Pregnancy after Late Miscarriage

[BeichiogrwyddEnfys]

Hi all,

I have a 3 year old little boy and was pregnant last year before miscarrying at 18 weeks in July.

I’ve just found out that we are expecting again, due in September 2023.

Does anybody have any experience of navigating pregnancy after loss (especially late loss) that can offer any advice for getting through it?

I am still on a waiting list to receive the results of the autopsy that was carried out in July and on a 57 week waiting list to see a consultant so totally winging this by myself at the moment.

Hi,
I’m sorry for your loss and congratulations! In 2020 I had a late miscarriage at 15 weeks too, I found out at a private gender reveal and was later confirmed by hospital. I can’t really offer advice, I’m now 10 weeks pregnant and just trying to remind myself all pregnancies are different & that it’s okay to feel scared and unsure - sorry I’m really not much help!

I would think that there’s a possibility that since you’re pregnant now, once your baby’s post mortem results have come in, the consultant will see you quicker, as with mine, after the baby’s post morten, a care plan was put in place if/when I decided to try again and have been under the care of fetal medicine since 6 weeks. If it was me, I’d contact my GP and explain what’s happened and ask to speak to a midwife.

I had a late miscarriage at 18 weeks and am currently 17 weeks pregnant. Have you had your booking in appointment? I was referred to a pathway specialising in PAL and had my first appointment with them last week - I will see them fortnightly over this next period of time for reassurance as much as anything else. In my trust it is called the Rainbow clinic - would be worth discussing with a midwife at your booking-in if you haven’t already had it. Good luck with everything x

Hi,

I think the best thing you can do is when you first see your midwife- probably the booking in app let them know your anxieties and they can provide loads of support. I’m consultant led now rather than midwife led in terms of care, I’ve had lots of extra scans and see a Dr as well as a midwife every month.
They should also be able to get you in touch with extra support such as bereavement team, pre term labour clinic and rainbow clinic.

Hope you are ok 🙏🏻

I lost my first baby at 22 weeks. Managed to go forward and have two DC, both healthy and thriving primary school aged children now, although both were about 5 weeks premature. Both pregnancies were VERY stressful and I only started to relax at all after 28 weeks and a bit more after 32 weeks.

It's very hard if you don't know why you had the late miscarriage. In my case I had an incompetent cervix - charming term - so was very closely monitored and had various treatment and testing through my next two pregnancies. It's tough if no-one is doing that. You could try pushing your hospital for a consultant appointment to discuss your concerns anxiety. Also you could try Tommies, who are an amazing charity dealing with miscarriages and stillbirth. They may be able to tell you the right things to say to get to talk to actual doctors.

Lost our precious daughter last year in August, also at 18 weeks. She was the furthest I've ever gotten in a pregnancy..many others were much earlier losses. Don't pin your hopes on the post mortem. We had no answers, she was normal genetically and physically, placenta was normal, so we are none the wiser. Our consultant says that only 50 percent of these post mortems actually find a reason. I have ptsd because of what's happened and I'm sure it's made worse for not getting answers, as we had no closure.

I'm now 29 weeks pregnant with another baby and I can tell you, nothing is worse than waking up every morning wondering if she's still alive. Noone will ever understand this. I can't give you any advice as I find it a struggle myself (even therapy doesn't seem to help much). But I'm trying to take one day at a time and concentrate on milestones. That's what I would suggest to you.

Thank you all so much for your responses. So sorry there are so many of us that understand what this feels like.

I’ve spoken to my bereavement midwife and she is handling the community team who will get in touch for my booking appointment and in a week she will also be able to refer me to what they call the reassurance clinic at the hospital where the consultant will see me for extra appointments until 20 weeks.

I’ve convinced myself that it’s going to be different this time but so scared I’m getting my hopes up.

My cycles had dropped to 23/24 days after breastfeeding my first for 18 months and then coming off the mini pill ready to try again. We caught before I was ready and I think I had a progesterone deficiency and a low laying placenta which I don’t think attached very well. I had started bleeding on and off from week 10 but everything looked fine. At 16 weeks I passed a clot the size of my palm on holiday. Clots continued for the following week and also when I returned to the uk, where everything still looked perfect on scans. My waters eventually went so I’m sure it will be just be classed as pre-term rupture of membranes rather than anything wrong with the baby.

