**Disclaimer: This post includes medical stuff and some personal subject matter which some may label "too much information." You've been warned...
After finding out about my first miscarriage, my doctor didn't give me much choice to consider the options of natural miscarriage or having the d/c procedure. My hormone levels were very high for the situation and she was worried I might have had a "molar pregnancy" - which can be pre-cancerous and she wanted to test the tissue to rule that out, so I had the d/c.
Quick definition: D&C stands for dilation and curettage - basically a minor surgery to go in and take out all the tissue from the miscarriage. It has a few risks like puncturing or scarring the uterus, as well as infection that can come with any surgical procedure. These are not very common from what I understand.
This time around she gave me the choice: wait for my body to miscarry naturally or have the procedure again. I'm choosing the d/c and here's why:
The natural way scares me more, because you don't know when it'll happen or how much cramping and bleeding you will have or how long it will last. With the surgery I will go to the hospital Friday morning and go home that day and recover for the weekend and pretty much be done with it after a week or so of light bleeding. Just knowing what to expect in this rather scary situation is worth it to me. Plus from what I've read some ladies never fully get rid of all the tissue on their own and have to do a d/c later anyway. That would REALLY suck. Since my body has shown no signs of recognizing the miscarriage thus far (which evidently happened about a month ago) I'm not real confident that this won't drag on forever if I go the natural route.
Yesterday morning I got really anxious when I had some spotting and felt like I was about to start my period. I thought I was starting the natural process and wasn't excited about it. Evidently once some women find out about the miscarriage, there is some mind-body connection that causes them to start getting rid of it right away and I have really been hoping that won't happen before Friday. I was pretty scared Monday morning that I was going to start cramping and bleeding sometime during the day and what do you do then when you're supposed to be in charge of a room full of kindergartners?? Can't exactly just walk out and go home. And then how many days would I have to miss school? No sub plans ready... Supposed to be doing big assessments this week... Will I still be able to have the procedure to make sure it's all taken care of? Oy... just lots of bad thoughts. Thankfully the spotting is light and I don't think it's anything more than a reaction to the exam/ultrasound last week.
That's my decision. I know all women and pregnancies are different and everyone has to choose for themselves what route to take. Some people are really set on staying all natural and are confident that their bodies know how to deal with it and will do so. Props to them and their courage!
It seems like either way it's a fear based decision. I decided to miscarry naturally because I was afraid of the scarring and of infection, and I *hate* anesthesia (my ectopic has made me terrified of further scarring and of anesthesia... gah, I hate it).
ReplyDeleteIt was scary, definitely, but basically I felt normal until the day it happened, and it hurt... much like you described in your next post - it started feeling like cramping, then grew to what I imagine a contraction would feel like.
The next day I basically felt normal aside from being slightly traumatized and a little crampy - we even drove 8 hours to Minnesota the next day and just did blood tests before and after to make sure the hormone levels were dropping. There was bleeding after that for a few days, and then back to normal (physically).
Just want to make the unknown slightly less scary in case something happens before your d/c.