Call your doctor or midwife right away if you have symptoms of a miscarriage. Getting medical advice and care can lower your chance of any problems from the miscarriage. Your doctor or midwife will check to see if you: Might be losing too much blood or getting an infection.
The bleeding should get lighter after a week. Use sanitary pads until you stop bleeding. Using pads makes it easier to monitor your bleeding. Take an over-the-counter pain medicine, such as acetaminophen (Tylenol) for cramps.
See a doctor or attend a hospital emergency department if you have strong pain and bleeding (stronger than period pain), abnormal discharge, (especially if it is smelly), or fever. These symptoms may mean that you have an infection or that tissue has been left behind.
If you miscarry early outside of a hospital, for example at home, your pregnancy might come away naturally. Some women pass the remains in a toilet and simply flush it away, while others want to take a closer look. Both reactions are completely natural.
No sex, tampons, or douching for 2 weeks.
We recommend waiting until after 2 normal periods to attempt pregnancy again.
Most of the tissue passes within 2 to 4 hours after the cramping and bleeding start. Cramping usually stops within a day. Light bleeding or spotting can go on for 4 to 6 weeks. Two weeks after the tissue passes, your ob-gyn may do an ultrasound exam or other tests to make sure all the tissue has passed.
The physical recovery can take 1 or 2 months. Your period should start within 4 to 6 weeks. Don't put anything in your body, including a tampon, and don't have sex for about 1-2 weeks. It can take longer for you to heal emotionally, especially if you knew you were pregnant when you miscarried.
The expelled tissue usually resemble large blood clots. Depending on the point at which the pregnancy stopped developing, the expelled tissue could range in size from as small as a pea to as big or bigger than an orange.
Unfortunately, if you were in your first trimester when the miscarriage happen, you need to take rest for at least a week. “To regulate the bleeding it is always advisable to stay at home,” says Dr Siddhartha. Dr Siddharta suggests that complete bed rest for one-and-a-half months in this case.
After a miscarriage
Unless all the pregnancy tissue has been passed, your doctor will usually recommend that a curette (also called a 'D&C' – dilation and curettage) be performed. This is done under a light general anaesthetic and you can usually go home later the same day.
The tissue you pass may look dark red and shiny — some women describe it as looking like liver. You might find a sac with an embryo inside, about the size of a small bean. If you look closely, you might be able to see where the eyes, arms and legs were forming.
You should seek medical help urgently by attending A&E straight away or calling 999 if: you have severe bleeding – such as soaking through your pad every half an hour to an hour and losing large clots. you have severe stomach pain or feel dizzy and faint.
You usually need to have 2 blood tests 48 hours apart to see if your hormone levels go up or down. Sometimes a miscarriage cannot be confirmed immediately using ultrasound or blood testing. If this is the case, you may be advised to have the tests again in 1 or 2 weeks.
After a miscarriage, how soon can you try to get pregnant again? In the United States, the most common recommendation was to wait three months for the uterus to heal and cycles to get back to normal. The World Health Organization has recommended six months, again to let the body heal.
Most early miscarriages look like heavy menstrual periods. If it's a very early miscarriage – before 4 to 5 weeks – then there might be no visible tissue or large blood clots. However, from 6 weeks, it's likely larger clots will be visible.
If you have a miscarriage in your first trimester, you may choose to wait 7 to 14 days after a miscarriage for the tissue to pass out naturally. This is called expectant management. If the pain and bleeding have lessened or stopped completely during this time, this usually means the miscarriage has finished.
Some employers think that you can only take two weeks of pregnancy-related sickness following a miscarriage. This is not the case. It is up to your GP or other health professionals to advise on time off work following a miscarriage and whether your sickness is related to your pregnancy or miscarriage.
The term refers to a pregnancy in which there is some level of bleeding, but the cervix remains closed and the ultrasound shows that the baby's heart is still beating.
It's common to feel tired, lose your appetite and have difficulty sleeping after a miscarriage. You may also feel a sense of guilt, shock, sadness and anger – sometimes at a partner, or at friends or family members who have had successful pregnancies.
Not all miscarriages are physically painful, but most people have cramping. The cramps are really strong for some people, and light for others (like a period or less). It's also common to have vaginal bleeding and to pass large blood clots up to the size of a lemon.
There is no reason to avoid having a bath or shower on the day following a miscarriage. It is advised to use warm water rather than very hot water. You can resume swimming as soon as you feel fit enough to do so although it is advisable to wait until any vaginal bleeding or discharge has stopped.