Thoughts on Miscarriage

Every woman who is of childbearing age and is sexually active will have at least one miscarriage in her life. One in five pregnancies ends in miscarriage. The biggest percentage of these miscarriages occur within the first six weeks of pregnancy. Most women will have an early miscarriage at around four or five weeks and not even be aware that is happening. Only the woman who is charting her fertility signs and testing early will discover this.

Can these early miscarriages be prevented? Some can, some can’t. If the miscarriage is due to hormone imbalance, then yes, those can be prevented. But with some of the miscarriages, its nature’s way of taking care of a pregnancy that is doomed. The body sometimes knows when the embryo has a genetic defect, or when the fertilized egg only made an empty sac, called a blighted ovum. It’s the body’s way of cleaning out what couldn’t survive.

I just had a miscarriage at the first of February. It helps to talk about it, so I want to share some of the details of my miscarriage.

My husband and I haven’t used birth control since early 1997. Before then, between my first and second baby I was on the birth control pill. I tried several brands, and had a lot of problems, mood swings, breakthrough bleeding to name a few. The month I stopped taking the pill I had my first miscarriage. I knew it was because of the pill, which severely takes the natural reproductive hormones out of balance. My second miscarriage was between baby number two and baby number three. It was due to low progesterone. My third miscarriage which happened recently was either a genetic defect or a blighted ovum.

I knew that I was pregnant about one week after I ovulated. I started having strange food cravings, like craving French fries really bad. My breasts were extremely sore. I tested positive at fifteen days post ovulation. All the tests taken prior to that were negative.

For some reason, I chose to keep quiet about my positive tests. In my other pregnancies I ran out and blurted the good news to anyone who’d care to listen the minute I saw the second line on the pregnancy test. This time I was guarded, and with good reason.

One week after seeing some six positive tests (all different brands) all of a sudden my basal temperature plummeted to below my cover line and the cramping started. My doctor said to keep an eye on this, as it was too early to prevent it. My hormones (progesterone) were fine, so obviously it was a blighted ovum or an embryo with a genetic defect. Either way the day after my basal dropped I started bleeding. It was scary, because it was as if my cervix opened up and all the blood came out within a two hour time span and my pregnancy was over.

I didn’t allow myself to be sad, I had four children (who are begging for a baby brother) to tend to, and they didn’t even know their little sibling didn’t make it. We had an ectopic scare with this miscarriage, and after a flying trip to my doctor and some blood tests he determined that I had a complete miscarriage on that first day of bleeding. Thankfully it wasn’t in the tube. I never thought I’d be happy to hear that my quantitative hCG was at zero, but I was.

Sadness hit me about two weeks later, but I’m dealing with it. On the good news front, my doctor gave me the green light to try again.

If you’ve had a miscarriage please know you are not alone in this. Please seek help from your physician. Some can be prevented some can’t. Find a good support group. There are many good forums online that deal with miscarriages and the trials and tribulations of trying to conceive.

Lori Ramsey of Stages in Pregnancy

©2006 by Lori Ramsey

Visit our store for monitors to chart fertility such as The Fertility Tracker, Fertile Focus, Cue II, OvaCue II and other products such as Fertile CM, Her Gel, Slippery Stuff, Happy PMS Cream as recommended by Dr. John R. Lee, One Step HcG Pregnancy Test Strips and Cassettes and other preconception, pregnancy, fertility, infertility and healthy supplemental products for men, women and baby.  Don't forget we have Gift Certificates available for those who don't know just yet.