Did she miscarry?

[Confusedone903]

Hello Doctor,

I was seeing this girl for 3-4 months. She repeatedly denied she may have been pregnant for some time and that she cheated on the first hpt in early february to make it negative. The other day she admitted she was indeed pregnant and miscarried early/mid february. The details were...She thinks the pregnancy happened in december or january. Her last visit to the doctor to confirm her miscarriage was march which put her at either 12 or 8 wks depending on when it happened. Anyhow, the symptoms she told me she had. She went to the doctor and they checked her cervix ans it was dilated and that she passed all the tissue. She said she was bleeding and cramping and that her back hurt really bad over the course of a couple days. She said the doc said there was blood on the cervix and that it was dilated and she expelled all of the tissue. She said they did vaginal ultrasound and didn't see anything or hear heartbeat. She said she only bleed for a little over 24 hours and that the miscarriage was complete so she didn't need a d&c. Don't miscarriages usually took longer? She said her hcg numbers went down. I brought her to planned parenthood last saturday as she said enough time passed and she was now willing to do a test because she had nothing else to hide(lady at planned parenthood said urine test was just as accurate and sensitive as the blood test) and had her do 2 hpts at her house on monday morning...assuming she actually took these tests. I have the receipt from Planned Parenthood saying it was negative. So were the 2 she took at home. Does it sound like she miscarried? Would these negative results prove that she is no longer pregnant? Would she be able to cheat the test at Planned Parenthood? She won't talk to me anymore and she says she is depressed but i want to make sure i don't get a call in 5 months saying she had my baby. because if she is pregnant i will do everything to take care of it and support it...i just want to know...what do you think???

[Confusedone903]

anybody???

[Confusedone903]

But how about the fact that she only bleed for 24 hours...so she says? I thought with miscarriages that you bleed for like a week? I also read in one of your blogs that urine tests could be negative if taken during pregnancy problems like impending miscarriage, etc...what do you think?

please follow up!!!

thank you.

[Elaine Brown, MD]

Hi!
I don't think she can "fudge" the test at Planned Parenthood.  And they are correct that the urine tests these days are almost as accurate as the blood tests. The story she is telling about the miscarriage sounds plausible, the details are consistent with what really happens.

I certainly hope the two of you can get to a point at which you can communicate better, try having a little empathy--it is very difficult to go through a miscarriage, and there are a lot of hormone shifts that make matters even worse.

Also, remember to use condoms in the future!

Good luck!
Dr B