Miscarriages
A miscarriage is the loss of a pregnancy during the first 24 weeks and happens in about 20-30% of pregnancies. The majority happen in the first 12 weeks. The symptoms of miscarriage are vaginal bleeding, period-like cramps and pain in the abdomen. A miscarriage can occur for a number of reasons, but the majority occurs due to problems with the genetic make-up in the fetus. Mostly, these problems are a one-off and do not recur, but they are more common in older women. Women who smoke, who are obese, who take recreational drugs or who have certain medical problems (such as poorly controlled diabetes, or lupus) are more likely to have a miscarriage.
Some women have no symptoms and only discover that their baby has died when they have an ultrasound scan.
A miscarriage is normally a one off event and having a miscarriage does not mean that it will happen again in the next pregnancy. It is not your fault and nothing you could have done would have prevented this from happening.
A small number of women (less than 5%) have multiple, or recurrent miscarriages. Recurrent miscarriage is having 3 or more miscarriages in a row. If this has happened to you, your GP or doctor will be able to refer you for investigations to see if there is a cause, or if any treatment will stop them from happening. However, in most couples with recurrent miscarriage, no cause is found and the chance of a successful full term pregnancy is very good.
Having a miscarriage can be a very emotional time for the couple. Couples may wish to have counseling to help deal with their loss.
Links
