BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Miscarriage Pregnant and then not, and a question

After two years of trying, I finally got pregnant. (Cue happy tears.) I peed positive two weeks ago today, when I would have been at 5 weeks, and then started bleeding three days later. (Cue tears of fear and frustration.) I felt okay, no cramps, then a few days later it got worse: heavier bleeding and mild cramps. Off the hubby and I went to the hospital. A low-res ultrasound and a pelvic exam later, it was determined that though my cervix was still closed, there was no visible egg sac. The doctor seemed pretty unnerved with how well I kept it together, but I figured what was the point, I need information right now, not hysterics. Not that I really absorbed much of what he said (it seemed to be a largely memorized spiel about it's not anyone's fault, it happens for a reason, it can happen again, he empathized with my situation, etc.), but my husband thankfully was able to pay attention while I tried to remain calm. Some blood was drawn to check my blood type, rhesus and hCG, and a hi-res ultrasound for the next day was scheduled. After an abdominal and transvaginal u/s a week ago, another doctor told me that no, I was no longer pregnant, my blood type is O+ (yay, no vaccine req'd), and that my hCG levels were too low (524) for them to have missed a tiny embryo hiding somewhere else in my uterus. Oh well. Though I am disappointed that I've miscarried, and I don't really like talking about it out loud, I am incredibly encouraged by this at the same time, because now at least I know that I CAN get pregnant. And let me tell you, I was really relieved that I was pregnant, because I'd been acting like a hysterical maniac for three weeks and was started to truly believe I was suffering from a chemical imbalance. Once I knew I was pregnant, it was like, *whew*, I'm not insane, thank god. The thing is, the last few days bring to mind something I heard once on South Park: "I don't trust something that bleeds for five days and doesn't die." That being said, anyone comfortable enough sharing their bleeding experience? I'm on day 12 of bleeding, day 8 of heavy bleeding, and I'm seriously incredulous at how much blood has come out of my body. I still have occasional mild cramps, and I'm using 3-5 pads a day, but geez, will it ever end? I don't know how many more steaks and hamburgers and spinach I can eat at a time to keep my iron levels up. Staying positive for me and everyone here, Leafdancer

One last thing. I just remembered what the ER Doctor told me. If you're bleeding to the point that it's one pad every hour,this would be time to rush to ER. It can get serious really fast. Again, all the best. And know that you are not alone.

Hi NatalieW, thanks for the info! I chose not to have a D&C, so I'm passing everything naturally. I don't feel that weak, just a bit tired at the end of the day. I only work part-time, therefore I was able to take almost a week off and only miss two shifts, so it wasn't that bad, work-wise. I went back to work two days ago, and it was okay. My normal period cramps are horrible and require 2-3 days of ibuprofen, heat, and red wine applied internally. ;) These have not been as bad overall. It was a constant, low-level cramp for the first couple of heavy days, but the past three days have only been intermittent cramping. Today, none at all, so I'm encouraged and hope that the bleeding will stop soon. But I'm young yet (30) and I know it will happen again, this time the right way. And it'll happen for you too. :D

Update: It's been nearly six weeks since my miscarriage. Emotionally I'm doing okay (still encouraged that I got pregnant) and I've been able to talk about it with a few close people without losing my composure. Physically, it's been kind of rough. I had nearly stopped bleeding by mid-April, and so my husband and I celebrated... *ahem* ... The next evening I started to bleed again, profusely, at work (though thinner and brighter, almost orange), leading to another evening trip to the hospital. They did more blood tests, and they found that my HcG level was higher than during my last visit, indicating that SOMETHING was still growing. (To myself, I swore that if it was still a viable pregnancy I'd lovingly call it Frankenbaby until it was born.) However, after a discussion of when my husband and I had sex (namely, three weeks prior and the night before), the doctor hesitated in giving me contraction-inducing meds to expel "remaining products", citing a concern that there was a small chance that there had been a second egg fertilized, and that maybe I was still pregnant, but with another egg. Talk about emotional rollercoaster. You're pregnant, you're not, you might be pregnant... And the idea of two miscarriages in one month? Dear God, That's just mean. Yours truly, Leafdancer. So I was scheduled for another round of ultrasounds (pelvic and transvaginal) the next day, to make sure there was ABSOLUTELY NOTHING THERE. Over the night, I passed large squishy clots, much larger than I had passed during the previous two weeks. The ultrasounds revealed a nice healthy uterus... with nothing in it. I felt like saying, "If there's nothing in it, why amd I still bleeding???" The doctor said that in this case, it was a good thing we'd had sex, since it stimulated the uterus to contract and kept things from staying inside and getting infected. Yay me. No contraction-inducing meds required. The bleeding finally got lighter and lighter, and I had a one-day reprieve, until what I thought was my period started Sunday, May 9. But last night (May 12) I was laughing with my husband and felt something start to slip out, so I ran to the bathroom. I sat on the toilet and then heard a very soft *plink*. I got up and looked and there was this... thing. I expected it to just be a big clot (I have very heavy periods), but this looked solid. Hesitating, I reached into the toilet and pulled it out. It was about the size of an almond, but vaguely bean-shaped. It was mostly dark red and purple and whitish grey. There was a sort of a whitish tail at the bottom, and another similar tendril coming out the middle of it. It did not look like a fetus at all - no recognizable body shape, no limbs, just a pruney-looking bean-shaped thing with a couple of tendrils. I was kind of freaked out, and called out carefully, "Dear, it looks like a... Bean." (Bean was the name I'd been calling it.) I didn't offer to show it to him and he didn't insist on seeing it. I just described it. There was a pause, and he just said, "It's not. It wouldn't be that big." After examining it in some tissue for a few minutes, looking for any sign that it might be human and not, say, a piece of my ovary or something, I decided that my doctor couldn't do anything with it anyway. I even started thinking how I could preserve it for analysis: don't put it in direct contact with ice, put it in a baggie first then pack ice around it; then I thought, damn, I don't have any baggies. So I gently, and a little regretfully, put it back in the toilet and flushed. Maybe this seems uncaring - I've read some of the stories women have posted here about burying their miscarried children - but I feel that this experience has already... gone by, for lack of a better term. Of course I'm never going to forget it, and I had a crying fit about it last week, but I have accepted that it happened, and have, for the past three weeks, at least been really looking forward to trying again. As in, I'm getting really sick of waiting, and REALLY sick of bleeding. Mr. Garrison wouldn't touch me, bleeding for five WEEKS, with a ten-foot pole. Logically, it could not have been a fetus that I just passed last night. The sheer size of it would indicate it would have been in the 10-week-of-pregnancy range, and they would have found it on an ultrasound conducted two weeks ago. (Nevermind that that middle tendril reminded me of a teeny umbilical cord.) so I'm left wondering what in the world it was. I've tried looking online for images of clots passed during a miscarriage (there aren't many, I wonder why), and it didn't look like any of them. So what gives?

I am so sorry to anyone who has gone through a miscarriage. I also have a question. I found out March 12,2010 that I had a non-viable pregnancy. I should have been about 10 weeks but no heart beat.It is May 20 now and I still have had no miscarriage symptoms none. I was back to the doctor on April 18th and they did transvaginal ultra sound but all I was told was that there was still fluid in my uterus. I am having a hard time getting any answers from the doctor. I am still getting positive home tests. I just don't know what to do or where to turn. I know I am to old to try and have a baby, with health issues(type 1 diabetes, inactive thyroid) we we not trying when this happned but I would like to try one more time. Does anyone have any advice? Thank You so much, georganne42