# What it's like to have a D&C



## brightonwoman (Mar 27, 2007)

I was just reading through this thread http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=187976 about what it's really like to have a miscarriage, and noticed that most of the stories are of miscarrying naturally.
I miscarried naturally the first time, and nearly hemorrhaged and spent time in the ER. When I had a missed miscarriage the following year, I opted for a D&C, granted, it was out of fear, but it felt like the right choice at the time.
After the fact, I realized that if I had really known what a D&C would be like, I would have opted to sit at home and wait it out.

So I think it might be helpful to share some stories of what it's like to have a D&C. Is there a thread about this already?

I found that having a D&C was easy physically. I found that it was far harder emotionally though. As someone on the other thread said, she walked into the hospital pregnant (with a dead baby, yes, but with a baby) and then a few hours later she woke up and was not pregnant anymore, with no real physical process in between--and therefore no emotional process either.
I had only very light spotting and minimal cramping following my D&C. It was a lot less than a period. I was not in physical pain really. I wasn't tired or anemic or any of the things that I had been following my natural miscarriage. However, I felt a gaping hole emotionally. I had been able to hold my first baby's body, tiny as it was, but after a D&C there is no body to hold or say goodbye to. There is nothing even to look at. There is no pain or even ache to send messages to your brain that a change is taking place. It's like flipping a switch, but then it takes a while for the light to actually flicker on.
When I was diagnosed with another missed miscarriage later that year, I opted to let nature take it's course. My DH found this very difficult and urged me to get the D&C and "have it overwith" but I waited it out. It took three weeks (which shocked everyone at the OBs office, they said they'd never seen someone take so long to begin spotting after a u/s diagnosis of fetal demise). Those were three very long very emotional weeks. BUT, when it came down to it, I was able to grieve in those weeks, to process what was going on. I had time to say goodbye.
I am grateful for D&Cs, they do have a place. I wouldn't go back and change what I did--I wasn't pressured into any choices and I think I did the right things for me at the times I did them. But I would not choose a D&C for myself again unless there was a strong medical indication (like hemorrhaging)


----------



## cappuccinosmom (Dec 28, 2003)

Quote:

I found that having a D&C was easy physically. I found that it was far harder emotionally though.
I had the same experience. Well, the *process* was easier. The physical recovery took a lot longer than my natural miscarriage.

Because I was so horribly nauseated from the molar pregnancy causing my hormones to be completely whacked, they decided they didn't want to risk me vomiting and aspirating, so they put me under completely. The worst part of it was the hours of signing in, waiting, having to be wheeled all around the place for x-rays and such, and waiting some more. Then they got me into the OR, I was looking at the ceiling, and then I woke up looking at the ceiling of the recovery ward.


----------



## lach (Apr 17, 2009)

I've had 2 D&C from m/c that never passed. One never developed a heartbeat and I didn't find out until 14 weeks. It was making me quite ill but showing no signs of passing. The second stopped growing at 8 weeks and I found out at 13. It, too, was showing no signs of passing.

I personally didn't feel emotionally scarred from the D&C. I felt emotionally scarred that my body didn't work right: a double whammy, since not only couldn't I keep a baby alive but I apparently couldn't even miscarry properly. (This is how I felt). In both cases I was very happy to have it all over and done with. I never had any interest whatsoever in seeing or holding the fetus. In the first case, it was really just a sac.


----------



## Guinevere (Apr 17, 2004)

My experience was similar to lach -- I had a blighted ovum, but had no idea anything was wrong until I was 10w along. I still had horrid nausea and all the other symptoms of pg, but no baby to show for it







, and it had been that way for at least 4w already.

I was extremely sad, but never considered waiting who-knows-how-much-longer to m/c naturally. I wasn't even spotting, and I felt exactly as lach described -- that not only could I not be pg properly, I couldn't even m/c appropriately.







Every pang of nausea afterwards felt cruel and unnecessary -- knowing there was no hope, I just wanted it over with ASAP.

