My story- Natural miscarriage of a blighted ovum
queenL2 · Pass a Note!
Posted 01/06/2011
I wanted to share my blighted ovum story with the hope that it might help someone in the same situation.
My husband and I had been TTC our second child for about 8 mos. We finally got the positive test we were hoping for the second week of November. I had my first US at 6wk 3 days which revealed an empty sac (No fetal pole, no yolk sac just a gestational sac). I tried to stay calm because I remembered that my OB had difficulty finding a heartbeat during my first pregnancy (I have a tilted uterus). We agonized for a week then too, and it was in vain. The next ultrasound we found her heartbeat and all was well. So, needless to say I was hoping that we would have the same outcome this time. We waited through one of the longest weeks of our lives for the second ultrasound. In the meantime I began to do a lot of research on “empty sacs” which I came to know as a blighted ovum.
(Websites I found helpful)
http://www.ehow.com/how_5036848_make-blighted-ovum-not-misdiagnosed.html
http://www.misdiagnosedmiscarriage.com/
http://www.webmd.com/baby/guide/blighted-ovum
http://www.pregnancyloss.info/waitingforaf.htm#sex
http://www.webmd.com/baby/news/20100805/study-no-need-delay-pregnancy-after-miscarriage
The US was repeated at 7wks 5 days still an empty sac with some growth (although they said it was not enough). It was then the magnitude of what they were telling me hit and I begin to break down in the waiting room. I was likely going to lose this baby. How can this be when I still have morning sickness, tender breasts and a host of other pregnancy symptoms? My doctor wanted to schedule a “consultation” to discuss my options. In short, those were: D&C, Cytotec( misoprostal) or waiting for a natural miscarriage. From the advice I gleaned on the internet. I insisted on having my HCG tested. She had yet to test my HCG on either visit. My doctor looked at me like I was crazy. I could see the “what is the point” in her eyes. Nevertheless, I insisted so she reluctantly agreed.
I decided to wait for the natural miscarriage. Hear me because I don’t want to even appear as though I’m passing judgement on any woman for her choice in this very difficult situation. I’m just explaining how I arose at my decision. I’m always sceptical of unnecessary medical intervention and I was afraid to be wrong. I was also terribly uncomfortable with the idea of having a D&C. After reading so many stories of misdiagnosis on these boards it was completely unacceptable to me to rush to termination. I knew that I would always wonder “what if” and I couldn’t live with that. Besides, once I started to look at the risks involved with each option it quickly became apparent that natural miscarriage was the best and safest choice for me.
Cytotec - http://www.drugs.com/sfx/cytotec-side-effects.html
D&Chttp://www.americanpregnancy.org/unplannedpregnancy/surgicalabortions.html
http://www.answers.com/topic/dilation-and-curettage
Natural miscarriagehttp://www.webmd.com/baby/tc/miscarriage-home-treatment
I did worry about the risk of infection. However, I knew that there was the risk of infection if I had a D&C too. Yes, I wondered how I would endure weeks of waiting if it turned out to be the case...but I knew I could endure weeks of waiting easier than a lifetime of wondering “what if”.
The very next day, I felt discharge and scrambled to the bathroom to see if “it” was happening. I second guessed whether I had made the right decision. How could I handle running to the bathroom each time I felt any discharge. How could I handle wondering whether I’d be sitting in my office, driving my car or at the grocery store when suddenly an embarrassing gush of blood would initiate my miscarriage?
A few days later I got the results of my HCG and progesterone tests. The levels came back normal for the gestational age of my embryo. I took that sign as further confirmation that I should wait this thing out....just in case. I decided that is was really difficult to hear this. I didn’t quite know what to do with the information. I wanted to be hopeful but I didn’t want it to be false hope. It was great to have normal levels but I knew from research that my levels could still be normal with a BO because my body may not realize yet what has happened. I begin searching the internet for “miscarriage wait times”. Exactly when was this going to pass out of me? I got so many different answers from a few days to a few months. I was also curious how long I could safely wait to miscarry on my own. My doctor said a few weeks easily, yet after that my risk of infection grew with every week I waited. I chatted with other woman who had waited as long as 3 months for their BO’s to pass. Please don’t let that be me I thought. I knew my doctor would be pressuring me to abort long before then. I also realized that I could find no definitive times on how long I could safely wait. One lady I spoke with didn’t start her prenatal care until her 10th wk. So she didn’t discover her BO until then. She waited a few weeks to miscarry naturally even though by the sac size, the fetus had stopped growing many weeks earlier. I thought if she was able to safely wait it out for almost 6 weeks, why couldn’t I? I decided that at the end of my doctors approved four week wait period, if I still hadn’t miscarried I would insist on another HCG/progesterone test and ultrasound before I determined whether I would continue to wait or not.
After a few days of scrambling to the bathroom every time I “felt something”. I began to relax. Each day got easier. During the second week of waiting, I woke up one morning and panicked. I realized I didn’t have a single symptom of pregnancy anymore. I cried again, realizing once more that I was probably not going to be one of the ones who were “misdiagnosed”. By the third week I was really able to not be consumed by the blighted ovum anymore. Meaning, my life was getting back to normal and even though I was still waiting it didn’t consume my thoughts anymore. I thought I wouldn’t have peace with the blighted ovum until after the miscarriage had happened. That was not the case. Despite the craziness of the situation...the, “I’m pregnant...but I’m really not”. I’m going to miscarry...but I haven’t. I came to peace with the situation in a way that I didn’t think I would be able to until long after. I prayed a lot during this time and I know I had a lot of people praying for me. The waiting period really did give me time to come to terms with what was happening in my body.
Finally on Christmas Day, nearly 6 weeks after my first ultrasound (2 days shy of my 12th wk) showing an empty sac, I begin to miscarry. It started off as blood tinged stretchy mucus. About a day later it turned to spotting and a few hours after that the bleeding got heavier. The worst came in the middle of the night the day after Christmas. I kept getting up to go to the bathroom because I could feel the sliding sensations of the clots. I passed several huge clots that night. They felt maybe golf ball sized, but I was too chicken to look. Afterwards, there were only mild cramps and bleeding like a heavier version of my menstrual cycle. I had had no real pain (never needed Advil or anything) only a few cramps here and there. I bled for about 8 days then I spotted for a few days after and it was over.
I think we will wait a full cycle and then begin trying again. Hopefully next time we will get the healthy, happy baby we are hoping for. I know that I will never again take for granted how much your body goes through to have a baby. Nor how easily it can all be taken away.
