Postby lalectrice » Fri Jun 19, 2015 10:19 am
I posted about exactly this issue last year after discovering the heartbeat had ceased at 8 weeks (can't find thread now, but will look again) and got lots of useful advice and sympathy from NVN users kind enough to share their experiences. Most people came down in favour of ERPC, but I one kindly messaged me to tell me of her experience of letting it happen naturally and I was encouraged by her story. There is a lot of rhetoric out there on the internet and even in patient information leaflets about miscarriage being painful and distressing, which is pretty scary and perhaps encourages one to want the simplicity of anaesthetic and surgical intervention (I was veering towards this at first). However, I didn't take that route in the end and did not find miscarriage to be anywhere near as bad as I'd feared.
I decided to wait for it to happen naturally as I thought that it would be preferable to avoid intervention if at all possible (I was fretting about the admittedly tiny chance of scarring from ERPC), but after 2 weeks nothing was happening and I decided to bring it on with pessaries (I was seen at the C&W Early Pregnancy Unit, who were v good). N.b. it is entirely normal for the process to take a while (anywhere from days to several weeks after the pregnancy has ceased to be viable). I was very frightened about the allegedly painful drugs, but in the event could not have had an easier time of it. I used the pessaries at home and within four hours the sac simply fell painlessly out (sorry if TMI!). It was not gross or distressing, just efficient.
Obviously each woman's experience is very different and different options are more or less appropriate for individuals, but I just thought I'd share a positive outcome for the medication route.
As a post-script, I am now 28 weeks pregnant, and I am sure that you will go on to have a happier experience too. Good luck and much fellow feeling from me.
