# How much pain should i expect?



## daisy31

I am waiting to miscarry naturally. I am 7 weeks and scans showed baby stopped growing about 5 weeks. The doctor said i should expect a lot of pain and very acute pain for about 6 hours. She said that I should not go back to work until it is over and that if the pain gets too bad to go to A and E. I am scared now! I think it is starting. Not going to work is not an option. Just wondered if anyone else has experienced anything similar?:shrug:


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## grandbleu

I'm so sorry you have to go through this.

I miscarried naturally at 12 weeks (the baby might have passed away earlier but I didn't get scans beforehand so I think I may have miscarried at 7 weeks when my stomach aches suddenly disappeared). 

The night before my miscarriage I had a tiny amount of brown/red blood - not too bad and mild cramps but nothing too bad either. (I was scared though)

I went to sleep and prayed. At 5 am I woke up with cramps - a dull aching pain that would not go away. I went to the bathroom and TMI lots of blood and clots. 

I waited until 9 am to go to the hospital - still having a dull aching pain but then it would get worse and when this happened I would have to go to the bathroom because there would be a lot more blood (maybe like that was when my uterus was contracting). 

Basically for about 3 hours I was in a lot of pain (not unbearable). I would have normal pain and then it would get worse and worse and worse and hold itself and then it would taper off - I am thinking this would be like mini labor pains. I did whatever felt comfortable - walking around, fetal position, breathing exercise (yes I was huffing), sitting and crying of course. 

By 11 am the cramps had calmed down again to a dull ache and the U/S showed there was nothing left :(. 

I didn't have any pain medication during this time - they offered morphine but I declined...I know it sounds weird but I actually wanted to feel the pain and know if things were getting worse and when they got better.

I had cramps for about 3 days after because I was taking a medication methergine to make sure everything was gone from the uterus and it causes the uterus to cramp up. 

After that I started to feel much better and in 5 days physically I felt like myself no more bleeding or cramping. 

Sorry to give you so many details but I thought you might like to know how your experience may be. Again my heart goes out to you and any woman that has to endure a miscarriage. :hugs:


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## jules1

Hey hun - you are a bit further along than I was, I miscarried naturally at 5 weeks - the Doc told me I would experience painful cramps etc. I didn't at all - it all happened like a 2 day painless period. So I think everyone is different. 

Please take the Doctor's advice about staying at home until it's happened. Even though mine was painless, it was upsetting and unpleasant physically - I wouldn't have wanted to be at work with that happening. 

Thinking of you xx


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## aviolet

like Jules said, everyone is different - i mc'd at 5 wks and it was some of the worst pain of my life. I couldn't move for a few hours, just laid on the bathroom floor. the pain had me so nauseated i was vomiting and sweating like crazy. it started immediately with the bleeding around 1 in the afternoon and the worst of it seemed to go on for 4-6 hours before i fell asleep (no meds helped either) and the pain continued at a lesser degree throughout the evening and night. but it is true that everyone's body reacts differently. hugs and prayers for you. I am so sorry for your loss :hugs:


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## momto3kiddies

first of all Im so sorry for your loss =(
I had 2 miscarriages pretty much back to back one in Nov 09 and the other Feb 2010 and both were at 6 weeks, but they were totally different. The first one I bled for about 20 days ranging from spotting to normal period flow. I had what i would consider mild period cramps up until the night before I passed everything. It got worse the next morning but not to the point of labor contractions, I passed what I could only assume was the sac and the pain went away as well as the bleeding i spotted for like 2 days after. The second miscarriage I started spotting on a weds then the flow became heavy like a period and by monday I stopped bleeding and it was over, Very mild cramping and didnt pass anything I could disinguish. NOTHING like the first time.Im sorry if this was TMI but I know I was very nervous and tried to find out as much as I could through other womens experiences.


