Spotting for Several Weeks after M/C - UPDATE POST 14

[ericaz]

I started to m/c on 2/15 and had about three days of horrendous pain and clotting. I'm still spotting (very light and brown) and it's been more than 2 weeks. I had my hcg levels checked on Monday and the results showed some in my blood buy my midwife said they are not high enough to still be pg. Does that mean it's just taking me longer to go down to zero hcg and that's why I'm still spotting? My midwife didn't seem to be concerned - she recommended that I have my levels checked again on March 20.

Has anyone had spotting for longer than they normally menstruate? I thought that's how long you're supposed to bleed.:scratch And, will I most likely still get my next period around that 30 day mark or will it be all wacky now??

TIA:)

[honeybeedreams]

3 weeks or more is what i read. sometimes 6 weeks.

drink RRL tea to help tone your womb, this will help you bleed less. cinnamon can help too... a friend who is a holistic doc told me this AM to make a tea from flax seeds to help cleanse my womb too.

hugs mama, i'm sorry to hear of your loss.

HTH

[theboysmama]

My midwife told me to expect to bleed for 1/2 of the time you would after birth. That was true for me the 1st time and i bled less the second. There is a mom on my ttc board that bled fo 50 something days so i think it can really vary.

[BethanyB]

Hi erica,
You asked a question that I have been wondering also. My m/c started on Valentine's Day (nice) and I still have had a bit of pink tinted discharge (sorry-gross) that I'm wondering when it will go away. I have not been to see my doc since I got the inducing meds, so I have no idea what my hcg levels are. I guess it's normal to go on for several weeks:irked: . -Brooke

[ericaz]

Yikes...50 days! No thanks!

I'm glad to know that I'm not alone with spotting for such a long time, but hope that we all stop soon:) Does anyone know how it effects the timing of your first period?

Brooke, Vday was a bust for us, too. Oh well...there's always next year!

[BethanyB]

Erica,
Ha ha, we are wondering the same things! I posted "same old question" on the board about the timimg of a/f after m/c. I got some good info. Basically, it sounds like it totally depends-there isn't a definate answer.

[ericaz]

Of course, Brooke...I should've known;)

[honeybeedreams]

i started to add an 1/8 of a teaspoon of ground cinnamon to my morning coffee and i seem to be close to done bleeding. and it's not quite a week for me.

i am sick of looking in my pants and seeing blood from my m/c, so i will be glad when it is done.

[PrinceE&LsMom]

My miscarriage was on 2/1 and I bled for 20 days then stopped for 4 days then started spotting again for 3 days then was done. It's been almost 5 weeks and no sign of aunt flo and its driving me nuts not knowing when to expect her.

[taradt]

With my last loss i bled on and off for 2 months after the d&c, it went right into AF (or I started 28 days after the bleeding stopped)

good luck to yo uand I am sorry about your loss

tara

[ericaz]

Thanks for all the replies...they've helped to put my mind at ease.
I've started bleeding a bit heavier than slight spotting and it's more red now. I was wondering if my period could be starting, but wouldn't that be too early? As soon as I saw the redder spotting I got a bit crampy. Could be psychosomatic, though, huh?
From the start of my m/c only 22 days have passed:scratch :confused: ...

[taradt]

Have you been more active? that always started fresh and heavier bleeding with me.

tara

[ericaz]

Hi Tara..
Wish I were more active, :lol. I don't think that's why I started bleeding heavier, though.

I came back to this thread to post an update. I'm still spotting:( Today is day 30 following the first day of the m/c. I thought my period started last week (bright red bleeding and period cramps) but it only lasted a day. I was surprised anyhow because that would've been a lot earlier than when I normally expect AF.

In the last week I've been going from light brown to darker reddish brown spotting. I guess I could say that the amount is too much for a panty liner and less than a period. Over the last few days there's been red blood on the TP when I wipe after a BM (sorry for TMI) and just a few minutes ago I had a BM (sorry again) and had major rectal pains nad red bleeding on TP. I'm wondering if this is the start of my real period.

I'm soooooo ready to be done all of this. It's driving me crazy, frankly. I can't help but wonder if there's something in there that I'm retaining since I've been spotting so long. I have my next hcg test on Monday and am hopeful that it'll come back showing my levels are zero.

I just want to move on with my life, KWIM??
Thanks for letting me vent:)

[ericaz]

Add this one to the medical mystery books...

So, apparently there was a reason for my long-term post-m/c spotting. All day yesterday I was feeling crappy, like either something was *wrong* or I was getting my period and according to my mw, it was unlikely that I'd even ovulate while still spotting. She and her partner had theorized that the reason I was still spotting was because I'm still nursing and therefore my body isn't making enough estrogen. If that was the case, it would just eventually work itself out. The other possibility was that I had developed endometritis (infection) but this was unlikely since I didn't have a fever. I was set to go in on Monday so my mw could take a peek with a speculum.

While showering yesterday I stuck my finger up myself and my cervix was SO low and felt really swollen. I asked my mw if that's what it should feel like after a m/c and she said well, my m/c was more than a month ago so at this point my cervix should be back to normal.

