Cytotec or vacuum aspiration?

[slg76]

Hi Ladies,
I need some advise about my mmc. My baby stopped developing at 6 weeks and I'm now 9 week. I haven't had any spotting yet but have had some cramping. I'm worried that my body is going to take a long time to figure things our naturally so I'm considering Cytotec (misoprostol) or vacuum aspiration. Any opinions? What did you do? Would you do it again?

 

[Nina83]

Hi Sweetie
My first was a MMC, found out at 8 weeks the baby stopped developing a few days before.
My D&C was scheduled for 9+4, and until then nothing happened.
My second was a natural MC, US the morning of confirmed the sac was about 4-5 weeks in size.
The recovery from the D&C was much better. I'm almost 4 months after the last MC and I feel like my hormones are still wacko. I don't know if it has anything to do with how the MC happened, but in my mind that's the only thing I can link it to.
I wouldn't have been able to wait for my body to start the MC, especially after 2 weeks nothing happened.
The natural itself wasn't too painful, but waiting for it to happen, even though it only took a day, was long and painful.
I hope to never go through it again, but if I did- I think I would opt for the natural, if it meant right now and no waiting, only because I feel I am lucky in a way to have seen what came out, where my baby was. It's the only thing I have left from it.
If it meant waiting- I couldn't do it. The week waiting for the D&C was torture, knowing my baby was inside of me and there was nothing I could to to save it.

 

[LucyLake]

I'm so sorry for your loss

I waited about 2 weeks after our last no heartbeat check and took misoprostol/cytotec. I lost the baby in week 8 and took cytotec week 10. I was wary early on, but it turned out to be right for me. I took it at 8 am vaginally (have your husband put it in, that made me feel better about it, I felt like I was killing my already dead baby doing it on my own). I slept for 4 hours and the cramps hit extremely hard at about 12 noon. They lasted and slowly declined in intensity until about 1 am or so. I had a secondary prescription for pain a level below Vicodin. I wolfed down an entire cheese pizza myself, the hunger was an outrageous side effect.

I passed the placenta and then the sac the following morning on towels in the tub. My baby just sort of fell out and I squated to kind of ease the fall.

I was able to see what we think was a boy, bury him, and be with my husband instead of in hospital. I never worry about Asherman's, bad lining, or if I'll have an incompetent cervix in the future.

My periods slowly normalized, I think it took truly 3 AF's to feel 100%. We waited two AF's to TTC again and were blessed with twins on TTC cycle 3, 5 cycles total after the MC.

You have to do what's right for you, but if you want to see your baby and say goodbye, I definitely recommend the cytotec route.

Looking back, we definitely felt we made the right decision. Total cost was $0, but we would have paid an out of pocket $600 for the $5000 d&c.

It was scary beforehand not to know if I'd bleed too much at home...but that worked out ok. We're also grateful we didn't have to have the procedure done at the same unit where women were enjoying their new bundles of joy.

Also, I'm really weird like this, but it was important to me not to have a d&c. We're very pro-life and I never wanted to meet someone and have her compare her abortion to my d&c like they're the same thing. The 2 weeks of carrying my baby dead were hard, but I took comfort in the fact that he seemed to want to stay with mama a little longer.

If you go this route, just be sure to take cytotec vaginally. The oral method sometimes starts the bleeding, but makes you require a d&c for the bigger clots. Vaginally seems to work better.

I'm sorry you have to go through this

 

[Future Mama]

I am currently in the process of using cytotec. We found out our baby's heart stopped
beating around 6 weeks. I took cytotec about 28 hours ago and haven't noticed a whole lot. I was already spotting/bleeding and it hasn't increased. I've had some mild cramping but nothing intense yet. I don't know if it'll work for me. I have had a d&c for my last mc and was hoping to avoid it as I didn't want to be sedated again. Depending on if this works or not I may have to have one anyways.

 

[slg76]

My doctor offered me an in-office procedure that only uses a local anesthetic on the cervix. It is a vacuum aspiration. Could you ask your doctor about that? I think it should be an option because you are so early in your pregnancy. Sorry the Cytotec isn't working. Did your doctor give you a second dose?

 

[Future Mama]

No they told me to call them on Monday and let them know what happened after taking it. He did say it could take up to 3 days to work so I'm hoping it'll kick in. I will definitely ask about the procedure you mentioned. At this point I just want it over with so I can move on.

 

[3Minions]

I had a D&C after I found out our baby passed some time between 14 and 16 weeks. I'm glad I did it that way. I didn't have to feel anything or see anything, and I got to go on with life the second it was over. A couple days of light spotting and that was it.

 

[3Minions]

Oh, and they gave me something in an Iv but I was awake for the whole thing. And they used a vacuum....

 

[slg76]

future mama, how is it going with your cytotec?

I think I'm going to opt for the aspiration. But, my doctor (and all her office mates) are out of town this week for a conference. And, my husband is only ok with it if there is no fetal pole left. It was shrinking as of my last ultrasound and it was only 3mm. Hoping I can work it all out for this week. Tired of having cramps but not feeling like I'm making any progress.

 

[Future Mama]

future mama, how is it going with your cytotec?

