Is there an at-home way to induce miscarriage of a doomed pregnancy?

Sweetie, I am so sorry
I am not nearly as educated as the pp, but I can add that aloe vera is contraindicated during pregnancy because it can cause uterus contractions. I started taking it (for an unrelated condition) as soon as I found out that my 11 1/2 week child had died and we were waiting for her to come out. My M/C started a couple of days later, possibly unrelated to taking the av juice.
I sympathize completely about not wanting a D&C. I haven't needed one for either m/c, though the second m/c was much rougher than the 1st in that my body went through a 3 hour labor to help her out. You'll want to be very vigilant about monitoring for fever and tenderness in your uterus - the latter symptom of infection is harder to monitor, since your uterus is bound to be tender and twinge-ey from the contractions and shrinking. Make sure you're extra-careful about monitoring your temperature, and certainly follow your mw advice about if you're bleeding too heavily (more than 2 pads in an hour is need to go to ER).
Good luck sweetie. My heart aches for you right now, and I hope that you can let your body and spirit heal after being so courageous.

So sorry you are going through this! It sounds terribly frustrating, as well as terribly disappointing...

A few of us were in your position of waiting to miscarry about 6 weeks ago and we had long conversations about this weird in-between period, and trying to decide what to do. If you want, check out http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=404839

I ended up waiting for it to happen naturally (although I was very, very close to giving up). The other option I seriously considered was taking Cytotec (a prescription drug that induces). You could ask mw or doc about that. You take it at home, when you are ready.

I also considered herbs to induce, but didn't feel I had good local support / care for that. I did get referred to The Natural Pregnancy book by Aviva Jill Romm (a midwife and herbalist), who describes how to use blue and black cohosh for "facilitating a miscarriage." She says it will take a couple of days.

Thinking of you, and wishing you some peace and comfort in this lousy time...

I want to thank you all truly for being so supportive. I don't know why but I felt so ALONE in being in this predicament. I feel like if you are pregnant - even if you are looking at certain bad news - you are supposed to hold on until all hope is gone, until that pregnancy has left your body...

I just knew/know there is no point. There is no hope. I just want this to be over.

I thought to come here when my MIL mentioned drinking raspberry leaf tea when she was in labor and it strengthening contractions... I used to come here mostly for the diaper forum. Well I figured all that out a while back but this was new territory.

Finding my way through all that backwards text nearly put me in tears... glad someone else saw it as a dumb trick, too. April fool's day is so... trite...

ANYWAY... I don't know if I will use any of this advice. I will look into it. I will consider it. My doctor is supposed to call me in the morning and hopefully she will and hopefully we can come up with a plan to expedite this.

Maybe she will have something to offer besides the D&C. I'd forgotten there is an abortion pill... which has, if you believe the latest news, the risk of DEATH. So I can risk my future fertility or I can risk my life. Peachy! (Or of course I can wait... and hopefully blood work or ultrasound or something can give me an idea of how long a wait I am looking at?)

I worry she WON'T have that to offer and I am considering Planned Parenthood... I see myself walking through a line of anti-choicers pelting me with insults and pictures of dead fetuses all with NO IDEA how much I don't want to be going there. Splendid.

No bleeding yet. The barest of spotting which I would never have noticed if I weren't looking. I am 7 weeks notpregnant holding on to a 5 week sac.

I am trying to comfort myself that if my body will hold on this tightly to something that is NOT a baby... surely it will hold on just as tightly to something that IS.

I am so sorry for everyone else's losses. This is a club I never, ever wanted to belong to. I always felt like... I have PCOS, I am supposed to have trouble getting pregnant, I am supposed to be at a high risk for miscarriage, but I got pregnant with my son on birth control pills. Everything went perfect. I felt like I was going to continue to beat those odds - but I haven't.

But I also feel, even while the pain is still so raw, I can see how much it has made me grow and how much stronger it has made me, even in just the week since I have had the horrible news. It's a helluva way to gain understanding for those who have been there... but maybe it's the only way. I always thought I "knew" how badly it must hurt... but now I KNOW.

eta - maybe some day I will see some purpose in this. My mother and I have been on LOUSY terms since last June when she said I was to blame for my fertility problems due to my "lack of body fat" (at 5'4 and 145 pounds!!!) ... well I told her about the miscarriage and she was like, well what to you mean there's no baby? What do you mean there's nothing on the ultrasound? You're probably not even pregnant, why did you think you were pregnant??

I don't know why I expected any differently... well, actually, I expected her to blame me. I don't even know why I told. but she called to wish me a happy birthday - 3/30 was my b-day , great present eh? - and I told.

Maybe someday I will have a daughter or DIL in this situation and I can offer something that better resembled SUPPORT. Something good has to come of this, some day.

Quote:
Hi sweetie,
I found out on a Tuesday, via U/S, that there was no heartbeat, and that the baby looked about 3 weeks younger than she should have. I had the barest of spotting that night, and by the following Tuesday it was over. Since you're spotting, even barely, I'm guessing that it's close to begining. Mine would have went on for 4 weeks (mostly waiting), except I only knew about the last week of it
I have no experience with using pharmaceuticals to induce, but I have heard that it can be rough. However, I must say that I was not prepared for how difficult my natural m/c would be. Still, I only had second thoughts about letting it progress naturally for the 3 hours that my body was laboring. Leading up to and afterwards, I was glad that I didn't interfere. The toughest part is the wait though, I really understand it if mamas decide to hurry it along.

My doctor finally called me back today and said I can wait or take cytotec... so I took the cytotec. I don't know why I was so certiain this option wouldn't be available. I thought about it later and realized it would be kind of silly for surgery to be the only option when there is a much less invasive alternative...

So... I hope this works and I hope it isn't too bad.

I called the infertility clinic and explained the general suckiness of my situation and asked if they could book me sooner than they usually book an initial consult - and they booked me for 4/14!!!

All things considered... things are going well.

I'd rather have my miracle baby but it wasn't meant to be so I am trying to look to the future and be hopeful.

Hopefully my son wasn't my only good egg.

It hasn't done anything yet!!! It has been 10 hours. It's supposed to be done in 12-24 and supposedly you might start to have "effects" as early as two hours...

I'm getting kind of nervous.

I took it orally, because the death scares with the abortion pill lately have to do with taking the cytotec part vaginally...

http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/03/17....ap/index.html

but... maybe it won't work orally??

My doctor said I could do it either way, you think she'd know, right?