The D&C was untraumatic physically and my physical recovery was equally smooth, although my hormones were quite messed up for several months afterwards. Emotionally, I was in a lot of pain: confused, depressed, desperate to conceive again soon, weepy at everything, losing my temper at everything, too. But I really don't think m/c naturally would have made any of that better -- it was my grief process, and I had to slog through it regardless of how I m/c, yk?

Just offering another perspective...m/c is such an individual experience, and I know when I found out the pg wasn't viable, reading everyone's stories here really helped me to see there was no right or wrong way to go about this. It also really helped me to know the range of what to expect.

Guin


----------



## bella99 (Sep 25, 2008)

The D&C was the best thing I could have done in the circumstances. I only started spotting at 10w2day, after having had an u/s at 7w5d with an embryo only measuring 6w1d. Who knows how long it would have taken.

Honestly, I feel it would have been emotionally traumatic for me to have waited for the miscarriage to happen on its own, especially since it had been who knows how long since the embryo had died. I made the decision to have the D&C because I knew it would be better for me emotionally and physically.

I had very mild cramping afterwards and light spotting for a few days. I wouldn't change a thing, it was absolutely the right thing for me.

I agree with the PP that having a miscarriage is very much an individual experience, and that different decisions end up being right for different people. I wouldn't presume to know what's right for someone else. I don't think a D&C is right for everyone, but it is right for many people.


----------



## brightonwoman (Mar 27, 2007)

apologies if I implied that miscarrying 'naturally' is better. I agree with all the PPs who have said that it is a very personal thing and that even for the same woman, what is a good decision one time might not be right another time (for those of us who've miscarried multiple times). As I said, I certainly don't regret having had teh D&C when I did. I just wish I'd realized better how my grieving would be affected by having such a different physical process. Perhaps it is not the same for someone who has not done it both ways?


----------



## Milk8shake (Aug 6, 2009)

I have had one "natural" loss, and two D&Cs. I think that the decision is so personal, and everyone's circumstances vary so widely. Here is my 2c.

I say "natural" because none of it felt natural to me. My baby was perfect, and my body was not. It was the most uniquely traumatic and terrifying experience of my life. Granted, I had not been diagnosed with fetal demise, so I had no idea that it was going to happen. Also, part of the negative aspect for me was that I was so scared, I ended up in ED, and they did not handle it well.

It was incredibly painful, I laboured, and I bled, and bled, and bled for _days_. No painkillers could touch me, and I had to sit on a towel at home and in the car.
Every time I went to the loo, or the shower, there was so much blood. I was afraid that I was going to die. I could feel it gushing whenever I stood up.

Emotionally, it was awful, but I do believe that any loss is.

When I had my second and third losses, I opted for the D&Cs almost straight away. I was scared, but I knew that I could not go through that again. The pain was minimal in comparison, and pretty well controlled, the recovery reasonable, with very little bleeding.

It's difficult for me to compare emotionally, because I was head over heels with my first pregnancy, but with the following two, I was much more cautious about becoming attached. You could definitely say that it felt very clinical and impersonal. It was also very lonely.
But, it was the right thing for me, and I absolutely do not regret it.


----------



## rcr (Jul 29, 2008)

I had a D&C on Friday. I found out I had blighted ovum 5 weeks before that, and tried to wait for it to happen naturally, but after five weeks of waiting, I elected for the D&C.

I thought that the anesthesia was the worst part of the whole procedure. The thought of being under anesthesia was really scary to me. After I got dressed in the hospital gown, they gave me a shot (in the IV), of something that would "relax" me, as they described it. I actually did just that. Then, after about 15 minutes, they gave me another shot of it, and I don't remember much from that point on. Apparently at that point I was still conscious - since my DH was there and I was not in the operating room yet, but I don't remember being wheeled to the operating room, kissing my DH good-buy, or anything after that second shot. The next thing I remember was waking up in a room with about 6 other women, with a nurse assigned to each woman. About 15 minutes after that, they wheeled me back to the room where I left DH (he was still there), and I recovered for about 30-45 minutes, and then got dressed and left.

There was almost no bleeding afterward, although I was (still am) very constipated. They gave me an antibiotic to take for three days.

