• Contact us
• About us
• A-Z topics
• Symptom Checker
• Service Finder
• Linking to us
• Information partners
• Terms of use
• Privacy

Pregnancy, Birth and Baby is funded by the Australian Government and operated by Healthdirect Australia.

Pregnancy, Birth and Baby is provided on behalf of the Department of Health

Pregnancy, Birth and Baby’s information and advice are developed and managed within a rigorous clinical governance framework. This website is certified by the Health On The Net (HON) foundation, the standard for trustworthy health information.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

This information is for your general information and use only and is not intended to be used as medical advice and should not be used to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any medical condition, nor should it be used for therapeutic purposes.

The information is not a substitute for independent professional advice and should not be used as an alternative to professional health care. If you have a particular medical problem, please consult a healthcare professional.

Except as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, this publication or any part of it may not be reproduced, altered, adapted, stored and/or distributed in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of Healthdirect Australia.

Support this browser is being discontinued for Pregnancy, Birth and Baby

Support for this browser is being discontinued for this site

• Internet Explorer 11 and lower

We currently support Microsoft Edge, Chrome, Firefox and Safari. For more information, please visit the links below:

• Chrome by Google
• Firefox by Mozilla
• Microsoft Edge
• Safari by Apple

You are welcome to continue browsing this site with this browser. Some features, tools or interaction may not work correctly.

Why I Wish More People Talked About Their Pregnancy Loss

In December 2014, I scheduled our first, eight-week ultrasound. I remember looking up the statistics for pregnancy loss and learning that at least 26% of pregnancies end in loss.1 As we got closer to the appointment, the more anxious I became. I can’t tell you what it was, but those statistics kept creeping back into my head.

At the appointment, when we got to the ultrasound portion, the doctor pulled over her dinky little machine and got the wand in place. Then she just went quiet.

Looking back now, this moment still feels like a hazy dream. It seemed to last forever. I don’t see anything, she finally said. She kept looking, and still, nothing. She explained that she saw the gestational sac, the yolk sac, and some other things, but no heartbeat.

She sent me for blood tests to confirm what she thought the ultrasounds were showing, and said we would go from there.

Afterward, my husband and I sat down in shock, and tried to process everything. He reassured me that we would try again, and that everything would work out. I just remember hearing him but not quite taking it in.

That night was one of the hardest of my life. I made the dreaded phone calls to my mother, mother-in-law, and all my friends that I had told about the pregnancy, who had been anxiously awaiting my ultrasound pictures. Those friends and family members were the perfect people to talk to in that moment: Three of them had experienced pregnancy loss, and my mother-in-law went through the same type as me.

While waiting for those results over the next few days, I was in a zombie-like state. I remember lying awake at night, staring at the ceiling, holding my belly, just wondering why.

Then we received the results, and they showed that my blood levels were rising like they should in a normal pregnancy. So my doctor sent us for clearer ultrasound pictures. Afterward, she informed us that it was what she had expected from the beginning: I had suffered what's called a "missed pregnancy loss" in which the baby stops developing but the body doesn’t recognize a problem and continues the pregnancy process.

You lie awake at night wondering what you did wrong — and then you spend hours trying to convince yourself that it wasn’t your fault.

We were told we had two options: to let my body pass it on its own or to get a D&C, or dilation and curettage, where tissue is removed from the inside of the uterus. Since a D&C is a surgical procedure, we chose to wait it out and let my body process everything naturally.

When I thought my body was finished three weeks later, I called my new doctor and went in for a follow-up ultrasound. I remember him just looking at me and shaking his head. “I know this isn’t what you wanted to hear,” he said. “But you didn’t expel everything. What’s left needs to come out now before it makes you sick — you have to get the D&C.”

This was almost two months after first being told there was no heartbeat, and I just wanted to be done. I needed to try to start moving on. But now I was going to have to do the last thing I wanted to do.

We scheduled the D&C for two days later. In the operating room, I stared at the ceiling, trying not to cry. The anesthesiologist was having a hard time getting his computer to work and couldn’t put me under right away. The longer I laid there, the harder my heart started to beat. My doctor looked at me, held my hand, and said, “It will all be over soon. ”

Two days after the procedure, I came down with a fever and severe abdominal pain. I was clotting badly and had an infection. The doctor said that if I didn’t pass the clots over the next week he would have to do another D&C. The thought of that was more than I could handle, and I begged my body to do something correctly for once.

Finally I passed the clots, broke my fever, and got the good-to-go from my doctor. The physical process was over, and I had suffered only some pain.

But I learned that the mental torment of going through a pregnancy loss is a pain like no other. You lie awake at night wondering what you did wrong. Was it that glass of wine you had the day before you found out? Or maybe that Italian sub you ate full of processed meats? Every day, you think of something new that could have been the cause — and then you spend hours trying to convince yourself that it wasn’t your fault.

My husband was my pillar through it all: He held me anytime I asked and never questioned if I started crying.

It’s now been nine months since that first appointment. I have mostly good days, though the first few months were very hard.

But the more I look back on what I have been through, the more I realize there is one thing that still irks me: Why is pregnancy loss so taboo? My dad died when I was 17, and when people would ask why I was sad, I would tell them. But throughout my experience, if someone asked me what was wrong I could only say, Oh it’s nothing. Just having a bad day.

At one of my follow-up appointments, my doctor told me that that week he had already had five patients with pregnancy loss, and it was only Tuesday. Every person probably knows at least one person who experienced this type of loss without knowing.

We shouldn't have to hide our sadness. Pregnancy loss needs to be treated like any other tragedy, so women can turn to any of their friends for support, not just the ones who have gone through it too.