I’ve taken folate religiously for the last 5 months and got my cycles back up to 27 days so I’m really hopeful. First pregnancy went past 42 weeks and I was so comfortable carrying him even at that point. So hopeful I can have a successful pregnancy this time too - just a ball of nervous energy will all the possible outcomes / endings.

Also sending lots of love and rainbow dust to all of your carrying after loss 🌈 x

Hi
I hope someone will be able to give me some comfort that all will be ok. I tragically lost my baby girl at 22 weeks exactly 1 week ago. I had a sub chorionic hematoma with this pregnancy and whilst it was considered big, I didnt bleed until week 16. It was very heavy bleeding and i had to be admitted to hospital for 4 days. It then didnt stop for the next 5-6 weeks but did reduce a bit. I then found out all my amniotic fluid had gone despite baby girl still alive with a heart beat and had to terminate. I am so devastated. I also had a sub chorionic hematoma with my son's pregnancy in 2020 but fortunately it had been fully absorbed by my body by 9 weeks. I had a c section with my son and as I gave birth vaginally last week they mentioned I have something called a csection niche so I am now terrified of what this my mean in terms of future pregnancies. Has anyone been through something similar? Or had a late miscarriage after having had a c section? Any positive story would go such a long way right now. Not only am I grieving my beautiful baby girl but the prospect that I am now so damaged physically this may mean further troubles moving forward. I am 33 and desperately sad and worried xx

So, so sorry to read this. As you may have seen from my post above, I lost my first baby at 22 weeks exactly. It’s so impossibly hard in those first few weeks and, honestly, months. It was over ten years ago for me and I promise you that your daughter will stay with you and you won’t ever forget her. Do give yourself time to grieve and be as kind to yourself as you can.

The only two things that really helped me were time and eventually going on to have a healthy baby. Not that he replaced the baby I lost but it ended my great of never being able to have children (or in your case a second child).

I can’t help on the medical side as my issues were different but do try to get a consultant appointment to discuss what this means for future pregnancies - not now while you are reeling but in a few weeks. Write your questions out in advance and take notes while you are there.

Sands and Tommys are both great charities who focus on loss of a baby during pregnancy and have some really helpful advice on their websites.

Hi all,
2 weeks ago I had a late miscarriage. I was 18 weeks pregnant. I did have abdominal pain for 2 days but I assumed it to uterus expanding as it wasn't consent. On 11th May the pain and contraction was sever and I delivered my baby girl who had signs of life. My water did not break. It was the cervix that was dilated. I feel it was my negligence. Even though I would have rushed to the A&E the previous night. They sent me home as they did not feel anyone wrong in me.Am so worried and not sure what happened.

Post-mortem results will be given after 12 weeks. I really want to be pregnant.

anyone went through the same experience ? When did you plan to be pregnant again?
will I face the same pain again?

I didn’t have a late miscarriage but had multiple pre-12 miscarriages in a row including MMCs. I found I could only enjoy my successful pregnancies in retrospect. When I stopped telling my midwife team that I was worried (prompting them to tell me not to worry) and instead said that I need more reassurance because of my history - they totally gave me extra reassurance. I had extra scans for other reasons anyway (low lying placenta etc) and also they always invited me in for monitoring for lack of movement if I called (placenta at the front in all my pregnancies) which was probably more reassurance than medically necessary. I also booked a couple of private scans just so I didn’t have too long to wait until next appointment.
Im so sorry for your loss last year. I think it is harder not to worry when you’ve had post-12week miscarriage, especially when you still don’t know what the cause of the miscarriage was. Would you be able to afford a consultation with a private consultant obstetrician to talk through your worries and anything you can do or look out?

Hi @IngridKasyen
I started this post a while back but am now 25+3 in my subsequent pregnancy and so far all has gone smoothly.

I miscarried at the end of July 2022 and unfortunately we are still awaiting autopsy results so the 3-6 months we were told it would take has long passed. Please be prepared that this process may unfortunately be longer than you expect.

our circumstances were different. We had had bleeding on and off from week 10 and it escalated when we’re abroad to me starting to pass large clots at 16 weeks. No cause was identified by the EPU but my waters went at 18 weeks and the baby passed not long after - we then delivered a couple of days later.

It can be so hard when you don’t have answers but please be kind to yourself.

We were fortunate enough to fall pregnant in December which was the first month we had decided to start trying again. All being well we are hopeful to meet our rainbow in September.

