These may be terms that you hear about or have been through. To any of you who have been through any of these my heart goes out to you. And the devastation that it brings.
Some of you may have had a positive pregnancy test, and a week or a few days later, the line is no darker and you start to bleed. This is generally a chemical pregnancy. Its actually an early miscarriage (normally classes before 5 weeks) where it wouldn't show up on an ultrasound. Irrelevant of how early you find out, the loss of a baby is the same. Apparently chemical pregnancies happen to 75% of pregnancies, i guess some people don't know if they don't test early. This number astounds me! And actually the more i talk about miscarriages in general, the more i realise how many people have suffered. My mum always says to me its a new thing to understand early miscarriage, because back in 'her day' they didn't find out for months.
Then you have a miscarriage, when you lose the baby naturally before 23 weeks. Generally this begins as bleeding and cramping. It not to say that all spotting or bleeding is a miscarriage, but all spotting and bleeding should be checked out by a Dr, JUST IN CASE! Apparently 1 in 4 pregnancies ends in miscarriage. And it could be for many reasons. There could be a chromosomal abnormality where the baby just doesn't survive, it could be that the baby hasn't developed properly, but its also important to remember ITS NOT YOUR FAULT! Very rarely is it something that you've done (you'd have to be drinking, smoking and bungy-jumping all at the same time). So don't beat yourself up about it (easier said that done i know). I haven't experienced a natural miscarriage. Mine was a missed misscariage. But from the women i've spoken to about miscarriage, they've all had different experiences. Generally starting with bleeding and cramps, with both increasing in intensity. Prepare yourself to pass the baby in some form (depending on how far advanced) and i'd suggest heading straight to A&E. In the event that you haven't passed all the tissue and sac etc, you may have to go through surgical management to ensure all the remnants have been removed. Stock up on pain killers. There are great support groups on Mums Net. Occasionally women suffer from reoccurring miscarriage which is classed as 3 or more in a row. Only at this point will the investigate on the NHS.
Missed Miscarriage is what i went through. This is where the baby fertilises, implants, starts to grow, and for some reason just stops. I found out at almost 9 weeks, that the baby had stopped growing at almost 7 weeks. My body didn't realise. It was still testing positive, acting pregnant, I did lose some sickness which at the time i thought was just normal. But other than that i had no idea. I carried on as normal and had a total shock when we had an early reassurance scan and were told there was no heartbeat. I've mentioned earlier the options of natural, medical or surgical. Again... ITS NOT YOUR FAULT!! I've spent weeks telling myself this.
Blighted Ovum is where the baby fertilises, and implants, and the sac grows, but the embryo doesn't develop. So its just an empty sac. And your body will think you're pregnant. If you don't naturally miscarry, then it would be picked up on a scan. Apparently this is the cause of 50% of miscarriages in the first trimester (this is google giving me this info)
Ectopic pregnancy is where the baby fertilises, and implants, but it implants outside of the uterus (usually in the fallopian tube). Generally symptoms are abdominal pain, unusual vaginal bleeding. They also mention about shoulder tip pain. Dizziness and vomiting can be a sign. You may have NONE of these symptoms but don't disregard any kind of pain in your pregnancy. Apparently only 1 in 80 pregnancies are ectopic. An ectopic pregnancy is INCREDIBLY dangerous. It is so important to head straight to A&E or get someone to call an ambulance if you are in severe pain as the fallopian tube is likely to have ruptured which will cause major internal bleeding. If you are lucky enough to have had an early scan they will be able to confirm that the baby is in the the right or wrong place and may pick it up early enough. If its discovered they will usually give you a pill to terminate the pregnancy.
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