OP, I am sorry you are going through this. I used misoprostol for a missed miscarriage some years ago because my OB recommended it as a way to avoid scarring. I hadn't any children at the time, but went on to have two healthy ones after. It was not painless, but not too bad, like amped up period cramps. For me the toughest part was waiting for the tissue to pass! I think I wanted to be done ASAP, even though it only took a night. I even went to work the next day to take my mind off the event. Good luck!

Anonymous wrote:I came to the forum to post the same question. Sorry OP, this sucks! I am 9 weeks, measuring 6 with a very low heart rate and I got a feeling that the doc preferred D&C. I was leaning towards misoprostol just to avoid hospitalization in these times and it just seems like a less invasive first option. Is it too late for the misoprostol route?

Hi PP- I'm so sorry for what you're going through. I'm the OP and my situation is pretty similar to your situation. I was 9 weeks along (egg sac was measuring 9 weeks), but the baby was measuring 5 weeks. My OBGYN said that growth probably stopped at 5 weeks (likely from a chromosomal issue). I'm not sure if there was ever a heartbeat, since I went in for the first time at 9 weeks and found out that the pregnancy was not viable at the appointment. My bloodwork indicated that there was very little tissue and that my progsterone levels were high (basically, it would be fairly easy to pass the tissue and that it was going to take a while for me to have a natural miscarriage), so my OBGYN recommended misoprostol to get the process going. Not sure where you are in the process, but I found it helpful to know what my bloodwork was indicating. My OBGYN did not recommend getting a D&C after getting my bloodwork back.

I completed one round of misoprosol yesterday (my obgyn inserted them vaginally). I had a medium-light period seven hours after taking the medication with minimal cramping. I guess this is to be expected, since my progesterone levels were high. I'm starting another round of misoprostol today (via mouth, not vaginally). I would definitely prefer to take the medication vaginally, because my OBGYN said that it works better and that vomiting is less likely. However, she was against me inserting them vaginally and unfortunately, my husband and I are in the process of moving and my OBGYN is two hours away -- so making a four hour round trips to her office multiple days in a row while working and caring for a 17 month old is not really feasible. Reading the posts on this thread actually prepared me well for this eventuality, since I had a more realistic idea of whether one round would work. I'm hoping that this round works, but I am prepared to do a few more rounds if necessary. My doctor said that once I have pretty uncomfortable cramping and pass the bulk of the tissue that she will schedule an appointment to check my bloodwork again and potentially do an ultrasound. She said that what she wants to see is a big dip in my pregnancy hormones to indicate that the tissue has passed - or at least mostly passed. However, she said that it could take a few weeks after that for the bloodwork to come back showing as not pregnant.

Anonymous wrote:I came to the forum to post the same question. Sorry OP, this sucks! I am 9 weeks, measuring 6 with a very low heart rate and I got a feeling that the doc preferred D&C. I was leaning towards misoprostol just to avoid hospitalization in these times and it just seems like a less invasive first option. Is it too late for the misoprostol route?

I'm so sorry PP. I had a very similar situation- 9 weeks measuring 6 (no HB though). I used misoprostol and it was fine. I don't think you would at all be too far along.

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious why anyone would choose to do a D&C when misoprostol is an option? Especially if you want more kids.

Having had both, the d&c is much less painful and quicker. I took the pills once and would never again.

I came to the forum to post the same question. Sorry OP, this sucks! I am 9 weeks, measuring 6 with a very low heart rate and I got a feeling that the doc preferred D&C. I was leaning towards misoprostol just to avoid hospitalization in these times and it just seems like a less invasive first option. Is it too late for the misoprostol route?

I've done both. The d&c was straightforward and uncomplicated. I was 12 weeks but the fetus was measuring 9 weeks, which is right at the borderline of when my ob suggests d&c over misoprostol, as the pills are less likely to fully work the farther along you are. I had another uncomplicated mc with misoprostol at 6.5 weeks.

I'm sorry, op. I have 2 kids now but those were very dark days.

I'm so sorry OP. I have, unfortunately, passed a missed miscarriage all three ways- with Misoprostol, with a D&C, and just waiting for the miscarriage to pass. All three were MMCs diagnosed at 8-9 weeks with growth stopped around 6 weeks. Misoprostol was extremely painful for me- 10 out of 10 on the pain scale for hours. I took Oxy and it did nothing. I am also just high on the pain scale when it comes to my reproductive system. When I had an IUD inserted ten years ago I almost passed out from the pain, and I frequently need to take a day off from work due to period cramps, so I would say that my pain experience was probably a lot worse than average. My second miscarriage I had a D&C in the hospital with anesthesia. Seems like overkill, but GW does them that way or else in the clinic with just anxiety medication and based on my history I was not willing. The procedure was a lot more expensive (a little more than $1k and I have good insurance) and a full hospital procedure. It was smooth and fairly easy. I had the procedure in the morning and felt fine by the afternoon. I did just get a positive screen for chronic endometritis which my Dr says could have been caused by the D&C, but there is no way to know, and two weeks of antibiotics are still better for me than the Misoprostol. I had my third miscarriage during the pandemic, and was unwilling to go into a hospital for the D&C so I just waited it out at home. It took two weeks for the miscarriage to happen, and felt more emotional for me, but the pain was much less than with Misoprostol and was far less complicated (and expensive) than the D&C. The miscarriage started at bedtime, the pregnancy passed in the middle of the night (I was up with cramping for an hour or so), and I was fine in the morning. As I'm gearing up to try again, I have a significant chance of another miscarriage and plan to just let them happen naturally from now on. Everyone's experiences will be different, so you might not have as much pain with Misoprostol as I did (other posters clearly were luckier than I!), If your pregnancy was actually 9 weeks along when growth stopped, or if your chromosomal issue won't cause a natural miscarriage, then I'd recommend Misoprostol if you usually have pretty manageable cramps and reproductive system-related pain or if going to a hospital during the pandemic really freaks you out. I would recommend a D&C if you want to be sure that they get everything at once, or if your reproductive system causes pain the way mine does. I hope this helps. It's an awful situation.