Last night at dinner I had throbbing pain in my rectum/crotch - kind of like how I felt when I m/c but much less severe. I took a few pain killer and laid down on the couch. At about 8:30 I felt a HUGE GUSH and ran to the bathroom. My pad and underwear was soaked with blood. As soon as I sat down on the toilet something fell out of me with a whole lot more blood. I thought for a minute, kind of in shock, and then fished it out of the water. It was the embryo, perfectly formed, in it's sac! I immediately felt as though a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders. I showed my dh (who felt really sad...he said he had been holding his feelings in and this just brought them out:() and called my m/w at home and she was completely freaked out. She has never heard of anything like this happening.

I'm bleeding quite a bit today and plan on calling my m/w on Monday to check in.

CRAZY!:dropjaw

[aileen]

oh my!
i'm so glad it's FINALLY over. what a roller coaster for you. a midwife told me that she once bleed for two weeks, and then two weeks later passed the "conceptus" as she called it. i was a bit shocked and horrified as i was still waiting to m/c. now though, i think its pretty amazing.
i'm glad you got to see your wee little tiny baby. i hope that brought you healing.
holy craziness.
take care.

[honeybeedreams]

ohhh, sweetie... i'm so sorry for you and happy for this coming to completion.

it's not so strange sounding to me, as i know many women wait a month or more for a still child to be born. in this day of u/s and D&Cs i think it's more rare then it used to be, but i have heard of it happening.

i'm glad you didn't get an infection too.

i too birthed my baby when i had the miscarrage and i felt blessed to be able to have some evidence of my pregnancy and not just "tissue."

big hugs to yoou and i hope you are feeling better soon.

[ericaz]

ohhh, sweetie... i'm so sorry for you and happy for this coming to completion.

it's not so strange sounding to me, as i know many women wait a month or more for a still child to be born. in this day of u/s and D&Cs i think it's more rare then it used to be, but i have heard of it happening.

i'm glad you didn't get an infection too.

i too birthed my baby when i had the miscarrage and i felt blessed to be able to have some evidence of my pregnancy and not just "tissue."

big hugs to yoou and i hope you are feeling better soon.
Thank you:hug:
I agree that some m/c probably take longer than others to pass, but I wonder if in my case there wasn't something else playing a role...
When I first thought I m/c in the days following Valentine's Day I suffered horrible pain - worse even than what I experienced birthing Isadora. I had this pain for three days and passed several clots. And then no real pain for a month. Then...yesterday...WHAM!
After I had Isadora I had to have a LEEP (laser surgery for the cervix) following an abnormal pap. Since then practitioners have been nearly unable to perform a pap smear on me - they just couldn't get a swab in there for a sample. Perhaps there's some scar tissue from the LEEP??? If so, I'm wondering if that's what prevented the m/c from happening all at once.:scratch:

ETA: Since I have now seen the actual embryo/sac pass, can I be assured that everything is gone or would it be in my best interest to have someone take a look? My insides feel sore, but I'm not in any real pain. I'd guess that what I'm feeling now is normal considering I just passed something through my cervix...but what the heck do I know?;)

[kosheng]

trust your feelings now, mama. i'm so sorry that it happened this way for you. good lord, that it had to happen any way at all, but this seems so dragged out long. (yeah, like any experience that we have like this is easy:( )

feel better soon. we're here if you need us!

[kosheng]

trust your feelings now, mama. i'm so sorry that it happened this way for you. good lord, that it had to happen any way at all, but this seems so dragged out long. (yeah, like any experience that we have like this is easy :( )

feel better soon. we're here if you need us!

[taradt]

:hug Mama

I am sorry it has gone on so long but glad that you got to see your baby, I know that was very healing to me after my first loss.

Do you want to see someone? if it would make you feel better then by all means you are entitled to that. I probably would still wait and see but that is because I really hate getting checked out.

I hope you can start the healing process now :hug

tara

[honeybeedreams]

i just read something somewhere about concerns about LEEP.

i wish i coould remember what i read, but that doctors seem to be preforming it very often and it's not really proven to not have long term effects.

[ericaz]

i just read something somewhere about concerns about LEEP.

i wish i coould remember what i read, but that doctors seem to be preforming it very often and it's not really proven to not have long term effects.
That's really weird, considering it's a procedure that has been used for years with amazing results. I had one when I first was dx'd with HPV more than ten years ago and it didn't come back again until after I had Isadora and that was more than likely due to hormone fluctuations/being immuno-suppressed while pregnant. Incidentally, it wasn't that my pap was just abnormal, it was marked as severe dysplasia and I repeated the pap just to be sure. I also tried to do the Tori Hudson protocol and still got the abnormal pap.
Anyhow, I'd love to see the article you're talking about if you could dig it up. TIA:)

[surf mama]

ericaz-I hope you are feeling better now. I can't believe how long you had to go thru that....I felt like my m/c was really drawn out and long but wow you really had to wait!!! How are you doing now? I know once I had closure it helped me heal even more....wishing you lots of healing.