in agony and passing huge blood clots, 8 trips to the toilet every hour, so i called the unit and they said to come in. Thankfully i did, as there was a part of the placenta trapped in my cervix which was causing camps and excessive bleeding and clotting.

The first dr could see it stuck and couldn't get hold of it to get it out and then the option was evacuation via GA, the registrar wanted to examine me as well as they really wanted to avoid theatre, ( by this point i'm 6 weeks since finding out we were going to miscarry and 4 weeks from first management ) luckily this lovely Dr was able to dislodge it and get it from my cervix, it was approx 2cm and hence why was giving me so much grief.

If I had my choice again I would go for the MVA, as there is no guarantee that everything will pass with the management and it feels slightly less traumatic than being at home bleeding constantly - but that is just my experience. I was a rare case apparently with less than 1 % of miscarriages ending with a piece stuck.

I've been looking for other women like me that have had this experience as it only happened yesterday - but it seems it is rare.

I wouldn't wish this on anyone and it is physically and emotionally draining but when you get out the other end it is better. I"m sure you'll make the right decision.

Sadly i'd picked my username when i first became pregnant and now i'm not, so it's a little sad posting with it.

Hello lovely I have just experienced exactly the same as you and and am now home after what I can only describe a a really traumatic few weeks both physically and emotionally . The internal ultrasounds whilst gushing clots were horrendous but my consultant ended up using forceps and speculum to remove tissue stick in my cervix. Was agony but hoping had avoided surgery as a result. Back again Thursday as outpatient for follow up and pray to god it's all over. Not sure I can try again after this ordeal has been horrendous 😞

I did natural, medical and surgical. Medical didn't clear completely so had to have surgical and wish I'd done surgical straight away as I found the medical excruciating. Surgical was quick, was back at work within 24 hours and felt physically fine

If given the option I would go for surgery. It gets it over and you won’t be in any doubt of retained tissue. I had surgical and natural and would go for surgical given the choice.

So sorry @Shell90 you’re going through this. I had surgical management under GA last month for a missed miscarriage. I was 10 weeks when the surgery happened. The surgery was very straightforward and I was discharged about 2h after surgery. I felt very tired for 48h and a bit dizzy but no pain and weirdly no bleeding apart from a tiny bit when I first woke in recovery.
I did have issues with my bowel going into spasm after 48h which my gp said was caused by them rummaging around near the bowel but some meds sorted that almost
Instantly. Just over 2days later I go very bad cramps- felt like labour to me - lasted about 6h and I expelled some v large clots which the surgery had obviously missed. Once they had passed the cramps stopped, bleeding was mild for 4 further days like a v light period and that was that. I was back at work 6 days after surgery. I wouldn’t hesitate to take that route again because I can’t imagine the pain and Discomfort of expelling the whole pregnancy naturally at home. I felt like I needed gas and air tbh.
Only you know what’s right for you but I hope you get to choose the route you feel most comfortable with

Because of covid my hospital refused to do the surgery without the medical management first, so I had that which made me have awful craps and be sick and I can't say I was happy about forced into doing that. For me it was utterly horrendous.
It didn't work and I ended up having the surgery under general anaesthetic a week later. The surgery was fine and I just bled for about two weeks afterwards and was a little bit sore but not a lot.
Got there about 8am and left about 1pm.
Wishing you the best with whatever you decide.

I’ve had surgical before, giving the reason for it, it went well.
I was first one down but couldn’t leave till tea time due to blood pressure etc.
I was tender for about 10 days and bled but as expected it went ok.
I personally just didn’t want to go through the natural way.

@Geyser33 I'm sorry for your loss, I'm so sorry you had to go through that it is not pleasant. I'm three weeks post it being taken from my cervix, and I got my negative pregnancy test, which was very upsetting as we would've been 18 weeks at that point.

We found out at 9 + 6 and I feel that negative test at 18 weeks was a long time coming after everything. You'll get there just be kind to yourself and have time for you to grieve.
Xx

Sorry for your loss. Such a hard time.

I have had similar to @Firsttimemum38 and @Geyser33 - two lots of failed medical management, sac stuck in cervix removed manually, haemorrage and all very traumatic. Then 5 weeks later still RPOC and had MVA under local anaesthetic.

Hope to never go through that again, but if I did I would opt for MVA straight away. Not very pleasant but not painful as such and you are in an out in a matter a couple of hours.

I was pretty traumatised for a few months so had a TTC break, then caught first month back trying and now 15 weeks, so hopefully that's positive story.. x