Why having natural MC (11 weeks pregnancy) considered normal in US?

[oxy23]

I would like to know why after I was diagnosed with not viable pregnancy at 10 weeks of pregnancy I was not scheduled for D&C at least 2-3 days after that but had to wait 1.5 weeks and then go through the horror of natural MC with lots of pain and loosing lots of blood. Then loosing lots of blood and having near death experience 2 weeks after that. WHY?

[PetiteWonder]

In regards to your bloodwork, i am not a doctor so you cant trust this. But when I had mine tested, my hemoglobin was considered low and it was a lot higher than that.. The normal range is 12.0-16.0 according to the Canadian Blood Society.  It doesnt mean anything at this point, you probably feel weaker and tired.. and your body will recreate the blood..  It is probably just low due to the amount that was loss

[vacuumprincess]

ps.  I  started spotting on a monday.  the bleeding increased a bit for the next 2 days.  finally on wednesday I had SEVERE cramps & contractions.  this lasted all night.  The next day I padded the embro.  I did see the sac & everything.  in one piece.

[vacuumprincess]

last year I had a natural miscarriage at 14 weeks. I had lots of pain & bleeding.  My body actually went through the stages of labor & I passed it in basically one piece.  A d&c was not offered to me.  

I'm glad I had a natural miscarriage, instead of some doctor ripping it from me.  Yes, the pain was intense.  I had contractions & all.  But, I do feel like the experience gave me some kind of closure.  don't get me wrong it was months until I emotionally felt better.  My due date was a hard one to pass....  

    I'm happy I had the pain. it made it all seem more real.  it gave me something to hold onto & more reaon to cry.  I feel like I went through the pain, so my baby didn't have to.  

[rccresswell]

Hi all

I thought I would add a little of my experience just to help oxy23 figure out what is happening to her.

I had a natural miscarriage at 14 weeks.  I had no signs what so ever I was going to miscarry until at my 14 week appoitnment they couldn't find a heartbeat (I wasn't phased because I didn't hear my first baby's heartbeat till I was 5 and a half months pregnant) except I had pink discarhge which wasn't concerning.

The next day the pink discharge changed to really light bleeding like the start of your period.  I didn't have any pain just a VERY uncomfortable back.  My doctor checked my cervix and it was intact and I was ordered bed rest.

I went to hospital after seeing a little but more red blood.  I got there at 5 and at 6 I was bleeding profusely.  The amount of blood I loss could possibly be compared to turning a tap on and off for an hour.  Each time the blood gushed it filled a whole pad meaning I changed 7 pads in an hour.  I also had golf ball clots with each gush of blood.  I could feel every blood clot come out and it felt HORRIBLE.

I had intense bleeding till about 9pm shortly before my son and placenta came out after my waters broke.  After my son came out they then had to pull as many clots out as they could see and that was the most degrading feeling a women could go through.  It was also very painful.  The next day I was in intense pain from my uterus contracting back down to size.  The pain became so unbearable I went back to the doctor and he prescribed me stronger pain relief which I did not use.

I did cramp on and off for a total of 3 weeks.  I bled heavy for one week like a slightly heavy period.  The second week I bled lightly and the third week I spotted with cramps.  I also had a headache for about 2 weeks after my miscarriage.  

I hope that helps.  At 4 weeks my hcg levels were below 5, that was the first time they monitored me.

[Scout8601]

and I wanted to add that I'd have been scared too.  my doc told me that sometimes the bleeding during a natural m/c can become life threatening and that's another reason he wanted to do the d&c right away.  i honestly don't know what your doc was thinking

[Scout8601]

OMG, that sounds absolutely horrible.  I don't know why they couldn't get you in sooner for a d&c.  When i lost my baby, my doc is the one who suggested a d&c. I wanted to wait, but he told me that a natural mc could be horrible and even then I may still have to have a d&c to get whatever might have been left. He also told me that blood loss w/ a natural mc at my stage could become dangerous and I might have to go to ER.  So I don't really know why your doc was so not on top of things with you.  Nobody should have to experience what you have gone thru.  

About your blood work, I'm not exactly sure what you wanted to know. It's looks like you Hcg is dropping just like it should.

Your CBC (complete blood count) I'm not sure what most of the levels should be.

Your RBC(red blood count) seems a bit low...I think it is supposed to be 3.8 at the low normal end.  This could be b/c of your blood loss.  It's not that low and probably  eating or drinking some protein will help that. If you are feeling exhausted, that could be the reason too.  

I am sorry you had this horrible experience.  I don't understand your doctors lack of concern and the whole thing would have ticked me off big time.  

[StephRox13]

Idk what cbc is but when your Hcg drops it means you're losing the baby. In early pregnancy its supposed to double roughly every 48hrs.

Right now I've been going to the Dr every 2days getting my Hcg checked to make sure it continues to drop until it hits 0 again I believe (but under 5 = not pg). If it levels off or jumps back up b4 hitting 0 it means the baby attached itself somewhere else instead of my uterus.