I've had several missed miscarriages; I think the in-office non-sedated D+C was the quickest resolution for a miscarriage for me, but with my most recent missed miscarriage during Covid I was not able to schedule an in-office D+C for about a week and a half after the miscarriage was noticed. I didn't want to wait that long and so elected to do cytotec over the weekend. There was a lot more tissue than I expected there to be-- I passed the full sac and thought I was done, but a sono showed that there was still retained tissue so I needed to do another round of cytotec and have more followup sonos and later a saline sono to ensure we got it all. I think in the future if I was going the chemically managed route I'd take both rounds of cytotec up front regardless. It was more painful than the in-office D+C, I don't think I'd want to try cytotec after 9 weeks gestation. I will note the in-hospital general anesthesia D+C was the hardest for me-- had to report into labor and delivery to have it, and the bills came in at erratic times for months afterwards and it was just salt in the wound. anesthesiologist was out of network so that was $1300 on its own out of pocket. The in-office D+C was like $500, was over much more quickly and without much pain. However both D+Cs they sent me home with a scrip for opiates without actually having someone licensed to issue controlled scrips sign it, so in both cases I could only manage the pain with tylenol. Cytotec was cheap and my RE also properly prescribed anti-anxiety meds, anti-nausea meds, and a couple pills of oxy up front.

Anonymous wrote:It is a malicious anti-choice myth that D&Cs render women infertile.

OP, sorry to derail with that, but I hope you find that education and empowering, and I am so sorry for your loss.

When I had a missed miscarriage, my OB told me that uterine scarring can happen and if I was worrie about future fertility then o should wait for the miscarriage to happen naturally.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious why anyone would choose to do a D&C when misoprostol is an option? Especially if you want more kids.

Because the pills don’t always work, which just drags out the process. A good friend had a miscarriage, used the pills, they didn’t work completely, she had to have a d&c anyway to get all the tissue out. Some people prefer the closure and certainty of a D&C. I’ve done both and there are pros and cons to both. One or two D&Cs should not affect future fertility if done correctly.

This was me. The pills didn’t work completely. I bleed for weeks and then had a D&C anyway. Went on to have two healthy kids. Shop is closed but I’d personally just jump to D&C next time with a trusted provider.

Thank you all for your strength, wisdom and compassion. I really appreciate all of you who shared your stories and am so sorry for your losses. What you've shared with me will really inform how I advocate for care during this period...Incidentally, my doctor called me today and said that based on my bloodwork there seems to be very little tissue and that one round of mistorpostol would probably clear everything (crossing my fingers and knocking on wood). I'm seeing her tomorrow and am relieved that once I get it, I can start moving forward from physical standpoint. Sending you all a lot of gratitude and love during pregnancy and infant loss awareness month. I know that I'll never think of October in quite the same way.

I'm sorry, OP. I took mistorpostal earlier this year after discovering my pregnancy was a blighted ovum. I took the day off work, took Motrin about a half hour before the pills, and went to bed with a heated blanket. It was never very painful and everything had passed after about 6 hours. I'm glad my doctor convinced me to do the pills instead of a D&C.

I also had a "natural" miscarriage after another blighted ovum and it was much more painful and prolonged.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious why anyone would choose to do a D&C when misoprostol is an option? Especially if you want more kids.

I used Cytotec (misoprostol) for my first miscarriage. It worked, but it was pretty horrible. It was really painful and I thought I might pass out.

That being said, we just learned that our current pregnancy is non-viable (stopped growing at 6 wks). Due to Covid, I didn’t want to have a D&C, so was going to opt for Cytotec again. But, I started miscarrying naturally this morning.

I’m so sorry you’re going through this!

I am sorry, too.

I used cytotec/mistoperol. It seemed to work over a period of several hours. This month, though (my next period after that) it's a very heavy. I will give it another month, but may need a D& C to remove any last part of placenta.

Anonymous wrote:Why don’t you just wait and see what happens with your baby? You never know, right?

You suck.

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious why anyone would choose to do a D&C when misoprostol is an option? Especially if you want more kids.

I used Cytotec (misoprostol) for my first miscarriage. It worked, but it was pretty horrible. It was really painful and I thought I might pass out.

That being said, we just learned that our current pregnancy is non-viable (stopped growing at 6 wks). Due to Covid, I didn’t want to have a D&C, so was going to opt for Cytotec again. But, I started miscarrying naturally this morning.

I’m so sorry you’re going through this!