Emotionally, it was actually not so bad. I had been dealing with the loss for 5 weeks before the D&C, so I think that helped emotionally. I guess it would be a lot worst emotionally if I had done the D&C right away. I liken it to my grief over my mom's Alzheimer's disease - people always expect me to be really really sad over the loss of her, but actually, I grieved over it when she was diagnosed 6 years ago, so now that it is getting worse, it is not so bad, y/k.

Anyway, that's my story.


----------



## baby3in2011 (May 27, 2010)

i was diagnosed with a blighted ovum at 10 weeks, opted to wait a week to see if maybe, just maybe the baby was missed...that was a tough week and i came to terms with the loss and knew i'd want a d&c to get past it as soon as i could, if there were a baby i think i would have felt differently about it. after pathology results were in i was told it wasn't a blighted ovum, but a partial molar pregnancy so i ended up having weekly blood draws for over a month which only dragged out the horrible experience. i had some physical pain for a while and the spotting was too bad, but it was worse than the d&c i had after DS was born due to hemmoraging.


----------



## FairyLady (Sep 10, 2010)

I just said farewell to my due date club. Would have been 8 weeks on Thursday, the doc told me today that the pregnancy is not viable. The gestational sac is mis-shapen and the little yolk never turned into anything.

I am now faced with the very decision of natural miscarriage or D&C. Neither appeal. Since I just got the news today I guess I'll just sleep on it tonight and hopefully have some more perspective in the morning. I have no signs of spotting or bleeding. No cramping. I would just hate to "wait it out" for weeks and then end up doing the D&C anyway. I don't know, this is hard.


----------



## lach (Apr 17, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *FairyLady* 
I just said farewell to my due date club. Would have been 8 weeks on Thursday, the doc told me today that the pregnancy is not viable. The gestational sac is mis-shapen and the little yolk never turned into anything.

I am now faced with the very decision of natural miscarriage or D&C. Neither appeal. Since I just got the news today I guess I'll just sleep on it tonight and hopefully have some more perspective in the morning. I have no signs of spotting or bleeding. No cramping. I would just hate to "wait it out" for weeks and then end up doing the D&C anyway. I don't know, this is hard.



















I'm so sorry







It's definitely tough. I hope that you get the support that you need for whatever your decision is. To be honest, it's such a personal decision that I can't imagine this thread is actually all that helpful to anyone facing this choice. Some people really are fine just getting it all over with, and others would prefer to wait. I definitely don't think that there is a right or wrong way.

FWIW, my hospital offered a miscarriage and birth loss support group that was drop in and met weekly. I found it inordinately helpful. I would definitely see if there are any similar resources in your area. Everyone grieves differently (including, to warn you, you and your partner), and it's fairly common for it to not really hit you until later... for example, when your period returns.


----------



## rcr (Jul 29, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *lach* 









To be honest, it's such a personal decision that I can't imagine this thread is actually all that helpful to anyone facing this choice.

I'm not sure I agree, when I was looking at my choices, and while waiting for 5 weeks for a natural miscarriage to happen, I think that any information about what the procedure was like was very helpful. For example, had I thought that it would be a long, horrible recovery process I may have made a different choice. I like to be informed about the medical choices I make.


----------



## phoenix78 (Jul 18, 2008)

I agree it is a very personal choice. It took my providers 11 days post-diagnosis of no heartbeat at 12.5 weeks to arrange the D&C. I had hoped it would happen naturally. I had severe cramping the whole time so when yesterday rolled around, I was glad I had the surgery scheduled. It actually went better than I thought it would. I was in recovery within an hour, the actual procedure onlly took 15 minutes. No complications. I had some nausea because I had general anasthesia but was home after about 5 hours. I feel a lot of relief that it is over finally. THe limbo period was awful for me. Blessings and peace for whatever is to come for you OP.


----------



## DanielleT (Apr 29, 2010)

I had a m/c in May and i found out i had A VERY LARGE blood clot on my uterus after i started bleeding, they told me chances of babies surviving was not likling but to "take it easy"...well the next day i started to hemerage (sp?) so i went to the ER and they tried to stop the bleeding and in order to save my life they had to complete a d & C; and at that point i didn't even know if babies were ok or not...however just before i went in they had gotten my blood results and babies did pass but for me the whole process leading up to the d&c was far more traumatizing then the d&c...my physical recoving was hard, i had lost so much blood that i extremely weak for months...


