A miscarriage, complete or otherwise, is an emotional circumstance. Your loved one may feel deep loss and sadness as well as anger and guilt. The best thing you can do is to listen to her. Allow her to open up to you if she feels comfortable. It is difficult to face the loss of a pregnancy alone, so make her know that you are there to support her.
Miscarriage
Roughly 15% of all recognized pregnancies end in miscarriage. Most miscarriages occur early into the pregnancy and are triggered by chromosomal abnormalities in the embryo. If you have had multiple miscarriages, blood-clotting issues, hormone imbalances, and immune responses could be factors in the terminations of embryos. Age also plays a large role. As you age, the risk factor of early miscarriage goes up as well.
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Sigma Nursing answeredIf your doctor believes a miscarriage is to be expected, then you have a few treatment options. You can allow the miscarriage to occur as it naturally would, though it may not happen for a few weeks, and it may mean that you experience bleeding while the process takes place. And since all the pregnancy related tissues leave the body, there shouldn't be any need for medical treatment to remove it.
If waiting is unsettling for you, you might decide to take medication to prompt labor and, thus, the miscarriage, or have a surgical procedure, such as a suction dilation and curettage, performed to remove the tissues from the uterus.
If you experience any signs of complication, excessive pain and bleeding, fever, chills, racing heart rate or low blood pressure consult your physician.
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Reston Hospital Center answeredSee All 6 AnswersA miscarriage, on its own, should not affect a woman's ability to conceive again. Since most miscarriages are due to fetal abnormalities, the miscarriage shouldn't affect any anatomical structures or biological processes. Yet, if you have had several miscarriages, you may want to have a doctor investigate the cause. You could, in fact, have a uterine or cervical condition that is affecting your ability to sustain a pregnancy. There may be treatments available for such conditions that could help you have a healthy pregnancy. There could also be genetic factors from one or both of the parents that could be causing repeated miscarriage. -
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Reston Hospital Center answeredSee All 3 Answers
It may be unclear whether or not a miscarriage is about to happen. That's because one of the symptoms, bleeding, can be a sign of a less-serious complication. Typically, though, a miscarriage may be signaled by vaginal bleeding, abdominal cramps, lower-back pain, and the discharge of tissue. If it is very early in the first trimester, a miscarriage may appear as minor bleeding. If it is later on, though, the bleeding may contain clots and the cramping will be quite obvious as the body loses the pregnancy. A miscarriage is believed to be "complete," if all pregnancy related tissues have left the uterus.
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Of all pregnancies, 15-20% end in miscarriage; 75% of these in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Infertility is defined as 2 or more consecutive miscarriages. If you have experienced multiple miscarriages, you may need one or more of the following tests:- Hormonal Factors Tests. Ask to have a prolactin, thyroid and progesterone level taken. If they are abnormal and treatment is given, make sure that you are re-tested to check your levels.
- Structural Factors Tests. A hysterosalpingogram is done to evaluate the shape and size of your uterus and to rule out possible scarring, polyps, fibroids or a septal wall, which could affect implantation. If there is concern about the uterine cavity, a hysteroscopy (examination done in combination with laparoscopy or as an office procedure) can be done. In some women the cervical muscle is too loose, causing pregnancy loss after the first trimester. A special exam is done when a woman is not pregnant to check for an incompetent cervix.
- Adequacy of the Uterine Lining Tests. An endometrial biopsy is done on cycle day 21 or later and will document if your lining is getting thick enough for the fertilized egg to implant. If you have a lag of two or more days in the development of the lining, you will be treated with various hormones (Clomiphene, hCG, Progesterone). It is important to have the biopsy repeated after several cycles to ensure the treatment is helping. If you are on Progesterone, discuss the advantages of the oral, vaginal gel creams or tablets or injection routes with your doctor.
- Tests for Chromosomal Causes. Chromosomal tests are rarely done on tissue from a miscarriage because it is difficult to preserve the tissue for adequate studies. If chromosome testing is needed, you and your partner will have blood tests to make sure there is no translocation of genes (a condition in which the number of genes is the normal 46, but they are joined together abnormally). This condition can result in pregnancy loss.
- Tests for Immunologic Causes. Blood tests to check for immunologic responses that can cause pregnancy loss include antithyroid antibodies (antibodies to thyroglobulin and thyroid peroxidase) the lupus anticoagulant factor and anticardiolipin antibodies. These appear to influence blood clotting mechanisms within the placenta as it develops. There are also blood tests that check for protective blocking factors. These are essential to protect the pregnancy from being rejected by the mother's body.
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Reston Hospital Center answeredSee All 2 AnswersIt is possible to get pregnant within the next menstrual cycle following a miscarriage. This may be too soon for women to fully recover from the effects of the miscarriage. Therefore, doctors often recommend waiting a little while (one month or so) before trying to get pregnant again.
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Dr. Michael Roizen, MD , Internal Medicine, answeredSee All 6 AnswersA miscarriage essentially occurs when there's a hemorrhage in a layer of tissue in the uterus. The bleeding causes a breakdown of tissues next to the ovum, and that stimulates uterine contractions-contractions that result in the fertilized egg detaching from the uterine lining and thus being expelled by the mother. Sometimes, women aren't even aware the whole pregnancy/miscarriage even occurred. -
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Dr. Michael Roizen, MD , Internal Medicine, answeredSee All 4 AnswersIn the vast majority of cases, there's absolutely nothing you can do to prevent a miscarriage. What you can do is take certain steps to optimize your fertility and to provide the best possible environment for your fetus after you have conceived.
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See All 2 AnswersSpotting during pregnancy is always scary for a woman, says OBGYN Monica Diaz, MD, of Medical City Dallas Hospital. In this video, she explains what women should do if they have spotting or think they're having a miscarriage.
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Dr. Kevin W. Windom, MD , OBGYN (Obstetrics & Gynecology), answeredSee All 2 Answers15% of all women who have a positive urine pregnancy test will miscarry. I counsel my patients that once a heartbeat is seen on ultrasound that the miscarriage rates drop to 5%. Once a woman gets out of the first trimester, the miscarriage rates drop to 1%.