MMC vs. MC

[farmwife25]

Hi Ladies. I'm just a little curious about this aweful miscarriage stuff. I myself suffered a Missed Miscarriage in Dec. I am wondering though how common a Missed Miscarriage is to a "regular" miscarriage.
I hate to be so stupid, but is a "regular" MC when you cramp and bleed? I only know more about MMC as I experinced one.
I would value any feed back or input on this. People say MMC are "extreamly rare" but I sure seem to see lots about them especially in forums like this. Is that just because we are woman and reach out to eachother for support. I am also concerned as I am now pregnant again, and I am deeply worried that I am going to be broken hearted at my ultrasound. I thank you all who take the time to provide any stories or input on this.

 

[george83]

Congratulations on your pregnancy but I'm sorry to hear about your loss. I have just been told I've suffered a mmc and have spent most of my time since trawling the Internet searching for answers, I've read that a mmc occurs 1 in 100 pregnancies although I can't remember the website that was from so may not be to reliable.

I really hope you can relax and enjoy this pregnancy, fingers crossed its a h&h one x x

 

[sedgeez]

from my understanding, a normal MC is where your bleed and cramp and thats when you know your mcing

a MMC is where your body doesnt expel the baby so you find out at an ultrasound or when tests are done.

i had never even heard of a MMC until i experienced it, and there seemed to be so many women on here around the same as me who had the same.
but we are all from different places. out of all the people i know who are pregnant or have had babies (and thats alot) im the only one who has experienced this.

i know that isnt much advice but i hope its helps
and congrats!

 

[LoraLoo]

I had a MMC at 18 weeks in Sept- went for a scan and baby had died, didnt have any bleeding or anything

Ive also just found out Im pregnant again (today in fact) and know I am going to spend the entire time worrying, I think its part n parcel of having lost a baby sadly (we also lost a daughter at 5 days)

 

[LuckyW]

Congrats, farmwife and LoraLoo. Sorry for your losses too. It's confusing emotionally, no? Whether to be happy, excited, or just anxious as hell.

Agree with everyone else's definition of mc vs mmc. With a regular miscarriage, the failed pregnancy is expelled spontaneously. And not so much with the missed. The diagnosis can only be made with ultrasound.

I asked my ob "what the deal was" with mmc's. I just had my second one, and even though it had happened before, and I had worried like hell, I was not prepared for the news of the second. Her response was not too revelatory, but it was somewhat encouraging. She said my body was just doing what it was supposed to be doing- tenaciously holding on to the pregnancy as best it could.

Right before we couldn't find the heartbeat, I had asked her how often I could come in for reassurance scans. She had said she would be okay with my coming in once a week. That there is a correlation between successful pregnancies and more frequent scans.

So I have thought to myself that if I were to get pregnant again, I would 1) wait until 7 weeks to get a first scan. (Both my mmcs the embryos cleared their first 6 1/2 wk scans with heartbeats. It wasn't until 8 1/2 that I was diagnosed.)

2) I would get weekly scans. Somehow the whole idea of carrying without knowing baby is gone is extremely horrible to me. If it has to happen, I really want to know as quickly as possible. Also, if everything's fine, the peace of mind would be worth a lot.

 

[Angels4]

Hi,

Firstly I would like to say I am so sorry for your loss.

I have had 3 miscarriages and currently going through a missed miscarriage.

For the miscarriages, I remember passing bright red blood and then the cramping started. By the time I went to the ED, I knew that it was a miscarriage. The cramps were like really really strong period cramps. I was 6 weeks for all 3.

For my 4th pregnancy, I had an ultra sound at 11.5 weeks that showed that my baby had stopped growing at 9.5 weeks. Two days after the scan, I started spotting which eventually turned into the bleeding and I actually think my waters broke (i didnt even know that was possible). I passed everything after that, but the pain was horrible. My husband ended up calling the ambulance and I needed strong pain relief.

The rest of the miscarriage/missed miscarriage was the same. Bleeding until it slowly stops on its own.

Sorry you had to go through this. It is the worst thing ever. I would not wish this on anybody.

Hugs to you

 

[Hope39]

Missed miscarriages are very common with me, I've had 5

 

[vvvoid]

I went to the hospital Tuesday at 3 mos pregnant with bleeding and cramping. The fetal sac was still inside me with no heartbeat so they called it a MMC. I went home that night and by 1am was in the most painful labor I can imagine [although I'm sure if I was pushing out a 20inch baby the pain would be different].
My hcg level 2 weeks prior to the MC/MMC was 55k. By the time I began to miscarry it was 13k. So I believe I miscarried prior to expelling the baby, probably a while before expelling the baby considering what the baby looked like
In this way, I had an MMC but also expelled the fetus, and let me tell you, it was FULL ON labor. The baby was only 2.3 inches or so but the contractions I experienced were horrendous [one hour and a half long continuous contraction with no break between] and I went into shock from blood loss, had to be rushed to the ER.
So this miscarriage v. missed miscarriage stuff baffles me too. They couldn't even age my baby properly because it was the size of a 3mos fetus and the development of a 1 mos embryo, if you can imagine. A giant embryo. My guess, based on size and appearance, is that I miscarried up to 2 weeks prior to going into labor.

 

[LucyLake]

Congrats on your pregnancy!! I smiled reading that

I'm going through a missed miscarriage. They seem to be common and my doctor said my chances of conceiving properly and carrying successfully are much better with a missed MC than a molar, blighted ovum, ectopic. She said in my case, my body is dictating a mmc....my body you see, doesn't proceed naturally. I carried my son to 42 weeks. Had him vaginally at 9 pounds, 1 ounce, was given extra pitocin, AND still had to have my own water broken. So it may just be something similar in your case, like LuckyW, my doctor said its good because it means my body tried to hold onto the pregnancy, my hormone levels are still high as well.

 

[Nimyra]

Thank you for this discussion. It is a comforting idea to think that my body was trying hard to keep the pregnancy viable... And it reassures me some that opting for a D&C was a reasonable choice given how hard my body was holding on.