Miscarriage: For any woman, miscarriage is a trauma in their life. Every woman once pregnancy is confirmed will be conscientious not to lose the baby.
Miscarriage can occur at any time of pregnancy. However, there is a higher chance of miscarriages may happen in the first trimester. There are many reasons to get aborted before 20 weeks gestation.
Even though it is a common thing in pregnancy, it is not that easy to come out of that, so knowing about miscarriage clearly like what a miscarriage is, its symptoms, causes, medication, and many more, will help you to be more careful. You will have an idea of how to get rid of this problem.
- What is Miscarriage?
- What are Different Types of Miscarriage
- Signs of Miscarriage | Symptoms
- Causes of Miscarriage
- How To Diagnose a Miscarriage
- Risk Factors of Miscarriage
- Treatment For Miscarriage
- What Does Not Cause Miscarriage?
- What Does a Miscarriage Look Like?
- How Can We Prevent Miscarriages
- How to recover after having a Miscarriage?
- How common are miscarriages?
- How long does a miscarriage take?
What is Miscarriage?
Miscarriage in other words we can call “spontaneous abortion” can happen before the 20th week of gestation. In pregnancies, 8-20% will end up in miscarriages due to many reasons.
It will not only happen due to mistakes that we make in pregnancy, even it can happen if the fetus doesn't grow properly, or if we have any type of chromosomal abnormalities, and many more.
According to a survey that was found, there will be 1 in 5 chances of miscarriage after 5 weeks. From week 8 to 15, the rate of miscarriage will decrease slowly to 2 to 4 percent and it goes on.
Read out the complete article, by scrolling down to get an idea about causes, signs, and more.
What are Different Types of Miscarriage
As a normal woman, every one of you will immediately get depressed thinking that you are the reason for the miscarriage, as we only know the term miscarriage, but in doctors' view, many types of miscarriages are explained below.
- Incomplete Miscarriage
- Complete Miscarriage
- Missed Miscarriages
- Threatened Miscarriage
- Septic Miscarriage
- Recurrent Miscarriage
Incomplete Miscarriage: This can happen when the pregnant woman is having severe abdominal pain, and the cervix gets open as the amniotic fluid leaks out, then the miscarriage can likely happen.
Complete Miscarriage: The tissues from the placenta come out through the vagina, and also bleeding occurs. The embryo gets empty as all the tissues are out of your uterus. This type of miscarriage has a chance of occurring before the 12th week of pregnancy, this can be known through an ultrasound scan.
Missed Miscarriages: One more type is missed miscarriages where tissues will be in the uterus but there may be no formation of the embryo the embryo dies unknowingly or there is no heartbeat for the fetus. As it happens without knowing the mother we call it an asymptomatic or silent miscarriage.
We can recognize this only through the Ultrasound when you go for a checkup.
Threatened Miscarriage: Without dilution of your cervix, there will be heavy bleeding and severe cramping, that type of miscarriage is said a threatened miscarriage. But this is not a miscarriage, by taking care of it you can continue your pregnancy without any problems.
Septic Miscarriage: If you see this type, it happens only in rare cases, but it will be life-threatening, miscarriage may occur in any of the above types but you will end up with an infection in your uterus.
Recurrent Miscarriage: In this type, the name itself says recurrent which means repeating, if you have two or three miscarriages continuously, then there is a chance of miscarriage again, so taking care is the highest priority.
Along with all these types, a biochemical miscarriage may also occur which can happen before 6 weeks. Through the test, you may get positive, but there might be early pregnancy loss which means implantation fails.
Signs of Miscarriage | Symptoms
Miscarriage can occur at any time in pregnancy as we have mentioned above, but the main chances of miscarriages are at 12 weeks of pregnancy.
Even sometimes there might be no symptoms to see but miscarriage can happen. Anyhow in most cases, miscarriage can show the following signs or symptoms.
- Vaginal bleeding from light to heavy.
- Severe cramps in the abdomen.
- Fluid or tissue passing from the vagina.
- Fever with any of the above symptoms
- Weakness
- Contractions
- White pink mucus
Many of the above symptoms may also occur in a normal pregnancy, for instance, vaginal bleeding can also be seen while the implantation occurs, but if you think that it is not normal then immediately contact your medical care provider.
Read More: Is it Bad to Eat Spicy Foods During Pregnancy
Causes of Miscarriage
Even if you have taken care of your pregnancy very well, you may face a miscarriage with some fetal genetic problems, chromosomal abnormalities, and more which no one can get rid of.
Sometimes, even after implantation occurs, the fetus stops growing in the uterus, which we call an anembryonic pregnancy. Even it can lead to miscarriage.
Also, some of the causes that are included are given below.
- Thyroid
- Diabetes
- Radiation
- Hormonal Problems
- Severe malnutrition
- Congenital Heart Disease
- Infections
- Uterine abnormalities
- Low or more chromosomes
- Smoking
- Alcohol
- Using Drugs
- The cervix becomes open too early in pregnancy
- Kidney diseases
- Placental Problems
- Womb Structure Abnormalities
- If ovaries are too big like PCOS
Also if the egg implants in the fallopian tube rather than in the uterus, which is an ectopic pregnancy is also a miscarriage.
How To Diagnose a Miscarriage
Diagnosing a miscarriage is easy and we can even know when it happens at the early stages of pregnancy, but once the weeks go up, we cannot even know whether the miscarriage happens or not.
