Miscarriage

What is a miscarriage?

A miscarriage is when you lose your baby less than 24 weeks into your pregnancy, although most happen in the first 12 – 14 weeks. Sadly, miscarriages are very common and affect one in four pregnancies. A miscarriage is not your fault. You could not have done anything to cause it and there’s nothing you could have done to stop it happening. In most cases, we cannot explain why it has happened.

Losing a baby is a very sad, emotional and difficult time for most people. This leaflet has been written to help provide useful information about what to expect. There is also information about where to find further information and support in the table at the end of this leaflet.

Different types of miscarriage

There are four main types of miscarriage.

Complete miscarriage

You may have some heavy bleeding, often with clots and stomach pain. A scan may be carried out, but the baby and placenta cannot be seen. The bleeding and mild pains may last for three weeks. No treatment is needed.

Incomplete Miscarriage / Retained Products of Conception

You may have some bleeding, often with clots and stomach pain, and a scan will be carried out. The baby cannot be seen but some placenta will still be in your uterus/womb.

Missed Miscarriage / Early Fetal Demise

You may have had some bleeding and stomach pain, although you may not have had any symptoms. A scan will show your baby has no heartbeat and this means, sadly, that your baby has died.

Anembryonic Miscarriage / Blighted Ovum

You may or may not have had some bleeding and stomach pain and a scan will show an “empty sac”. Although your baby is still inside the sac, it is too small to be seen on the scan and it must have died when it was very tiny.

What are the symptoms / signs of a miscarriage?

Sometimes miscarriages are diagnosed at the time of routine antenatal booking scans. You may not experience any signs or symptoms before the scan shows you have miscarried.
The first thing that may be a sign of a miscarriage is bleeding from the vagina. The amount of blood varies. Sometimes it is a tiny amount of blood-stained discharge. Other times it can be a lot of bleeding and passage of blood clots. Sometimes you may pass the pregnancy sac, tiny baby and placenta. You may also have stomach pains which can be quite severe and feel like contractions.

Why has the miscarriage happened?

Unfortunately, it is very rare that we can explain why miscarriages happen. Miscarriages are very common and research has found that up to one in four pregnancies are lost to miscarriage. As far as we know, it is not your fault that the miscarriage occurred.
If you are unlucky to have had three miscarriages in a row, you may be suitable to request testing into recurrent miscarriage. This will need to be requested via your GP.

How is miscarriage managed?

There are three ways of treating your miscarriage.

• No treatment, also known as natural a miscarriage
• Medical treatment using drugs
• Surgical treatment, when you will undergo a surgical procedure.

Your nurse, doctor or midwife will give you all the information you need to discuss which treatment would be best for you. You will be given another leaflet, based on your decision, to explain the next steps.

What happens after the miscarriage?

You may have some pain and bleeding with small clots from your vagina for up to three weeks after miscarriage, regardless of the way it is treated. Please do not use tampons as it’s safer to use pads to reduce the risk of infection.

If you are worried about heavy bleeding, severe pain, smelly discharge or high temperatures, please contact your Gynaecology Assessment Unit or Early Pregnancy Unit by telephone.

You may be asked to come to hospital for another scan or we may recommend you carry out a pregnancy test in three weeks.

If the pregnancy test is negative after three weeks and you have no bleeding or pain, you won’t need any further check-ups.

If your pregnancy test is positive after three weeks or you still have bleeding or pain, please contact your Gynaecology Assessment Unit or Early Pregnancy Unit.

Remembering your baby

Losing your baby is a very sad and difficult time. Some people find it helpful to have ways of remembering their baby. This can be done in many ways, as explained in this next section.

Funeral arrangements

You may wish to arrange some form of funeral for your baby’s remains and there is another booklet called ‘Arrangements after Pregnancy Loss’ which explains your options. Please ask your nurse or doctor for more information so we can help you.

Scan photo

Although it is not always possible, some parents like to keep a scan photo of their baby. Please ask your nurse or the scan department as soon as possible

Book of Remembrance

You can write about your baby in a Book of Remembrance, kept in the Hospital Chapel at both Grimsby and Scunthorpe hospitals. Contact the hospital chaplain using the details at the end of the leaflet.

Memory boxes

Baby loss charities often provide us with memory boxes to give to parents who suffer miscarriages. Please ask the nurse in the Early Pregnancy Unit or Gynaecology Assessment Unit if there are any available. If you have had three miscarriages, it may be possible to have some tests to try to explain why this keeps happening. Speak to your GP, who can arrange tests.

Trying for another baby

It is natural to worry about your next pregnancy after a miscarriage. However, it is very likely that things will go well. You can try for another baby as soon as you want to.

There is little that you can do to prevent another miscarriage. Things you can do to aid a healthy pregnancy in the future include taking Folic acid for three months before conceiving and stopping smoking if you are a smoker. This is because taking Folic acid for three months has been proven to reduce the risk of baby abnormalities such as spina bifida. Stopping smoking reduces risks of complications later in pregnancy.

Progesterone may very slightly reduce the risk of another miscarriage for some people. If you have had one miscarriage and experience any bleeding in future pregnancies, you may be suitable for progesterone once a scan has confirmed your pregnancy. There is a separate leaflet that explains about this. If you want to know more please ask your nurse or doctor.

Need more information?

Your nurse, midwife or doctor will be happy to help you with any questions you may still have. There is lots of information available via the support groups. However, you can get in touch with our services if you’d like more information or have any worrying symptoms.

Useful telephone numbers and support group information are available on the following page.

Support groups and contact information

Local hospital numbers

• Gynaecology Assessment Unit (GAU) Grimsby: 03033 304389
• Gynaecology Assessment Unit (GAU) Scunthorpe: 03033 303018
• Hospital Chaplain via switchboard.

Local Stillbirth & Neonatal Death Support Groups (SANDS)

• SANDS Grimsby & Cleethorpes
• Email: [email protected]

• SANDS Scunthorpe
• Email: [email protected]

National Support Groups

Tommy’s – The Pregnancy and Baby Charity Saving babies’ lives. Website: www.tommys.org

Miscarriage UK
Telephone: 0303 003 6464. Website: https://www.miscarriageuk.org

Stillbirth & Neonatal Death Society (SANDS)
Tel: 0808 164 3332
https://www.sands.org.uk

Any comments, compliments, concerns or complaints

If you have any other concerns please talk to your nurse, therapist or doctor. Our Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) is available on 03033 306518 (Grimsby, Scunthorpe and Goole). You can also contact [email protected]

As a Trust we value equality of access to our information and services, therefore alternative formats are available on request at [email protected]