I’m now sharing my story not because I want sympathy but because I want other women to know they are not alone. I know that one story isn’t going to change society’s views. But I like to think that it will be a start.

Advertisement

This ad is displayed using third party content and we do not control its accessibility features.

Early miscarriage - symptoms and how to prevent it

The term "early miscarriage" refers to a spontaneous abortion that occurs in the first 6-8 weeks of pregnancy. It can occur before 20 weeks of pregnancy for reasons related to the natural states of the fair sex. According to statistics, the logical outcome of every fifth pregnancy is a miscarriage. However, quite often a woman does not even know that she was pregnant by the time the fetus is rejected by the body. nine0003

In addition, a curious pattern was revealed: more often than a natural one, a pregnancy induced artificially ends in a miscarriage. For example, in vitro fertilization, unfortunately, does not always lead to a successful pregnancy and the birth of a baby on time.

Why can an early miscarriage occur?

Here are the most common causes, each of which significantly increases the risk of miscarriage: nine0003

• the expectant mother has certain infectious diseases, as well as STDs;
• intoxication of a woman's body for various reasons, including as a result of her living in an ecologically unfavorable region;
• all kinds of metabolic disorders in the body;
• hormonal disruptions, including those caused by a malfunction of the thyroid gland;
• various neoplasms in the uterus and others, as well as the cervix, pathologies; nine0012
• maintenance by the future mother of a life far from a healthy lifestyle. May include drinking alcohol, smoking, taking psychotropic and narcotic drugs, as well as malnutrition;
• obesity;
• immune status disorders;
• cardiac diseases;
• diabetes mellitus;
• too early for pregnancy or, conversely, the patient's overly mature age at times increases the risk of miscarriage; nine0012
• all kinds of pathologies of chromosomes and genes;
• prolonged exposure to stress or severe psycho-emotional trauma in a woman.

The timing of a miscarriage may depend, among other things, on the patient's genetic predisposition to miscarriage. Finally, often its specific cause remains unexplained to the end.

Symptoms of miscarriage

A pregnant woman should urgently seek medical help if she has the following warning signs: nine0003

• bleeding from the vagina;
• spotting discharge from the genital tract. They can have both light pink and intense red or brownish tint;
• convulsions;
• severe pain in the lumbar region;
• abdominal pain, etc.

All of the above signs can be symptoms of a miscarriage. Timely provision of qualified medical care is the key to maintaining pregnancy. nine0003

Life after miscarriage

If a woman could not bear the pregnancy - an early miscarriage crossed out all her plans - then she needs to calm down and take all measures to prevent such complications in the future. Usually obstetricians-gynecologists recommend planning a new pregnancy no earlier than six months after a miscarriage. During this time, a woman needs to be examined and find out if she has any pathology in her body that could lead to an abortion. It can be various STDs and infectious diseases. In the presence of chronic diseases that can provoke spontaneous abortion, it is necessary to throw all your efforts into their treatment. nine0003

Gynecologists of the corresponding department of our private clinic in Ryazan will help you find out what could have caused the miscarriage, as well as make recommendations on how to prepare for pregnancy. They usually include a set of physical exercises suitable for a woman, a diet rich in everything necessary for bearing a healthy baby, no stress, and measures to maintain a normal body mass index. Can't recover or get pregnant after a miscarriage? Contact "ON CLINIC in Ryazan" - here you will definitely be helped! nine0003

Spontaneous miscarriage and miscarriage

Over the past 10 years, the number of spontaneous miscarriages has been growing rapidly. The International Histological Classification Organization (FIGO) has declared the situation with an increase in the frequency of miscarriages an epidemic.

Spontaneous miscarriage is the termination of pregnancy before the fetus reaches a viable term (up to 22 weeks of pregnancy and fetal weight 500 g.).
Most miscarriages (about 80%) occur before 12 weeks of pregnancy. Moreover, in the early stages up to 8 weeks of pregnancy, the cause of miscarriage is chromosomal abnormalities in 50% of cases. It turns out that nature eliminates the defective product of conception. And these causes are difficult to prevent, especially in the presence of hereditary diseases. Fortunately, accidental breakdowns are much more common than genetically determined ones. Therefore, subsequent pregnancies usually end happily. nine0068 But the remaining 50% of miscarriages have completely real and avoidable causes. They can be easily identified at the stage of preparation for pregnancy by a gynecologist.

What are the reasons?

- chronic diseases: inflammatory diseases of the uterus and appendages, polycystic ovary syndrome, uterine fibroids, endometriosis, malformations of the genital organs.
- infections: toxoplasmosis, listeriosis, genital tuberculosis, sexual infections - chlamydia, mycoplasma, ureaplasma, syphilis. nine0064 - antiphospholipid syndrome.
- endocrine diseases: diabetes, thyroid disease.
- metabolic disorders in the body: obesity, folic acid deficiency, iron deficiency, vitamin D deficiency.
- male factor.
Of course, these causes are identified and eliminated before the planned conception.

There are harmful factors that can affect the development of the fetus in the early stages of pregnancy and lead to miscarriage:

- alcohol consumption. nine0064 - use of caffeine (4-5 cups of coffee per day).
- smoking (more than 10 cigarettes a day).
- drug use.
- taking medications with a teratogenic effect (for example: aspirin, nise and others from this group of drugs; antifungals; antidepressants; some antibiotics and a number of other drugs).
- toxins and occupational hazards: ionizing radiation, pesticides, inhalation of anesthetic gases.

What are the signs of possible pregnancy loss? nine0069