Those of you who have had a natural miscarriage

[Anonymous]

Not sure if this is the appropriate forum. I found out that I have a nonviable pregnancy at 7.5 weeks. I've had cramping and spotting, and my HCG levels have started to go down instead of up. The last sonogram showed an empty sac that is sort of elongating/collapsing.

I'm trying to avoid a D&C. I had one about 6 months ago for another miscarriage, and I've spent the last several months fearing that it caused scarring or that my lining was so diminished. I know those things are rare, but I don't want to stress about that again when we TTC again. I'm over 35 and feel time is not on my side.

So my question is for those of you who opted to wait for your body to miscarry on its own, how long did the process take from the time you started spotting? I'm pretty sure that my body has "recognized" it's over, given the HCG is now going down. So I'm not necessarily worried that the empty sac will continue to grow. I'm just wondering how long it will take until the miscarriage process is over.

If anyone is willing to share your experience, that would be helpful. I really hate the cramping and the feeling like I'm in some pregnant/not pregnant limbo land. I want to move on, but I would really like to avoid a D&C. I feel like my doctor keeps pushing one, so I backed off asking a bunch of questions about how long things would take (b/c I know the doctor would use it as an opportunity to persuade me into getting a D&C).

Sorry if this is the wrong forum. I wasn't sure if TTC, Expectant Moms, or Infertility would be appropriate. I kind of feel like I'm straddling all three labels right now.

[Anonymous]

Very sorry OP. I had a natural miscarriage- fetus was 8.5 weeks but I had been pregnant for 11 weeks so the placenta was kind of big. Started spotting one morning. The next day I started having contraction-like pains for about 4 hours. Then I passed the tissue and placenta (about 48 hours after initial bleeding). Then I bled for three weeks but had no pain. Natural was painful but i'm glad that I did that instead of D/C so I didn't have to worry about scarring. If you start having contractions, I would recommend having someone nearby just in case you bleed too much and need to go to the hospital.

[Anonymous]

I am just finishing up a natural miscarriag now, I started spotting about 3 weeks ago and the next day began hemmoraging blood and passing huge clots. I went to the ER, baby had no heartbeat ( I was 11 weeks, had an ultrasound 2 days before everything was fine!) after another day of horrible cramps I passed all of the tissue. I stopped bleeding a few days ago so I bled for about 2 weeks. HCG is almost zero now. It really sucks, I'm sorry OP.

[Anonymous]

I'm very sorry. I had a miscarriage last week when I was 9.5 weeks. I woke up not feeling pregnant anymore and started spotting on Monday and just knew that the pregnancy was over. Sure enough, Tuesday morning ultrasound showed there was no heartbeat. Terrible cramps/labor pains started on Wednesday into Thursday, and I passed the tissue on Thursday. Felt better physically and emotionally on Friday. I'm still bleeding, but it was pretty light today. I was very scared that the whole process would take a long time and I'd be in the weird limbo pregnant/not pregnant place you mentioned. Ultimately, I'm glad that my body did what it needed to do naturally and am very grateful it was fairly quick.

[Anonymous]

So sorry for your loss. I miscarried at 6.5 weeks and it took about a week from start to finish. Contractions were rough, but bearable.

[Anonymous]

Lost a pregnancy at 10.5 weeks in the fall. Started spotting on Saturday, red by Monday AM, passed sac on Thursday. Hugs to you -- anyone who's been there knows the range of emotions you are going to feel. Now might not be the time to say this, but studies have shown that the cycles directly following MC may actually cause women to get pregnant easier. This was true for me- expecting our rainbow next month. Hang in there.

[Anonymous]

I found out at 11.5 weeks but the fetus had stopped growing around 7 weeks so it took my body awhile to start spotting. I took cytotec to speed it along and it was a very very heavy 3-4 days and then just light spotting for a week or so. It was hard but I'm glad I did it naturally vs D&C. This was a year and a half ago and it took awhile for us to start trying again but it happened on the first try - 19 weeks pregnant now.

[Anonymous]

8:07 again. Hit send too soon. So sorry this is happening to you, OP.

[Anonymous]

I'm so sorry to hear about your loss, OP.

I am 41-years-old and found out at 10 weeks that my pregnancy was not viable. Started spotting and miscarried (mostly) within 5-6 days. Lots of cramps, spotting, blood for a few days. One calm day, followed by a full day spent in bed with cramps, next morning I felt great, but had what felt like a contraction and lost the sac.

However, it is now 5 weeks later and I am STILL spotting with occasional tissue-like material appearing. My doctor says it is not ideal, but not completely abnormal and since I don't seem to have any evidence of an infection we are just letting it ride for another week or so. She says to expect a very heavy menstrual period and hopefully all will return to normal after that and we can get back to trying again.

My previous miscarriage was earlier (6-7 weeks) and basically like a very heavy, slightly longer than normal period ... nothing like this one. Prior to that, I did have a D & C which is something I'd like to avoid if possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm so sorry to hear about your loss, OP.

I am 41-years-old and found out at 10 weeks that my pregnancy was not viable. Started spotting and miscarried (mostly) within 5-6 days. Lots of cramps, spotting, blood for a few days. One calm day, followed by a full day spent in bed with cramps, next morning I felt great, but had what felt like a contraction and lost the sac.

