Diagnosis
Your health care provider might do a variety of tests:
- Pelvic exam. Your health care provider might check to see if your cervix has begun to dilate.
- Ultrasound. During an ultrasound, your health care provider will check for a fetal heartbeat and determine if the embryo is developing normally. If a diagnosis can’t be made, you might need to have another ultrasound in about a week.
- Blood tests. Your health care provider might check the level of the pregnancy hormone, human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG), in your blood and compare it to previous measurements. If the pattern of changes in your HCG level is abnormal, it could indicate a problem. Your health care provider might check to see if you’re anemic — which could happen if you’ve experienced significant bleeding — and may also check your blood type.
- Tissue tests. If you have passed tissue, it can be sent to a lab to confirm that a miscarriage has occurred — and that your symptoms aren’t related to another cause.
- Chromosomal tests. If you’ve had two or more previous miscarriages, your health care provider may order blood tests for both you and your partner to determine if your chromosomes are a factor.
Possible diagnoses include:
- Threatened miscarriage. If you’re bleeding but your cervix hasn’t begun to dilate, there is a threat of miscarriage. Such pregnancies often proceed without any further problems.
- Inevitable miscarriage. If you’re bleeding, cramping and your cervix is dilated, a miscarriage is considered inevitable.
- Incomplete miscarriage. If you pass fetal or placental material but some remains in your uterus, it’s considered an incomplete miscarriage.
- Missed miscarriage. In a missed miscarriage, the placental and embryonic tissues remain in the uterus, but the embryo has died or was never formed.
- Complete miscarriage. If you have passed all the pregnancy tissues, it’s considered a complete miscarriage. This is common for miscarriages occurring before 12 weeks.
- Septic miscarriage. If you develop an infection in your uterus, it’s known as a septic miscarriage. This can be a severe infection and demands immediate care.
Treatment
Threatened miscarriage
For a threatened miscarriage, your health care provider might recommend resting until the bleeding or pain subsides. Bed rest hasn’t been proved to prevent miscarriage, but it’s sometimes prescribed as a safeguard. You might be asked to avoid exercise and sex, too. Although these steps haven’t been proved to reduce the risk of miscarriage, they might improve your comfort.
In some cases, it’s also a good idea to postpone traveling — especially to areas where it would be difficult to receive prompt medical care. Ask your doctor if it would be wise to delay any upcoming trips you’ve planned.
Miscarriage
With ultrasound, it’s now much easier to determine whether an embryo has died or was never formed. Either finding means that a miscarriage will definitely occur. In this situation, you might have several choices:
- Expectant management. If you have no signs of infection, you might choose to let the miscarriage progress naturally. Usually this happens within a couple of weeks of determining that the embryo has died. Unfortunately, it might take up to three or four weeks. This can be an emotionally difficult time. If expulsion doesn’t happen on its own, medical or surgical treatment will be needed.
- Medical treatment. If, after a diagnosis of certain pregnancy loss, you’d prefer to speed the process, medication can cause your body to expel the pregnancy tissue and placenta. The medication can be taken by mouth or by insertion in the vagina. Your health care provider might recommend inserting the medication vaginally to increase its effectiveness and minimize side effects such as nausea and diarrhea. For about 70 to 90 percent of women, this treatment works within 24 hours.
- Surgical treatment. Another option is a minor surgical procedure called suction dilation and curettage (D&C). During this procedure, your health care provider dilates your cervix and removes tissue from the inside of your uterus. Complications are rare, but they might include damage to the connective tissue of your cervix or the uterine wall. Surgical treatment is needed if you have a miscarriage accompanied by heavy bleeding or signs of an infection.
Physical recovery
In most cases, physical recovery from miscarriage takes only a few hours to a couple of days. In the meantime, call your health care provider if you experience heavy bleeding, fever or abdominal pain.
You may ovulate as soon as two weeks after a miscarriage. Expect your period to return within four to six weeks. You can start using any type of contraception immediately after a miscarriage. However, avoid having sex or putting anything in your vagina — such as a tampon — for two weeks after a miscarriage
Future pregnancies
It’s possible to become pregnant during the menstrual cycle immediately after a miscarriage. But if you and your partner decide to attempt another pregnancy, make sure you’re physically and emotionally ready. Ask your health care provider for guidance about when you might try to conceive.
Keep in mind that miscarriage is usually a one-time occurrence. Most women who miscarry go on to have a healthy pregnancy after miscarriage. Less than 5 percent of women have two consecutive miscarriages, and only 1 percent have three or more consecutive miscarriages.
If you experience multiple miscarriages, generally two or three in a row, consider testing to identify any underlying causes — such as uterine abnormalities, coagulation problems or chromosomal abnormalities. If the cause of your miscarriages can’t be identified, don’t lose hope. About 60 to 80 percent of women with unexplained repeated miscarriages go on to have healthy pregnancies.
