Tests. The hospital can carry out tests to confirm whether you're having a miscarriage. The tests can also confirm whether there's still some pregnancy tissue left in your womb (an incomplete or delayed miscarriage) or if all the pregnancy tissue has been passed out of your womb (a complete miscarriage).
If you have the symptoms of a miscarriage, you'll usually be referred to a hospital for tests. In most cases, an ultrasound scan can determine if you're having a miscarriage. When a miscarriage is confirmed, you'll need to talk to your doctor or midwife about the options for the management of the end of the pregnancy.
There are three main treatments for early pregnancy loss.
There are two nonsurgical treatments: expectant management (letting the tissue pass on its own) and medication. The third treatment is a surgical procedure called dilation and curettage (also known as D&C or suction curettage).
To determine if you have had a miscarriage, your health care provider may do a pelvic exam to see if the cervix has opened or thinned. Your health provider may also perform an abdominal or vaginal ultrasound to check for the fetus' development and heartbeat.
If you are having miscarriage symptoms and want an answer on whether your pregnancy is viable, don't rely on a home pregnancy test. See a doctor instead. Even in women with a confirmed miscarriage, a pregnancy test may show a positive result for up to a month afterward.
The hospital can carry out tests to confirm whether you're having a miscarriage. The tests can also confirm whether there's still some pregnancy tissue left in your womb (an incomplete or delayed miscarriage) or if all the pregnancy tissue has been passed out of your womb (a complete miscarriage).
An ultrasound scan diagnoses most miscarriages. It may also diagnose miscarriages where some of the pregnancy remains in your womb. You might not be referred for an ultrasound if you: take a pregnancy test which gives a negative result.
About 50% of women who miscarry do not undergo a D&C procedure. Women can safely miscarry on their own with few problems in pregnancies that end before 10 weeks. After 10 weeks, the miscarriage is more likely to be incomplete, requiring a D&C procedure.
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 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.
You should always go to the emergency room if you are having very heavy bleeding (such as soaking through a menstrual pad in under an hour) or if you're having symptoms of ectopic pregnancy, such as severe pain in the abdominal area, dizziness, or fainting.
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.
After a miscarriage, hCG levels should drop. The average rate of decrease is about 50% every 48 hours. The vast majority will see their hCG levels drop by 50% within seven days.
The most common sign of miscarriage is vaginal bleeding.
This can vary from light spotting or brownish discharge to heavy bleeding and bright-red blood or clots. The bleeding may come and go over several days.
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.
The clots that are passed are dark red and look like jelly. They might have what looks like a membrane inside, which is part of the placenta. The sac will be inside one of the clots. At this time, the developing baby is usually fully formed but still tiny and difficult to see.
No sex, tampons, or douching for 2 weeks.
We recommend waiting until after 2 normal periods to attempt pregnancy again.
It's not uncommon for a person who has had an early miscarriage to need just a few days off work to physically recover. On the other hand, a person who has had a stillbirth, ectopic pregnancy loss, or c-section will likely need more time.
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.
Finding a cause
It's important to know that sometimes doctors will not be able to find a reason why you have miscarried. Try not to worry too much if this is the case. Most couples are likely to have a successful pregnancy in the future, particularly if the test results are normal.
Most miscarriages - 8 out of 10 (80 percent) - happen in the first trimester before the 12th week of pregnancy. Miscarriage in the second trimester (between 13 and 19 weeks) happens in 1 to 5 in 100 (1 to 5 percent) pregnancies. Pregnancy loss that happens after 20 weeks is called stillbirth.