I think I'm going to opt for the aspiration. But, my doctor (and all her office mates) are out of town this week for a conference. And, my husband is only ok with it if there is no fetal pole left. It was shrinking as of my last ultrasound and it was only 3mm. Hoping I can work it all out for this week. Tired of having cramps but not feeling like I'm making any progress.

Unfortunately the meds didn't work for me. The dr wants me to try it again before having a d&c done. I'm ok with that and will take the medicine this Friday since I have to work all week. I'm hoping it works and if not I will be scheduling the d&c early next week. I hope this is all over quickly for both of us so we can start trying again. Are you planning on ttc right after or are you taking some time off?

 

[klsltsp]

Slg hopefully you get it all sorted this week.

fururemama are you going to try the meds vaginally this time?

Afm i am worried the meds didnt work and my doc said to go for an us 3-4 days after bleeding stops...i have. been bleeding lightly for 7 days now...urg... i just want toknow if it worked.. so if i need to i can schedule a dc this week... i am on. training next week..

good luck ladies

Kim

 

[slg76]

sounds like we are all anxious to get a move on! We are ready to tic right away. My fertility doctor is ready to put me back on meds after my first period. I bought I would wait it out longer for the natural mc but I'm just fed up with it. Unfortunately husband is more emotional than I am and has a harder time with "getting rid" of the baby.

 

[slg76]

kim, I also wouldn't have any idea what to expect. Most mc stories I've read said that they passed the sac. But I know my sac has been shrinking on the ultrasounds and we were so early on that we didn't have big ones to begin with. I hope your light bleeding is doing the job!

 

[klsltsp]

Thanks slg, the first night I did pass 5 or 6 large clots, bigger than the size of golf balls, so I'm hoping the sac was in there and I just didn't see it.

My oh wants to wait to ttc, at first he was saying 6 months.. I've talked him down to 1 af so I just want my body to get on with it....

No bleeding so far today.. so maybe it's finished?

It's nice that your fertility doctor is on-board that's huge! we haven't needed to go that route yet, so we've been lucky that way, now we just need the next little bean to stick!! I think I may try and hide it from my oh until I hear a heartbeat... although not sure I can hide it that long since I get really bad ms....

I really do think we'll all have bfps soon... just a feeling!!!

 

[slg76]

It took a little doing because my doctor is out of town this week but I scheduled an aspiration with one of her coworkers for Thurs. It does feel like the right thing for me. Looking forward to getting it over with.

 

[Future Mama]

Slg hopefully you get it all sorted this week.

fururemama are you going to try the meds vaginally this time?

Afm i am worried the meds didnt work and my doc said to go for an us 3-4 days after bleeding stops...i have. been bleeding lightly for 7 days now...urg... i just want toknow if it worked.. so if i need to i can schedule a dc this week... i am on. training next week..

good luck ladies

Kim

I asked the dr and he said he wants me to take them orally again. I'm confused though because I took a pregnancy test today and it was barely positive, the line was sooo light. Does this mean that I miscarried? I didn't pass any clots but did bleed pretty heavily before taking the cytotec. I guess the only way I'll know is to have an ultrasound done.

I know what you mean, I need to know what's going on so I can schedule a d&c if needed also. Ihave my own business so I have to schedule everything around work including taking cytotec which really sucks. I hope your bleeding stops soon and you get some answers.

 

[Future Mama]

It took a little doing because my doctor is out of town this week but I scheduled an aspiration with one of her coworkers for Thurs. It does feel like the right thing for me. Looking forward to getting it over with.

I'm glad you made a decision that is right for you. I hope everything goes well and you get your rainbow baby soon

 

[klsltsp]

hey ladies.


slg I'm glad you were able to schedule your aspiration, hopefully it will provide you some closure. How's your OH about this? I know he was struggling.

Futuremama it's so hard to know isn't it, I expected that I would know when I passed the sac... but maybe like slg said the sac had shrunk... my us was only 3 days before I took the meds and the sac itself was measuring 2 cms by 2 cms... to me I should have been able to see it...

AFM I just booked an u/s for today at 2 pm.. in 2 hrs!! yikes I told them I was still spotting and they didn't seem to care, so hopefully I will know if I am done or not in the next few hours.

Stay tuned!!

Kim

 

[slg76]

Kim, I'm glad you are getting things checked out. I think not knowing what is happening is the hardest. I'm looking forward to getting checked on Thursday and hopefully starting to move on. OH actually can't come with me on Thursday. He usually comes to all my apts but I'm kind of glad he isn't coming to this one. He is struggling with the mc probably even a little more than I am. I am a scientist and he is very religious so you can imagine that we have different thoughts and feelings on mc. He wasn't comfortable with "throwing away" the baby and to him if there is a fetal pole there is still a baby. My doctor says that she would be surprised if there is any fetal pole left. We will check it out on Thurs since even if he isn't there I will respect how he wants to handle the mc.

 

[klsltsp]

slg, I totally understand where you are coming from, I am an engineer so my views are very logical in thinking, I guess our difference is our OH's, mine is also an engineer so he too is very logical... almost too much sometimes I sometimes just want to be upset and irrational about it and he gets all logical on me.. lol

I'll keep you posted on me... I really really hope I'm done... if not I'm going to try and get an aspiration booked this week...