Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of it also depends on where you have the D&C. I could not have handled doing it in a maternity ward at a hospital. We have Kaiser and went to the outpatient surgery center, and that was fine. Felt woozy and sleepy that afternoon but pretty good by the next day. It was hard to schedule with Kaiser and I wanted it over with, so actually looked into doing it at Planned Parenthood (a D&C is the same technique as an abortion) and they were so kind about it.

OP here. I have Kaiser as well, and they just scheduled me for next week. I have been cramping and today was very severe. I took a Vicodin and that helps. I'm just wondering if I will last till next Tuesday. Did you end up having the procedure st Anned Parenthood?

No, Kaiser was able to schedule it soon enough for us. The RE at Shady Grove called and read them the riot act and that's what got them moving. If I were you and really wanted a D&C, I would call the Kaiser nurse line and my OB and my primary care doctor and anyone else you can think of and try to get a spot ASAP. I went to Largo and it was fine, but I think there are other centers too. But if you're ok with waiting and letting it happen naturally if that happens before Tuesday, that is a reasonable choice too.

So sorry you're going through this. It is really horrible.

Anonymous wrote:Some of it also depends on where you have the D&C. I could not have handled doing it in a maternity ward at a hospital. We have Kaiser and went to the outpatient surgery center, and that was fine. Felt woozy and sleepy that afternoon but pretty good by the next day. It was hard to schedule with Kaiser and I wanted it over with, so actually looked into doing it at Planned Parenthood (a D&C is the same technique as an abortion) and they were so kind about it.

OP here. I have Kaiser as well, and they just scheduled me for next week. I have been cramping and today was very severe. I took a Vicodin and that helps. I'm just wondering if I will last till next Tuesday. Did you end up having the procedure st Anned Parenthood?

I did a D&C. A friend of mine had a miscarriage a few months before I did and had an awful time with the pill, which is why I chose the surgical route.

Some of it also depends on where you have the D&C. I could not have handled doing it in a maternity ward at a hospital. We have Kaiser and went to the outpatient surgery center, and that was fine. Felt woozy and sleepy that afternoon but pretty good by the next day. It was hard to schedule with Kaiser and I wanted it over with, so actually looked into doing it at Planned Parenthood (a D&C is the same technique as an abortion) and they were so kind about it.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. All of the descriptions are frightening. Thank you so much. I wanted to be able to talk to my OB tomorrow and ask the right questions and this is all very helpful. It's also a very humbling experience as I have never given much though to this and what others have gone through!

Good luck, OP. It is scary (and heartbreaking of course) but you will get through it no matter which method you choose.

OP here. All of the descriptions are frightening. Thank you so much. I wanted to be able to talk to my OB tomorrow and ask the right questions and this is all very helpful. It's also a very humbling experience as I have never given much though to this and what others have gone through!

My first miscarriage I let nature take its course and because I couldn't stop bleeding (literally saturating a pad every few minutes), I ended up needing to go to the ER. They said if I didn't have an emergency D&C, I'd need a transfusion. I had the procedure, which wasn't bad itself, but the whole process was traumatizing.
My second miscarriage, I cautiously let nature take its course (I was so traumatized from the first experience). I bled for several days, had one afternoon of HEAVY bleeding, and bled for a few days after. I got my period about 30 days later.

I took Cytotec at 11 weeks (but had miscarried at 7.5 weeks and missed it). It was a LOT of blood, but cramping was minimal and it was over with in about 12-15 hours. I started at about 8pm and it was pretty much over with by the next afternoon (certainly the heavy blood was over with).

I was kind of distraught over the idea of going into the hospital for a D&C so I preferred this non-invasive method at home.

