The doctor says to wait one cycle but there is no research to support the idea that a m/c is more likely on the cycle after a m/c. I don't want to wait! Every egg deserves a shot! Just curious about others' experiences.
MomBytheBay: http://tcoyf.com/members/mombythebay/charts/default.aspx
Me (34) Him (39)
4/28/10, 8 lbs 4 oz. Easy to conceive, easy pregnancy
TTC#2 since 5/2011.
7/31/11 BFP but then chemical pregnancy
9/29/11 BFP Despite healthy heartbeat at 8 wks, 11 wk u/s showed no heart beat and no fetal development past 9 weeks. D&C 11/22.
Stay strong and carry on. My daughter is pure joy and light, and I am trying to hold on to her as tight as I can right now.
We waited for two AFs after mc and I'm glad we did because we conceived right after resuming TTC. The first month after mc, I felt "fine" like we should start trying anyway. I'm really glad I stuck to doc's orders because the second month I really went through the grieving process. I appreciated having a little time not pregnant or making babies to just acknowledge the loss personally (it took almost 4 weeks for me to pass the pregnancy naturally so the mc process was long and miserably lonely). My understanding is that with very early mc, waiting isn't really all that necessary in terms of healthy subsequent pregnancies. The risk of multiples goes up a smidge (at least when I researched that seemed to be the case). A big factor is how far along you were when you experienced your loss/the circumstances. I would follow doc's orders for that reason - he has a reason for telling you to wait a month; don't assume it's arbitrary or just in his/her best interest. Sorry for your loss and I wish you the best when you resume TTC.
We are waiting too, even though I haven't read medical reasons to wait, I need the time to grieve. I have had a friend conceive about 2 weeks after a MC around 5 weeks and her baby is healthy, I just wonder if she really had a chance to grieve and sort through everything. I'm also not ready for the anxiety that will likely come with another pregnancy hoping that the baby is OK. Sorry that wasn't exactly answering your question but I know women who have done it both ways, I have a friend who just recently had back to back miscarriages and I know I'm not ready for that.
we did! she is 17 months & healthy, no problems with the pregnancy! good luck!
Funnygirl - Thanks and congrats! Our girls are 2 months apart! Isn't this a wonderful age?
Edelweiss and KrisMae - I am sorry for your losses and I appreciate your perspectives. For me, I've been TTC #2 since May and it has always been important to me to have kids close together in age. Everyone is different but I would be more devastated if I waited 3 months and had another miscarriage 2 months later bc I'll have lost another 5 months. If I am going to have another m/c, I think I'd rather it happen sooner than later so I can get started with testing (that said, I will be devastated either way - in one month, in five). Also, I turned 34 in November and the closer I get to 35, the more my risks go up for everything. That said, I wouldn't want to "cause" an m/c but no one has given me a solid, supported reason for why that is likely if I get pg in the cycle after the m/c. My instinct and professional training makes me question what doctors tell me and determine whether their recs are based on research and science. And finally, knowing myself, the hardest part will be the TTC. I have grieved but I have also moved on. I know my wounds will open again every time I have a BFN and have to pull out my thermometer, OPKs, preseed, etc.
In better news, I had a negative HPT today (3 weeks post d&c) so at least my body is healing and moving on.
I haven't read medical reasons to wait, either, and I would love to start trying soon, even while I say I need time to grieve and heal...I want another baby. I'm somewhat conflicted. Anyway, I hope things go wonderfully for you. Good on the negative HPT, it might not be much longer then until you O.
We had been TTC #2 for a year with crazy long cycles and my doctor finally put me on Clomid. I got pregnant the very first cycle on Clomid, but it ended in a miscarriage/chemical pregnancy. The doctor advised me to wait one cycle before taking the Clomid again, but after I reminded her that my last normal (unmedicated) cycle was 175 days long and that the wait would be torture, she finally agreed to refill my Clomid Rx for the next cycle. Well, I got another BFP right away, and am currently 15 weeks pregnant. Other than my betas being a little slow to double in the beginning, everything has been totally healthy with this pregnancy.
Good luck to you!!
Me- 29 DH- 32
Parker James 07/22/08
08/2011
Lynden Ann due 06/01/12
My first cycle after m/c was annovulatory, but lasted as long as my typical cycle. We are 7 weeks pregnant after getting pregnant on the 2nd cycle after m/c. Praying and hoping for the best. I had a lot of the same reasons as you for wanting to get pg again right away (plus it took a year of trying with our first).
With my mc the reason we were told to wait was because we took misoprostal to induce the miscarriage. The literarture we got with the prescription indicated there could be risks some of it could still be in your system, or I guess that it could affect the cervix so that it didn't close properly once pregnant. So I guess it's good that the first cycle after m/c was annovulatory.
Claire (Me) - 36DH - 38DD - 15 monthsDCat - Molly
Married the love of my life July 7, 2007 (he wanted a date we could never forget ;-)
TTC #2Beta 22 dpo? - 6245
September 12, 2011 10 wks, baby stopped growing at 7 wks 2 days http://tcoyf.com/members/kitcat75/pccharts/13.aspx
January 18, 2012 at 12 weeks 2 days, baby stopped growing at 6 wks 5 days http://tcoyf.com/members/kitcat75/pccharts/15.aspx
I think what the doctor recommends probably has to do with the circumstances of the miscarriage. I just had a D&C, and my doctor said we should wait at least two cycles for the uterine lining to get back to normal. But I imagine that by the time you get your first period after the miscarriage, that would be a good sign that things are ok and hormones, etc are getting back to normal. I personally think I need the next couple months to grieve, but I know it's hard to wait. I want a baby SO bad now.
