Miscarriage

No two people have identical experiences of miscarriage, and your experience of the loss of a baby can be difficult for the people around you to understand. The spontaneous end of a pregnancy and the powerlessness you might feel is a very heavy emotional experience for most people. How you process those feelings will be unique to you, as will your desire or tolerance for trying to get pregnant again after a miscarriage. Some people want to try again right away and others need more time.

What should you do if you have a miscarriage?

Sadly, there’s nothing you can do to stop a miscarriage; it usually starts with pain similar to menstrual cramps, followed by bleeding. At that point you can call your doctor or midwife. If you’re having significant bleeding, you should seek immediate medical attention at a hospital for rapid help.

At the hospital, a doctor will give you a gynaecological exam with an ultrasound to verify that you’ve had a miscarriage or to see if the pregnancy still looks normal. If everything looks as it should despite the bleeding, you will likely return for a checkup to make sure the pregnancy is continuing normally. If the doctor confirms that you’ve had or are having a miscarriage, you will usually be sent home to let your body handle it. Sometimes, an ultrasound will show that some tissue is left in the uterus, which the body will need help to remove. In that case, you will either be given pills that will naturally help clear out the tissue, or the tissue will be removed by scraping the uterus. After the tissue is scraped out, you will usually stay at the hospital for a few hours. If you were given pills, you can go home, but a follow-up visit will be scheduled.

How long do you bleed after a miscarriage?

Bleeding after a miscarriage usually slowly becomes blood mixed with discharge and then brownish discharge, and stops after about two to four weeks. While you are bleeding, you do have an increased risk of infection, which means you should use pads instead of tampons, shower instead of taking baths, and you should not have penetrative sex (or use a condom if you do). Always contact your healthcare provider if discharge begins to smell foul, if you develop a fever, or if you have increasing pain.

Bleeding is not necessarily a miscarriage

A little bit of bleeding early in pregnancy isn’t unusual and doesn’t at all mean you’re having a miscarriage; this might just be what is called implantation bleeding. This happens when the egg attaches to the uterine wall and resembles slightly bloody discharge. Implantation bleeding can be unsettling and if you are at all unsure, or if you have increasing pain while bleeding, then contact your healthcare provider.

Miscarriage risk

Miscarriage is a common worry for most people, especially early in pregnancy. But is there anything you can do to prevent a miscarriage? Unfortunately, the answer is no, not really. The body has its own plan for the new little person and all you can do is live life normally and avoid smoking, drugs and alcohol.

Miscarriage statistics: how common is it?

About one fourth of all confirmed pregnancies end in miscarriage, and most happen before 12 weeks. The baby’s vital organs form during the first 12 weeks, and this is the period of time when things can go wrong and abnormalities can occur. Miscarriage can be considered a natural conclusion to a pregnancy in which something went really wrong during that first key period of foetal development. Maybe that thought can provide a tiny bit of comfort.

Getting pregnant again after miscarriage

After a miscarriage, it takes about a month for your period to return. When it does, and when you feel physically and emotionally ready, you can try to get pregnant again. Going through a miscarriage doesn’t usually mean you have a higher risk of it happening again next time.

You might wonder why there haven’t been any studies on the causes of miscarriage, but however hard it sounds, sometimes the body makes mistakes and miscarriage is a natural part of having a baby. At least – if it only happens once or twice. A minority of people may experience repeated miscarriages and in that case, a gynaecologist should investigate.

Talk about the miscarriage

After a miscarriage, it’s natural to feel sad and to have a lot of questions. Is there is something wrong with me or with us? Can we get pregnant again? Do we dare to try again?

It helps to take your feelings seriously. And it’s good to talk to each other and to others about what happened. In the event of an early miscarriage, you might not have told people about your pregnancy yet, which would make it easy to keep the news to yourself even if it doesn’t work out. But as with any other important and dramatic life event, it often feels good to share what’s happened with others. If you need professional support, like a psychologist or counsellor, then contact your healthcare provider for help with handling your grief and sorting through your thoughts. That goes for both the person who had the miscarriage and for their partner.

You may feel the need to talk about the miscarriage with loved ones for quite some time afterwards. That is completely natural: you didn’t just lose a foetus, but also dreams, fantasies and a budding relationship.

Please note that all information above is based on Swedish recommendations.