Because many pregnancy symptoms can equal miscarriage symptoms. Some of the ways that we can diagnose the miscarriage are given below.
- When you have bleeding or cramps, you will your doctor, after that, the doctor may do an ultrasound scan, to know the clear results, as the scan tests the fetal heartbeat. Even doctors go for transvaginal ultrasounds to check the heartbeat of the fetus.
- Doctors suggest you for a pelvic exam to check whether the cervix has opened or thinned out.
- When you go to the doctor with any of the miscarriage signs, the doctor will also do a blood test to check for the pregnancy hormones that are present in your blood and compare them with your previous levels of hormones.
- If you are having severe blood loss they also check for anemia.
- If you had a miscarriage by losing the tissues from your body, then the doctor will send those tissues to the lab to make a tissue test to confirm it.
Risk Factors of Miscarriage
Once a woman gets pregnant, we need to know what are the risk factors that are involved in miscarriage. A risk factor is nothing but the behavior that increases the chances of diseases.
Some of the risk factors involved in miscarriage include:
- If the age exceeds 30 then the complications in pregnancy also increase and there will be a high risk of miscarriages. The range of risk increases from 20 to 80% based on the increase in age.
- In 20’s there is just a 12 to 15% of risk in miscarriage.
- If you have already faced a miscarriage in a previous pregnancy, then there is a 25% higher chance of miscarriage that can happen but taking care through your care provider can lessen the chances.
- Also in case of having an incompetent cervix, or weak cervical tissues, there is a high chance of miscarriage.
- If you have uncontrolled diabetes, for a very long time, there will be a higher risk of miscarriages.
- Women who smoke, drink alcohol, and also take drugs will have higher chances of risk.
Treatment For Miscarriage
Once you have the miscarriage or during that phase, you will need the treatment which can be surgical or non-surgical. If you have vaginal bleeding or cramps, seek the doctor immediately, and the doctor will examine you and do the treatment without getting any infection or hemorrhaging.
In your loss of pregnancy, sometimes the tissues of the fetus come out everything by themselves, at that time, your midwife will just provide you the medication without getting infected.
Sometimes the tissues will not come out but they will be inside your body which may lead to infection or bleeding. At that time your doctor will suggest you the medication or sometimes surgery.
If you had the symptoms of miscarriage but there is no miscarriage at that time your doctor will ask you to take bed rest completely.
What Does Not Cause Miscarriage?
Most woman have many misconceptions after their pregnancy is confirmed, and will be afraid to do many things as they might think that can cause miscarriage. This can be seen mainly in women who have already faced miscarriages.
So, here we are providing the things that you can do without any fear as it doesn't be a cause for miscarriage.
- Involving in sex with your partner.
- Exercises, that you do for a healthy pregnancy, but even though you have thought of doing them, ask your GP first and then do it.
- Working may not be the reason for spontaneous miscarriage until you are away from the chemicals and radiation.
- Use of birth control pills before pregnancy.
Dont blame yourself for your miscarriage as most of the time miscarriage will occur without any fault.
Read More: Causes of Bleeding During Pregnancy
What Does a Miscarriage Look Like?
Miscarriage will not be the same for every woman, but some of the symptoms that we have discussed above like vaginal bleeding, and cramps, may be the same.
And for some people, we can see heavy bleeding, for some, there will be heavy cramps with light bleeding, and some people can see blood clots upto lemon size.
If any of these symptoms, you need to contact your medical healthcare provider. Especially, a woman who is already faced with miscarriages needs to be very careful and needs to check with doctors for every single symptom.
So that your doctor will advise you, and cramps and bleeding will end quickly for someone and will last for a long too. Seek a doctor's advice to lower the cramps and bleeding.
If your miscarriage is not at the early stages of pregnancy, you need to move to the emergency ward and take out the baby.
How Can We Prevent Miscarriages
Complete prevention of miscarriages will never happen, and it is not in anyone's hands, but all we can do is take good care of ourselves once pregnancy is confirmed. Look into the points below to learn what and how to take care of them.
- It would be best if you were away from smoking, drinking alcohol, drugs, and others as these are the most common risk factors for miscarriages.
- Daily you need to take a multivitamin and prenatal vitamins.
- Try to avoid drinking coffee as caffeine is not good for your pregnancy, if you are not able to prevent it, just take 200mg of caffeine into your body.
- If you have had any miscarriages before, talk to your medical care provider and take low-dose aspirin.
- Eating a healthy diet during and before pregnancy, and being in a good weight before getting pregnant can lead to prevent miscarriage.
FAQs on Early Miscarriage Symptoms
1. How to recover after having a Miscarriage?
To recover after having a miscarriage, avoid sex for upto two weeks, it is also fine to use contraception immediately after a miscarriage.
2. How common are miscarriages?
When comes to miscarriage, it is very common. In every 8 women, one woman is suffering from miscarriage. Losing pregnancy more than two times is not common, it happens for 1 in 100 women.
3. How long does a miscarriage take?
Miscarriage has no certain period. It depends, and some people have severe bleeding and cramping.
Conclusion
Miscarriage can be traumatic for any expecting parent. Recovery after miscarriage will take a few months as it will be both physical and mental health.
If you are having more than one miscarriage think about getting tested to know the root cause and get treated. Hope you have known the most information that we have given about Miscarriage.
Important Tests during pregnancy help check the baby's growth and health, as well as the mother's well-being.
For other interesting articles, just check out the soumyahospitals.com website.