Do you think also it has just to do with pregnancy being somewhat depleting to a woman's body? I've read it takes about 2 yrs for a woman to fully recover after having a baby, so I wouldn't know why a miscarriage wouldn't also take some time to physically recover from, too. I do want a baby badly and feel impatient and conflicted but I guess I'm waiting it out a little while longer, at least.
UPDATE: I saw my doctor today for my post-op. We talked about the "wait one cycle" theory and she confirmed that there's really no reason for it. She even admitted not really knowing why everyone recommends it. She says it is absolutely fine to try again right away but that most women have one messed up cycle immediately following a m/c so it just may be less likely to work. When we were leaving she even said "Ok, so we are going to defer testing, you are going to try again right away and you will call when you get your first positive pregnancy test right?" She will monitor my hcg levels closely next time and if I have another m/c, we will begin testing.
Edelweiss - Maybe, but I can say from experience that the impact on one's body of a full term pregnancy is way, way different than the impact from 7 gestational weeks (or 9 LMP weeks). I can't even begin to describe all the crazy things hormones did to my body in the months after I gave birth (and was breastfeeding). After my D&C at 11 weeks (baby died at 9 wks), I had some hormonal changes but nothing like after childbirth. That said, it is still a hormonal adjustment and it takes time.
Medical reasons aside, everyone moves on and deals in their own way. Those who need or want time should take as much of it as necessary and those of us who want or need to try again should do so.
And I definitely wasn't trying to be unsupportive of your decision and certainly wish you the best of success!
I have one full term baby, she is two now and still breastfeeding so I do understand what that did to my body and I guess I did think that being pregnant (in my case 11 weeks/9 weeks) would maybe about 1/4 as taxing to my body as full term? Who knows. Then again I think if you're fertile it's a biological sign that your body is ready to be pregnant again.
Oh no, I didn't take your comments as unsupportive at all. This is such a hard experience for those of us who have been unlucky enough to experience it and we all need to follow our own instincts in getting through. I appreciate hearing how you feel. And go you for bf'ing for 2 years!! I hope we can all reconvene in the pregnancy forum soon.
So, my body is clearly not gearing up to ovulate. Tonight, 3 weeks 2 days post D&C and 9 days since any spotting or anything, I started cramping and bleeding. Is this my period? I can't image how it could be. Will post a different message. Everyone on this board is getting really sick of me!
I don't think anyone's getting sick of you and if I had to guess I would say you had an anovulatory cycle and will probably ovulate in a few weeks/this coming cycle. My first few cycles when I started back after having my little girl (after she was over 1 yr old) were anovulatory. I'm still spotting day 16 post MC, I don't think my body is gearing up for anything.
This is likely your period. As your body didn't miscarry naturally, it means that your HcG levels and progesterone both would have been quite high and trying to support a pregnancy. Once the HcG drops to where your body realises it isn't pregnant then you're progesterone will drop and you'll get a real period. It took my body 33 days, but my hcG levels were 58,000 when I miscarried.
Is it pretty typical to have a first cycle after MC anovulatory and also means it could pretty much come at any time once hCG drops?
I had a m/c that was found when I was almost 12 weeks back in 2008... the little one stopped growing at 8w 6d, just one week after we first saw the heartbeat. I had a d/c and just about 10 days after I got my period. I was so surprised I call my doc because I thought it was complications from the d/c (which went fine btw).
My DH really wanted to start trying right away and so we conceived my darling Clara about one month after the d/c. She is now a healthy and energetic 2 year old!
You just never know... Good luck!
I am very sorry for your loss and wish you all the luck in the world in conceiving again.
My doctor gave me the go ahead to start again as soon as I felt ready. He said there was no reason to have to wait. My miscarriage was at 11 weeks (no growth beyond 6 weeks) and was induced with Cytotec. But I never needed a D&C so I'm not sure if they like you to wait if you need one of those because there is probably extra trauma on your body.
One of my good friends conceived straight after a miscarriage at 6 weeks. She didn't even have a period in between. Some people say that you can be more fertile after a miscarriage but i'm not sure how much truth there is in that. I know another girl who is took 9 months for her period to return post m/c. Personally for me, it was 36 days before AF returned and then I only had a 10 day long LP. This is our second cycle post m/c and I'm 10 DPO so hoping for a BFP this month!
I didn't want to wait. I felt like if I could get pregnant again then I'd much easily be able to move on from what happened. But everyone is different so as long as there's no medical reason to wait, I would say do whatever you feel is best. Good luck!
Me (30) DH (33)PCOS (Metformin 850mgx2 daily)
born October 2010 (Pre-eclampsia and bed rest from 34 weeks, DS born 38 weeks) @ 11 weeks 28th October 2011 (ultrasound showed size to be only 6 weeks) @ 4 weeks 5 days 26th January 2012 @ 11th March 2012
My Chart
Thanks Hockey Mom and bellebelle for the stories. I appreciate them!
It turned out that the last bleeding cycle was my period but it kept going and going and going... I had to take progesterone to stop the bleeding. It worked and 2 weeks later, my period started again. It ended after 5 days and now I am on CD15 but no positive OPK yet. I am so so so hoping it comes tomorrow on CD16 like last month. I feel more stressed and depressed this month than I did in the 6 weeks following the m/c. I just feel like it's never going to happen. It doesn't help that everyone around me is either trying to get pregnant, pregnant or has just given birth. I guess we're at that point in our lives but it hurts.
Anyway, good luck to everyone and thanks for the support!
I'm sorry things aren't going that well, and I know with this stage of life it just make it harder with close friends with newborns or pregnancies. I'm on CD2 and we want to try this month...I hope we both get our healthy little babies soon!