----------



## lach (Apr 17, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *rcr* 
I'm not sure I agree, when I was looking at my choices, and while waiting for 5 weeks for a natural miscarriage to happen, I think that any information about what the procedure was like was very helpful. For example, had I thought that it would be a long, horrible recovery process I may have made a different choice. I like to be informed about the medical choices I make.

I totally agree, but in reading this thread it seemed to be more about the emotional toll of a D&C itself. That is, IMO, very personal.

The procedure itself is a piece of cake. Takes about 15 minutes. I recommend having them knock you out completely, even though some people do react poorly to anesthesia. I only had local anesthesia for my first one, and all I'll say is that listening to the procedure was by far the worst part of anything. Afterwards you bleed for a few days to a weeks. It might be gushy at first and then just a trickle, or it might not be all that much. As with any surgery, there are risks of complications. However, since there isn't any cutting and it's not particularly invasive I doubt the risks are all that high. I think the biggest risk is if they don't get all the tissue and your body still thinks that you're pregnant.


----------



## aphel (Sep 3, 2010)

I had a D&C last July for a blighted obum, I was a little over 5 weeks. I have endometriosis and was having a lot of pain in my left side. I was kind of pressured into the D&C so that an ectopic could be ruled out.

It turns out I was massively constipated and also had a small cyst on my left ovary which was jutted up against a rather swollen intestine. Combined with the fact that I almost always have left side pain due to implants/adhesions, there was really no reason to assume that there was an extrauterine pregnancy. Going in, there was a possibility that if no pregnancy tissue was found, they would put me under general and immediately move me to an OR to do an exploratory lap.

When I woke up from the procedure, I had no idea what I was waking up from. I asked my fiancee over and over again if they were sure there was no baby, and if there was any way they had taken out a viable pregnancy (I have no memory of this, I wasn't even fully conscious yet). Even though my bHCG had plateaud and it really was impossible that the pg was viable, I feel I was rushed and obviously had not yet come to terms with what was going on.

In hindsight, I probably would have gotten a D&C eventually, because we only had a six month window in which to concieve before we would have had to move on to IVF. But the rush was unnecessary, and the fear of the ectopic pregnancy and of losing a tube when I was already dealing with endo was unfair.

Just another case of doctors overreacting, and trying to cover their own behinds rather than truly *caring* for a patient.


----------



## mommy2emily(jen) (Aug 13, 2006)

I just had a d&c last Tuesday. I had a missed miscarriage. I was 11w2days and the ultrasound had the baby growth stopped at 8w3days. I had had a ultrasound at 6wsomethin days and saw a heartbeat. My husband was the deciding factor in the d&c. We were having issues with Tricare Standard and my mind coudln't really wrap itself around eveyrthing. I was ready to just wait, but it had already been three weeks and my husband was so freaked out about it. He really didn't want us to do it at home. I probably woudl have waited another week but I still was not having any signs of miscarrying anytime soon. The procedure was pretty simple, I was asleep. I woke up with cramping, feeling liek I was gushing blood but I wasn't. Didn't bleed more really at all the whole first week, just with wiping. Then the second week hit, I got sick of the diaper rash feeling i was getting from pads and inserted my diva cup. (was told one week was all i had to wait) and voila, blood. Lots of it for about 4 days. I feel so much better, its like my body knew it needed to get rid of more blood but wasn't able to for whatever reason. I was really sore the first few days as in in I didnt' want to bend down over and over. The cramping wasn't quite like menstrual cramps because I would they hurt worse, but it was sort of like a stomach ache pain youd get wiht diarhea. I know graphic sorry. so well see how the next few days go.