Warning - a little graphic - so skip if you need to

I let nature takes it course - and would recommend against it. It was 3 weeks and nature was not moving. The uncertainty of when it might start - what is it going to be like was hard. I started in the middle of the night - woke up to pjs and sheets that were soaked through. I was passing a bunch of clots for about 3 hours. Given how much I was passing - it was scary. In retrospect - should have gone into the emergency room. After it stopped the heavy bleeding - it was closer to period flow. I went in later that day and I had not passed everything and they needed to schedule a D&C. Emotionally - going through the MC, the waiting, the natural process and the D&C was exhausting. End to end was close to 5 weeks.

Anonymous wrote:9 weeks with Cytotec. You are all WAY tougher than me because I was in shock, horror, and agony at the pain. Had to get counseling to deal with the fact I was told it would feel like heavy menstrual cramping. It felt like being ripped apart.

Eh, it's not toughness, everyone experiences things differently. Being ripped apart is how I would describe my unmedicated childbirth. So the subsequent miscarriages and cytotec etc were not nearly as bad. It's all relative and very individual.

I took misoprostol at 9 weeks. Doc gave me a script for Percocet and I took it. I'm a wuss with pain but also just emotionally didn't feel like beating the pain. With the Percocet it wasn't a big deal--mostly slept through it overnight and just had period like cramps the next day.

9 weeks with Cytotec. You are all WAY tougher than me because I was in shock, horror, and agony at the pain. Had to get counseling to deal with the fact I was told it would feel like heavy menstrual cramping. It felt like being ripped apart.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks everyone. For those who let nature takes its course or who took the pilll, can you describe how it's like? It is a heavy period over a few days? How long did it last?

I'm really worried because I used to get painful period from severe endo and wondering if this is going to be worse and just afraid of the unknown.

I'm an earlier poster who's done one of each. The natural one was worse because it was farther along (10 weeks or so); for the blighted ovum I was technically 9 weeks but nothing had developed.

For the natural one, I started spotting in the morning, bleeding in the afternoon. Woke up around 2 am that night with severe cramping. I actually didn't take anything for it. Didn't occur to me somehow. Just curled up in a ball for a bit, then made a couple trips to the bathroom where everything passed. Once the tissue and big clots were out the cramping subsided. Ultrasound that afternoon showed everything had passed. I continued to bleed for another 8 or 9 days but no real cramping or pain. Got my period back 35 days later but it was very light.

For the cytotec, I took the first dose in the morning as prescribed. Nothing really happened for about 24 hours. So I took the second dose the next morning, as instructed. About 6 hours later the heavy cramping began. I had taken tylenol first (they offered percocet but I didn't bother). I spent the afternoon alternating between napping, running to the toilet, and sitting on the floor with my 2 year old watching movies. (DH was home too which is important if you have an older one and are going thru this.) Everything had passed by the next morning. I had a bit of residual cramping for a day or two but nothing bad. Bled for about 7 days. Again got my period back 35 days later; again was very light.

I also had a suspected ectopic that passed on its own just shy of 6 weeks and that was basically like a normal period, which for me involves fairly heavy bleeding but not severe cramping.

I would guess that any method is likely to be a couple times more painful than whatever your normal period is. Possibly including the D&C. A lot of people report cramping and bleeding afterwards -- it's not a perfect clean sweep like you might expect.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks everyone. For those who let nature takes its course or who took the pilll, can you describe how it's like? It is a heavy period over a few days? How long did it last?

I'm really worried because I used to get painful period from severe endo and wondering if this is going to be worse and just afraid of the unknown.

I'm the one who waited 3 weeks for it to happen naturally. The pain was pretty bad at first, and it woke me up. I took the pain meds and was basically on the toilet much of the night. Definitley large clots, but nothing discernible. After that night it was just like a normal period for me. I did have to go in for a sono to make sure everything was gone.

I let nature take its course for my 7 week miscarriage. I spotted for a week followed by period like bleeding and cramping for two days with clots. Tissue passed over the course of the second day of period like bleeding. Then light bleeding and spotting for a few more days. Cramps were very painful the day the tissue passed, but ibuprofen was enough to take the edge off.
Sorry you're going through this.