Spontaneous Abortion or Miscarriage

About a fifth of pregnant women experience bleeding in the first twenty weeks of pregnancy, and around half of the pregnancies end with a miscarriage. Why do you miscarry?

 

A miscarriage is the spontaneous loss of a foetus before 24 weeks. (jlp)

 

Although miscarriages are not common, the risk always exists. One out of twelve confirmed pregnancies ends in miscarriage, usually in the first 12 days.

What is a miscarriage?

 

Spontaneous abortion or miscarriage is defined as the spontaneous loss of a foetus before 24 weeks. After that period, it is not defined as a miscarriage but later miscarriage or stillbirth, when a baby dies in the uterus.

When can it happen?

 

Most miscarriages happen in the second and third months of pregnancy. In most cases, the sign of a miscarriage can be bleeding from the vagina in the first twenty weeks of pregnancy or another type of disease.

How do you know if you had a miscarriage?

 

The key examination is an ultrasound scan which determines whether a baby is still in the uterus and alive. If the baby is no longer in the uterus, this is called ectopic pregnancy, which means that the baby is developing elsewhere in the abdomen, outside the uterus, or complete miscarriage has already taken place. If a baby’s heart beat is detected in an ultrasound scan, the risk of miscarriage falls from 50% to only 3%.

 

A miscarriage usually happens in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. (jlp)

What are the types of miscarriage?

 

1. Threatened miscarriage

 

This is the clinical state when chances of miscarriage are high. About half of pregnant women with threatened miscarriage have an abortion. In the other half, pregnancy continues normally. To prevent a potential miscarriage, you have to pay attention to vaginal bleeding, which occurs in the form of slight pink discharge or bleeding similar to menstruation. Besides vaginal bleeding, you can also have pain in the lower abdomen.

2. Incomplete miscarriage

 

Vaginal bleeding is weaker and pain in the lower abdominal part is more severe. In examination, a gynaecologist finds the remains of a dead foetus, sac or placenta in the lower part of the uterus, i.e. cervix or the vagina. Sometimes you can expel a larger part of the tissue (dead foetus) from the vagina already at home. An incomplete miscarriage is common between the eighth and sixteenth week of pregnancy.

 

Sometimes a dead foetus is expelled by itself from the vagina. (jlp)

3. Complete miscarriage

 

In a complete miscarriage, the content of the uterus is expelled in full. Bleeding and pain in the lower abdominal part stop. A complete miscarriage is more common after the sixteenth week of pregnancy.

4. Septic miscarriage

 

If bacteria have penetrated the uterus, they cause an infection, which results in a miscarriage. Signs are similar to an incomplete miscarriage, additionally accompanied by the sensitivity of the uterus. It can also include a pus-like vaginal discharge and fever. It is possible that the condition worsens and results in a septic shock, which causes death.

 

Nowadays, this type of infection in a miscarriage is very rare, but in the past such infections were more common. They mostly occurred in induced abortions, which were not permitted in the past, and women were forced to do them secretly in unsuitable conditions.

5. Habitual or recurrent miscarriage

 

A habitual miscarriage is when a woman experiences three or more consecutive miscarriages. In this case, chances of a successful pregnancy decrease to 50 per cent. It is therefore necessary to discover and eliminate the cause of a recurrent miscarriage, if a woman wants to continue the next pregnancy and give birth to a healthy baby.

 

A miscarriage can happen several times in a row. (jlp)

What are the causes of miscarriage?

 

Since there is not enough information on miscarriage, it can sometimes happen that even physicians do not know what caused it. The body of a pregnant woman has its own reasons for rejecting pregnancy, which are not always clear.

For those understood by the human way of thinking, there are medical procedures which help in a certain number of causes, such as an illness of the mother causing a high risk pregnancy. This is solved by medications, resting during pregnancy, operative procedures and so on.

In today’s development of medicine it is possible to detect most causes of miscarriage before getting pregnant and also eliminate them. Among these, there are developmental abnormalities of the uterus, various infections, etc. As certain causes, such as the weakness of the cervix or fresh infections, are evident only during pregnancy, immediate treatment is the only way to successfully prevent a miscarriage.

 

80 per cent of miscarriages in the first days of pregnancy are caused by chromosomal abnormalities. (jlp)

 

On the other hand, 80 per cent of miscarriages in the first days of pregnancy are caused by chromosomal abnormalities. A miscarriage is therefore a sort of a natural means to prevent births of defected children, and preventing miscarriage would thus be unreasonable.

What happens after a miscarriage?

 

After a miscarriage, it is sometimes necessary to undergo an operation - dilation and curettage (D&C) - to remove the tissue retained in the uterus. The decision whether the operation is necessary is made by a physician, depending on the month in which the miscarriage took place and the reasons for it.

Whatever the reason, it causes physical and mental distress to women. It is therefore advisable to take a rest for a few days after a miscarriage and it is also helpful to receive emotional support of your partner and family.

 

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