----------



## rdbx1800 (Sep 30, 2010)

I had three d&C's - I wanted to have the products of conception tested and this seemed like the best way. Each time I regretted not having a natural miscarriage but this last time, I stopped regretting it. I came to the realization that it's ok to make the best choice for me in these moments, even though, yes I agree that you miss something by not seeing the fetus, not saying goodbye that way. Two of my m/c's were missed miscarriages at 9-10 weeks and one was a blighted ovum. I have created other ways to say goodbye - mainly through a poem that I wrote during m/c#1 that's still very meaningful to me. In my case, I think my mind is looking for something to feel guilty about - whether it's the way I let the fetus go or the treatment I had during the pregnancy - but I am really trying to stop challenging what I can't know and focus on what I can. Thus my blog, which I invite everyone to visit - http://prayingforpregnancy.wordpress.com/


----------



## savithny (Oct 23, 2005)

Honestly, I kind of resent the repeated assertion that somehow you HAVE to wait and cramp and bleed and suffer in order to "process" a missed miscarriage correctly.

I've miscarried both ways: I had a D&C at 12.5 weeks for a missed miscarriage that had not started at least 2 weeks after fetal demise, and I had a natural miscarriage at about 6 weeks. I didn't feel that doing it naturally helped me heal or gave me closure at all. It certainly wasn't superior, in terms of my grieving process or my psyche.

For me, sitting around, knowing that I had death inside me, waiting and waiting, wondering if every random drippy feeling was the beginning of the end -- was torture. Pure and simple. For my own mental health, in order to begin processing and moving on, the D&C was a good thing. I felt like a vessel of death. I remember walking around the grocery store thinking "My precious secret - that I have a baby -- is now an awful death secret." The D&C was a huge relief, both physically and emotionally, and I have never, ever regretted it.

The one thing that I tell people having a D&C is this: Because your hormones have refused to release the pregancy, you may well have a hormonal crash after it that is very parallel to post-birth hormone crashes, but without the happy nursing hormones to offset it. Since my natural miscarriage was so much earlier, I don't know if I can compare it as far as the crash goes, but I seem to remember it was more like a tapering.


----------



## MovnMama (Jul 3, 2009)

I just had my D&C today, after three weeks of waiting. I would have been 11 weeks today and there was no heartbeat at 8 weeks. I agree with PP that the waiting was VERY hard on me and, really, there was no end in sight. What I really wish was that my body had m/c'd on it's own.

Because I had a (traumatizing) c-section with my son, and am fearful of hospitals, it was a noxious experience to have the D&C. The actual procedure was fine, and my recovery is like many have said: very little bleeding, very little cramping. I don't think that I would have processed anything "better" with a natural m/c, just because of the pain and experience. Walking around with a dead baby was bad enough, and I came to terms with losing the fetus well before it was gone.

My issue is that, I feel broken. I feel like, once again, as with the c-section, my body could not do what it was supposed to do and has failed me. Which means I failed. So I couldn't deliver my son, I couldn't miscarry properly... Ugh, it makes me feel like I'm physically and/or psychologically dysfunctional and should I even try to get pregnant again? Because let's be real... has it ever turned out well for my uterus?

Ultimately, losing a baby sucks. Pain can be cleansing for a lot of people, and so natural is a good option. I really did want that option. But ultimately, I wasn't patient enough, or my body is broken, whatever... My cleansing pain comes from tattooing myself anyhow. I've already lost my chance to do anything completely "naturally" given my first birth and now this, so where to go from here?

When you hit bottom, the only way out is up, right?


----------



## levi9 (Aug 9, 2009)

Found out about the loss at my 12-week ultrasound. Their recommendation was that I NOT have it taken care of at the hospital, that it would not be a good experience. On the recommendation of my midwife, I went to a wonderful abortion clinic and, considering the awful circumstances, had a wonderful experience there. No "herding" of women and my husband was with me the entire time. I was in and out in a few hours and treated with care and respect the entire time. It was part of the "early options" network of providers, and I've been happy to be able to refer other friends there for unwanted pregnancies.

It had already been a few weeks since the pregnancy had ended and I couldn't imagine just waiting around for it to happen (though I did finally start bleeding a little the morning of the procedure). It felt like the one piece I could control. If I had found out differently, it may have changed how I wanted to go about it. But there are caregivers out there who don't think the hospital, assembly-line procedure is the way to go.