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## Khadijah-x

heya huni 
sorry for your loss
I had ERPOC (surgery to remove my angel baby) but I know alot people who have opted same as you (natural miscarriage)
They say its period type pains just medium cramps, then gets stronger then they just know when the fetus is going to come away because they feel tighter tighter pains and 'feel' the fetus expel and one friend said it felt asthough something was going to 'fly out'.
Its good to know when you will expel your angel incase you dont want to 'see' your little one.. but at 5 weeks you may not anyway.
Pain may be bad but can be controlled with pain killers and rest and wont last long huni xxx
If you see big clots and very intense pain, go to a+e xxx


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## kitalola

Hi, just wanted to say that the pain is different for everyone so its hard to tell you what to expect. I miscarried at 11 weeks but preg hadn't progressed past 5 weeks and I was unaware until I started to lightly bleed at 9 weeks. The pain for me was similar to first stage labour as your body is contracting and I had to spend the night at hospital but for my sister it was just like a heavy mentrual bleed and she was also around the same time frame in her pregnancy.


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## MinnieMone

Hi, I'm really sorry for your loss. I am currently on miscarriage number 5 and will be having medical management next week. I've had this done 3 times before and lost naturally with the others. I can honestly say that each time is different, the first was probably the worst though, although that might be because I didn't know what to expect, the pain was much much worse than normal period pains and was coming in sweeping contractions.  I had to call the on call doctor for more pain relief and ended up on diclofenac suppositories and co-dydramol. 

My advice would be that you will not be able to go to work, you should have someone with you if possible at least for the first few hours and heavy bleeding. With the medical management after inserting the suppositories vaginally, the pain and bleeding usually started within a few hours and was heavy (in that I would have to sit on the toilet as it was too much for pads), with large clots (sorry if this is all TMI, I wish I had had this knowledge before my first) this only continued for about 3-4 hours. I then bled for about a week afterwards, tapering off like a normal period. After my second miscarriage I ovulated 14 days later and was pregnant again the following month, it can happen that quickly.

The natural miscarriages seemed much gentler, with less heavy, but prolonged bleeding and less pain (although still enough to require lots of pain relief).

All my losses happened under 8 weeks.

Everyone's experience will be different, depending on your pain threshold and of course your body and how far along you are.

It will be upsetting, but personally I felt more in control and safe when i was at home and much more secure. I hate hospitals and would be so scared to have an erpc so have always avoided them.

Hope this has helped. Remember if the bleeding does get very heavy (i think they say if you soak a pad within 30 minutes then go to A&E immediately).

Mone x


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## Croc-O-Dile

I lost Kenley at 5+4 and I was in a bit of pain at first & bleeding quite a bit, but then it tapered off and I didn't feel much pain until the end. I just felt really ill the whole time. Even when the pain was at it's worse, it wasn't anything that I couldn't handle.

Hope you're taking it easy and the next few weeks are easy on you :hugs:


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## Solfuego

This will be my 2 MC. My first MC was not that painful, I was only 6 weeks pregnant. The second MC at 11 weeks was more painful, it felt like labor pains with contractions but it was more like early part of labor. I think everyone is different, I hope the best for you and ask the docs for some pain medicine like percote or vicodin , this will help with the pain and also help ease the pain of losing the baby.


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## BabyQ

Don't be scared hun, but I would stay off work, my consultant told me to carry on as normal when I knew I was going to have a natural miscarriage but my friend told me everything in detail of what happened to her, my god it scared me so I didn't dare leave the house - yet mine wasn't half as bad, glad I was at home though. 

Everyone is different, so it's hard to know what to expect. For me, the pain wasn't too bad - the bleeding was worse.