I have had scans every two weeks since week 10 to monitor my cervix and interventions would have been made if it looked to be dilating early, most likely in the form of a cervical stitch. They tend to prescribe medication also - I was placed on progesterone as a precaution.

Hope this helps x

@BeichiogrwyddEnfys many congratulations to you. Hoping to have my rainbow baby soon. Wishing you all the good luck and sending lots of hugs ❤️ thank you for your response.

Hi, how did the rest of your pregnancy go? I'm hoping you have your lovely rainbow baby now! ❤️ I have just experienced almost exactly the same thing, lost my baby girl at 19 weeks after bleeding and then my waters going. I'm looking for hopeful stories as I'm absolutely terrified of getting pregnant again and it going wrong again 🙁 x

@Pennyroses there is absolutely hope.
My precious little rainbow boy arrived 10 days early on 27/08/2023.

Most importantly, I want to say that I am sorry that you have been through this. Only those who have experienced loss can appreciate what you must be going through. Be kind to yourself.

As your waters broke, if there is absence of results by a subsequent pregnancy, they will likely assume that you had an incompetent cervix and monitor you as if you do. I also pushed for progesterone pessaries. Whether they worked, I couldn’t tell you, but he’s here and he’s perfect.

Please feel free to message me if you have any questions or you just want to talk about it.

Oh congratulations! He's absolutely beautiful ❤️ that is very reassuring, thankyou I appreciate you replying. I'm still waiting on results from bloods and the placenta being tested and I'm guessing it'll take quite a while. It's just so nice to see a successful outcome after a similar situation, I'm sure you can relate to the worry about getting pregnant again. Thanks again and have a lovely Xmas with your beautiful rainbow baby 🌈♥️ xx

@Pennyroses absolutely and the worry does ease the further you progress, or at least it did for me. Once I passed 24 weeks I was far more comfortable.

I only had the call two weeks ago with the results - 17 months after we lost her. I hadn’t chased it whilst pregnant but as soon as I asked the bereavement midwife about it, I had a call within a fortnight. Results here showed nothing wrong with her which I suspected. We don’t know for certain but what I always believed and what the doctor confirmed was that it was likely some kind of failure of the placenta. I’m sure it was to do with the attachment and a subchorionic haematoma which was hidden behind its and didn’t show up on scans. I’m not an expert though.

Yes I can imagine it would ease as you pass viability. I'm just so happy for you that yours was a successful outcome, it really does give me some hope. I think after you've been through this it changes your whole approach to pregnancy, I don't think I'll get excited next time which is sad but now you know what can happen it's just not the same.

Thanks for sharing that, that's exactly what I suspect happened. They never saw a subchorionic hematoma on any scans either but I believe that's what caused the bleeding which then eventually ruptured the waters. For me that ultimately led to cord prolapse which was quite a traumatic situation. I do feel the hospital didn't take my concerns seriously enough and they certainly never warned me that could happen so I really hope they are a lot more vigilant next time, I assume you were a lot more closely monitored in your last pregnancy? Thanks again ❤️

Hi all, just wanted to get some advise from those of you who have had terrible losses. I was pregnant with twins but I had no movement at 29 weeks , a scan revealed one of my boys had died, so I had an emergency section and then I had to remove life support from his brother 4 days later as he was so ill. It was a rare condition that is simply bad luck and it struck us only 3 days after a perfect scan. So I have no genetic reasons to fear the next pregnancy.

However this was 3 months ago and we are ttc again this month. I'm currently in the two week wait and I'm crippled with anxiety that I won't be able to conceive again.

@Pennyroses So sorry for the late response. Yes I was far more closely monitored with fortnightly scans from 10 weeks to viability. Because of the rupture of the waters they treated me as if I had an incompetent cervix. With a previous pregnancy carried to 42 weeks I knew it wasn’t the case but didn’t care because at least I was being monitored. Hope things are going well x

@Ella31 I am so sorry that you experienced this. I can only imagine how devastating and traumatic that was.

Please be kind to yourself. I tracked my cycles and ovulation for 6 months after our loss and then fell pregnant the first month of trying. That was so unexpected and I know that we were extremely lucky but you’ve conceived before so hold on to that. It will happen, I really believe that x

Hi, just wondering how things have gone for you? I went through almost exactly the same thing as you last November, I lost my baby at 19 weeks in almost exactly the same way, bleeding from 16 weeks then waters going. I'm worried too about a niche as I've had 2 previous c sections x