----------



## TCMoulton (Oct 30, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *levi9* 
But there are caregivers out there who don't think the hospital, assembly-line procedure is the way to go.


Just wanted to share my experience - I had my recent D&C at my hospital and it was anything but an assembly-line procedure. Mine was outpatient, performed in day surgery. The nurses were all aware of why I was there and they couldn't have been kinder to me and my husband was at my side until I walked back to the procedure room. I had twilight anaesthesia so I was awake minutes after the procedure was completed and they let me leave as soon as I felt well enough to dress and walk unassisted which was less than 30 minutes in recovery.
Just because a procedure is performed in a hospital doesn't mean that it has to be horrible. I'm glad that you were able to find a more comfortable fit for your experience at a horrible moment in life but I know that I personally would have felt very uncomfortable in a clinic where others were having elective abortions at such a terribly sad time for me, losing a very wanted baby.


----------



## lach (Apr 17, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *TCMoulton* 
Just wanted to share my experience - I had my recent D&C at my hospital and it was anything but an assembly-line procedure. Mine was outpatient, performed in day surgery. The nurses were all aware of why I was there and they couldn't have been kinder to me and my husband was at my side until I walked back to the procedure room. I had twilight anaesthesia so I was awake minutes after the procedure was completed and they let me leave as soon as I felt well enough to dress and walk unassisted which was less than 30 minutes in recovery.
Just because a procedure is performed in a hospital doesn't mean that it has to be horrible. I'm glad that you were able to find a more comfortable fit for your experience at a horrible moment in life but I know that I personally would have felt very uncomfortable in a clinic where others were having elective abortions at such a terribly sad time for me, losing a very wanted baby.

LOL, I agree. I'm not even sure what is meant by an "assembly line procedure." So far as I know, there weren't a whole line of women in need of D&C that they moved along on a conveyor belt! Mine was performed by my OB, who sat with me in the impatient area and chatted to me while I was being prepped and the anesthesiologist prepared everything. Then we left DH in the pre-OP area and she escorted me (lying on my little bed) to the operating room where I was put under. There were a bunch of other people at all of these steps, but I thought that it was really nice that my OB took the time to be there before my operation. She works for a pretty large practice that's part of a really big health care conglomerate, too. I felt that everyone was very sensitive and thoughtful.

Well, almost everyone. The anesthesiologist was an *#(&@# who didn't believe me when I told him that no one in the history of my medical patient career has ever been able to stick a needle in the vein inside my left elbow and he should use the right one. He seemed to take this as a personal challenge. DH said later that he's actually glad about this experience, though, because I was so annoyed and yelling at him that it meant I stopped crying







(And, FWIW, he only gave up after my OB _and_ the nurse started telling him to please just use the right arm. My left arm was black and blue for days from all his needle attempts







)

So that's my "bad" hospital experience, but I don't think it made to into assembly-line territory. I bet there are pompous jacka**e* who work in small clinics, too


----------



## savithny (Oct 23, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *MovnMama* 
My issue is that, I feel broken. I feel like, once again, as with the c-section, my body could not do what it was supposed to do and has failed me. Which means I failed. So I couldn't deliver my son, I couldn't miscarry properly... Ugh, it makes me feel like I'm physically and/or psychologically dysfunctional and should I even try to get pregnant again? Because let's be real... has it ever turned out well for my uterus?

I don't know if you will find this helpful -- I did during my missed miscarriage.

As I understand it, a missed miscarriage happens when the placenta hangs on after the baby stops developing (usually because there was a mixup with the genes when sperm met egg). It doesn't mean your body failed -- it means that everything was working right, except that one peice of information that got lost when either sperm or egg was made. The systems that make implantation work, that hang onto the fertilized egg and grow it, that make a placenta and hang onto it -- all of that worked just like it was supposed to. They're supposed to hang on until the maternal/fetal hormones together send the signal that its time for labor to start, so that's what they did.

Anyway, that was reassuring to me, somehow.


----------



## lach (Apr 17, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *savithny* 
I don't know if you will find this helpful -- I did during my missed miscarriage.