For me (I was 10 weeks, baby died at 6) I was definately glad I was at home because the bleeding was quite heavy, I got quite upset through it too, and a little light headed - I hate blood! It started about 10pm (all day I had been feeling like I needed a heavy period and a little sick) I went to the loo before bed and when I wiped - a lot of red blood, like an instant period, no stages-this is what surprised me from nothing to a constant flow of blood every 30 minutes or so! I couldn't go to bed, I just laid on the sofa, making regular trips to the bathroom, because everytime my womb contracted (quite painful - like somebody was clasping it) I went to the toilet and passed blood and a few clots. I felt the sac (i think) come down and had a little urge to push it out. I didn't look, just kept flushing and flushing.. the heavy bleeding was all over by the morning and I went to bed and slept like a baby for a few hours, that same day, a scan showed a clear womb, so I really had expelled everything in one night, I had lighter bleeding for another week or two.

I hope this isn't in too much detail. It wasn't pleasant, but _for me_ it was bearable xxx


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## Kittique

It can be painful but I think the pain can be preventable.. For me I started bleeding almost instantly. I was spotting then all of a sudden it was v heavy. There was not much pain at this point. It got heavier with very large long clots that's when I went to hospital though I was not in much pain at that point.
After about 2 hours of bleeding the pain started to come mildy every few minutes. Then I got something was stuck in my cervix, the bleeding stopped and I was in pain like i have never known.. throwing up and sweating. What I want to say is this can be prevented... I was in this state for 8 hours before someone helped me. ! That is unecessary! After 8 hours like that +morphine a dr removed what was stuck which was no more painful than the pain i was in anyways, then the pain went away instantly and bleeding continued for a week

So speak up when you know something is not right with your body!

Before this though, the pain was entirely managable, it did come in waves like contractions.

I really want to try and prevent anyone having to go through what i went through :(


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## Kayleigh1991

I feel really sorry for you. There is nothing worse than finding out that it has happened before you've passed the baby. 
I went into hospital Christmas Day 2009 and honestly, i was in the worst pain i have ever felt, even worse than labour. I was 16 weeks pregnant and when the baby was delivered by the Registrar, she informed me that the baby had actually been dead about 5 weeks... It is rather degrading to go through, there is nothing dignified about it. They let me go home to deliver the placenta at home, however my body went into labour to push it out & the placenta refused to move, 29th December i was back in hospital and had to go into theatre to have the placenta vacuumed out. That was pain free and over within half an hour (including me waking up from the anaesthesia)... I wish they'd have done that in the first place.
I hope you have a better experience than i did, i really do... and i wish you ALL the best! One thing i will say is, there isn't pain afterwards, but be prepared for more blood loss & strange periods!


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## rai2

I am so sorry for what you are going through :( I know how scary it is when you are waiting to miscarry especially as you read and hear so many different stories. For me I found out I had a MMC- should have been 9weeks but was only showing 6 weeks. I bled for about 2 weeks before I had 2 evenings of really bad cramping- 2 hrs the first night and 5 hrs the second night! It was very very painful and upsetting but I was expecting all sorts and looking back it could have been a lot worse (I thought the worst whilst I was waiting and was convinced I'd end up in hospital for pain relief/extreme bleeding etc). I didn't miscarry after this pain though but was very close to (as shown on a scan) so instead of my scheduled erpc I took tablets. I had no pain at all and was convinced they hadn't worked but passed everything 2 days later. It was very strange as I expected that to happen with pain etc.

I was so glad that I had someone with me when I eventually miscarried. I know the waiting is horrible and I really feel for you. big hugs x


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## jillybean27

I should have been 7wks yesterday with my first pregnancy but was confirmed on Monday that I was miscarrying. I had been bleeding all weekend and geting abdominal cramps so I was mentally prepared to be told I was miscarrying. Early clinic scanned and took blood test which showed pregnancy hormone so I was told I might just be earlier on than we first thought and it could just be a delayed period. We went from devastation to a ray of hope, then 3 days later confirmation that I was miscarrying. I did not seem to bleed any more than an average period and cramps were sore but not unmanagable. I get scanned on Friday to be sure my system is clear and normal again, I can feel my body getting back to normal but struggling to get my head to follow. I see bumps and babies everywhere anyone any advice to make coping with this any easier???


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