What you're going thru isn't normal. I'd be freaked out too. Hang in there. Keep me updated.

[oxy23]

If somebody can explain my blood test results from ER(I called my obgyn - she doesn't care about CBC test, only HCG , why???)

HCG 174 ( 2 weeks ago, after MC was 4325)

CBC:
WBC 6.8
RBC 3.3
HEMOGLOBIN 10.3
HEMATOCRIT 30.3
MEAN CELL VOLUME 93
etc...

[oxy23]

I don't know how I feel.I am not ok for sure. I keep crying and afraid that I can die any time :(. Tomorrow I'll go to see my primary physician. Hopefully he will help.

[StephRox13]

Wow oxy23! How tramatic! Thanks goodness your husband was close. I don't have answers for you. How are you doing now?

[oxy23]

My question is: why did I have to go through all this bloody mess? I lost so much blood I don't know how long it will take to recover. I think it is extremely unhuman to let woman to have natural MC after she is diagnosed with not viable pregnancy(10 weeks or more).

[oxy23]

Yes, I asked for D&C ASAP but they could schedule only for week after next. When I felt that I am going to have a MC nurse told me that nothing to worry about - it is like a heavy period, for pain she said you can take only Tylenol. It was not funny when I had about 2 hours of unbearable pain which I can compare with the pain during the birth. After 7-8 hours of heavy bleeding my husband took me to ER. I lost too much blood, they gave me some kind of liquid to increase my blood pressure, did ultrasound and concluded that MC is complete, I don't need D&C. Week after I had follow up appt with my doctor, she everything is fine. One week later I exploded with blood at work, it was a mess. I was all in blood, all the floor was in blood while I walked to the restroom. It was a fountain of blood running out of me. I called the doctor, she said it is ok, this can happen, some peaces  left. I don't have to go to ER. My dh took me home and all day long it was fine, no blood any more... It was not really fine... At 3 am at night I woke up from feeling that I am going to explode with blood again. I ran to the bathroom, I felt that something is really going wrong -called my husband and passed out. When I came back I was all shaking, covered with blood and so week I couldn't move a finger or talk. We called 911. In ER they said everything is OK, there are nothing to worry about, just drink a lot of fluid and rest.

[Scout8601]

I don't know.  I found my baby had died at 8 weeks and my doc did a d&c that same week.  with my last mc, i went to another doc and she said I'd mc naturally (but I wasn't that far along so it wasn't bad)  I think it depends on the doc and depends on what the patient says.  Did you tell your doc that you wanted  a d&c and they refused?  I have discovered thru the years and dealing with lots of medical stuff that the patient has to get informed themselves (don't rely on doc's to tell you anything) and then really speak up when you want something done.  I'm sorry you had to go thru what sounds like a horrible experience.

[LilSissy03]

I wouldn't say that having a natural miscarriage or d&c are 'normal' anywhere. US ranks in the top two for fetal demise though... which is sad. They are saying that a lot of it has to do w/poor eating habits & bad habits, in general. Who knows?
Although, research would suggest that having a chemical pregnancy is more common/natural than anyone really knows. Woman release an egg every month and often it is fertilized but never implants or doesn't implant correctly (securely), therefore your period starts... sometimes after getting a positive result on an early HPT.
So sorry for your loss and that you had to wait so long! I pressed my doctor to do a d&c a.s.a.p. I received the news @ 8 pm on Wednesday and called my obgyn @ 8am the following morning. He saw me right away and scheduled my d&c for 4p that day. I told him I wanted it done that day or else I'd go to the ER for it.

[AnnieBrooke]

Do you mean why did you miscarry, why did they not schedule a D&C the day they diagnosed you, why did you miscarry naturally, or why did you have a near-death experience?   Why did you miscarry -- everything I have read suggests that it is hard for a sperm to correctly meet up with an egg; sometimes something is missing, and the embryo develops up to the point where that thing is needed and it is not there, so the pregnancy fades.  It's just bad luck, also very common ... two out of five or even three out of five pregnancies end this way in the early stages.  Why did they not schedule a D&C the day they diagnosed you as having a non-viable pregnancy?  Usually they do schedule it, often sooner than the woman wishes.  Maybe the doctors had an unusually crowded schedule, and it is not usually an emergency.  When I miscarried naturally, it took four weeks from learning the twins no longer had heartbeats before they passed.  Possibly your doctor thought there was time.  Why did you have a near-death experience two weeks later?  I don't know.  As for the title of the question, I don't think doctors prefer to suggest a woman have a natural miscarriage in the US?  I've seen a lot of accounts on this site of doctors pushing for a D&C immediately upon giving the woman the news of fetal demise, to the woman's great distress (often the woman wants a few days to believe the news is true).  In my experience, I had to fight the doctor who argued for a D&C.  I felt like he was scalpel-happy.  I am so sorry you had such a bad experience, and am sorry for your loss.