However, it is now 5 weeks later and I am STILL spotting with occasional tissue-like material appearing. My doctor says it is not ideal, but not completely abnormal and since I don't seem to have any evidence of an infection we are just letting it ride for another week or so. She says to expect a very heavy menstrual period and hopefully all will return to normal after that and we can get back to trying again.

My previous miscarriage was earlier (6-7 weeks) and basically like a very heavy, slightly longer than normal period ... nothing like this one. Prior to that, I did have a D & C which is something I'd like to avoid if possible.

OP here. Thanks for posting. I'm sorry you're going through this. One miscarriage is rough, but another one is so disheartening. I, like you, really want to avoid a second D&C. But your doctor seems much more open to that than mine. I feel like he keeps pushing one.

Did your doctor say what signs to look for for infection?

[Anonymous]

Hi OP, so sorry you're going through this.
I had a missed miscarriage a year ago with D&C (we knew the heartbeat was gone at 8w, so it was "missed" only in terms of my body not doing a damn thing about it for three weeks), and an early natural miscarriage a few months ago. In that case, I started spotting in the sixth week, quickly progressing to period-like bleeding. As I recall, the spotting started late Thursday, had an ultrasound the next day that saw a sac not big enough for my dates, and over the weekend I had the heaviest bleeding, with occasional clotty material. I kept on with period-like bleeding for the next week, and that Friday had another ultrasound that showed some remaining tissue. At that point I was given misoprostol, but in retrospect I wonder if the scan was misread - nothing much happened even after a second dose, I never had much cramping and passed no further clots, and my bleeding slowed to nothing by the middle of that week. So all in all I bled for not quite two weeks, and the first week was much heavier. I had an easy time of it - no cramping.
I have mixed feelings about my D&C. On the one hand, I was MISERABLE for those three weeks of waiting to miscarry, then felt immensely better within hours of the D&C and was feeling 100% the next day (physically, at least). On the other hand, I had wonky super-short cycles for 2-3 months following, and once we started trying again after that wonky phase, we needed six cycles before conceiving - my other pregnancies have taken 1, 1, and 3 cycles of trying, including a first-month success after the natural miscarriage (not counting one month off before trying again), so I do feel like it took my body a lot longer to return to normal after the D&C. Then again, the D&C pregnancy was more advanced.
Anyway, that's my anecdata. Emotionally the D&C was easier (and physically it put an end to my still-morning-sick-but-doomed misery), but I do think the natural miscarriage was gentler on my body.
I wish you the best no matter what you choose.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi OP, so sorry you're going through this.
I had a missed miscarriage a year ago with D&C (we knew the heartbeat was gone at 8w, so it was "missed" only in terms of my body not doing a damn thing about it for three weeks), and an early natural miscarriage a few months ago. In that case, I started spotting in the sixth week, quickly progressing to period-like bleeding. As I recall, the spotting started late Thursday, had an ultrasound the next day that saw a sac not big enough for my dates, and over the weekend I had the heaviest bleeding, with occasional clotty material. I kept on with period-like bleeding for the next week, and that Friday had another ultrasound that showed some remaining tissue. At that point I was given misoprostol, but in retrospect I wonder if the scan was misread - nothing much happened even after a second dose, I never had much cramping and passed no further clots, and my bleeding slowed to nothing by the middle of that week. So all in all I bled for not quite two weeks, and the first week was much heavier. I had an easy time of it - no cramping.
I have mixed feelings about my D&C. On the one hand, I was MISERABLE for those three weeks of waiting to miscarry, then felt immensely better within hours of the D&C and was feeling 100% the next day (physically, at least). On the other hand, I had wonky super-short cycles for 2-3 months following, and once we started trying again after that wonky phase, we needed six cycles before conceiving - my other pregnancies have taken 1, 1, and 3 cycles of trying, including a first-month success after the natural miscarriage (not counting one month off before trying again), so I do feel like it took my body a lot longer to return to normal after the D&C. Then again, the D&C pregnancy was more advanced.
Anyway, that's my anecdata. Emotionally the D&C was easier (and physically it put an end to my still-morning-sick-but-doomed misery), but I do think the natural miscarriage was gentler on my body.
I wish you the best no matter what you choose.

Op here. This is why I want to avoid the D&C. We had gotten pregnant on the first month of trying. And then miscarried, and I had a D&C. I had very skimpy periods after that, and it took 6 months to conceive again. I think they're overly aggressive with the scraping. I don't understand why they can't just do vacuum D&C so that they get the tissue out but don't scrape the lining down to nothing. Usually, the next period will shed it anyhow.

Anyhow, after over a week of cramping, spotting, passing some small clots, I finally asked for the misoprostol. I'm hoping that speeds everything along and I'll be done with this.

Did you take yours orally or as a suppository? My doctor said he doesn't feel like the suppository works as well, and he is going to have me take it orally.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I have been doubting myself all week, wondering if I am being paranoid by not just going for the D&C, but the reality is that I know it took my body a long time to recover from it. It was just too aggressive. And I spent so much time worrying about scarring. I don't think scarring was necessarily the issue. I think that it was just too much scraping.