As I understand it, a missed miscarriage happens when the placenta hangs on after the baby stops developing (usually because there was a mixup with the genes when sperm met egg). It doesn't mean your body failed -- it means that everything was working right, except that one peice of information that got lost when either sperm or egg was made. The systems that make implantation work, that hang onto the fertilized egg and grow it, that make a placenta and hang onto it -- all of that worked just like it was supposed to. They're supposed to hang on until the maternal/fetal hormones together send the signal that its time for labor to start, so that's what they did.

Anyway, that was reassuring to me, somehow.

Thank you, I did not know that. Like MovnMama, I really felt like my body was broken when I had my missed m/c. Not only was I unable to keep a baby alive, my body was so inept that it couldn't even miscarry. I mean, how pathetic that I couldn't even screw up properly!

That, to me, was much harder than the D&C. I was happy to get it all over with. I had no interest in seeing anything. It did make me wonder what happened before ultrasounds and before D&Cs when this happened. It's all gotta come out _eventually_, right? But with my first one, the empty sac had been hanging around for 3 months and was showing no signs of anything.


----------



## mama2eb (Feb 28, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *TCMoulton* 
Just wanted to share my experience - I had my recent D&C at my hospital and it was anything but an assembly-line procedure. Mine was outpatient, performed in day surgery. The nurses were all aware of why I was there and they couldn't have been kinder to me and my husband was at my side until I walked back to the procedure room. .

I had a D&C last Friday...baby stopped developing/no heartbeat at 10 weeks. In light of the situation, I had a good experience at the hospital, was able to have the procedure the same day as finding out, and had more than normal bleeding (2 hour recovery) which would have been very scary at home for me. I was nervous about the general anasthesia but all went well. Also, the entire staff-OB, anesthesiologist, and nurses helped take care and include my family in the process.


----------



## Caneel (Jun 13, 2007)

I had one D & C, two natural passings, and one passing aided by some drug that causes the uterus to contract. (I can't remember the name of the drug, let alone spell it)

We had a period of time between learning the pregnancy wasn't viable to the actual D & C. Two or three weeks maybe? I decided to go ahead with the D & C because of my doctor's recommendation and a strong feeling of wanting to move forward.

Because we had time to process it and grieve for the loss, I was ok with the procedure. I didn't not feel like I was walking in with a baby but leaving without one. (I do understand why someone might have that emotion)

The D & C was the first big medical procedure I had so the overall experience was a lot to process. I had no clue what to expect as far as the pre-op, waiting to be taken to the operating room, recovery room, etc.

I do remember feeling sad and alone while waiting because I was sad and alone. I don't know why DH wasn't waiting with me, that part is hazy.

I started to cry and a nurse came over to talk to me. She was really very sweet. The anesthesiologist struck up a conversation with me and it turned out we had something in common and I remember him asking me if I wanted to talk about subject X to rather than the situation at hand and I said I did. So we chattered about subject X as I was wheeled through the halls and into the OR. When he brought me out of it, I started up the conversation right where we left off.

I remember feeling wacked out after I came to and I needed the nurse to help me use the bathroom, that feeling of helplessness was very unpleasant.

The physical recovery wasn't bad, I was tender for a day or two but then felt fine.

I don't regret it, it was the right choice for me at the time. I do wish I would have know more about the entire process, which is why I am participating in this thread. It is what I wished I could have read prior to my D & C.

Slightly off-topic maybe but I will say the at-home, drug-aided passing was horrible. My OB was on vacation when it was determined that my 4th pregnancy wasn't viable.

I was seen by another doc in the practice, the "Wonder OB" that everyone raves about.

I was given the Rx (miso something or other) and told to expect mild-to-moderate cramping. The pain and cramping was so bad I vomitted non-stop for 3 hours. I couldn't move off the bathroom floor. It scared DH so much that he called the on-call doctor, a resident, who talked me through the transition and kept in phone contact with me until I felt better. The resident was awesome and said she was surprised that Wonder OB didn't prepare me for the physical symptoms. I most definately regretted that particular choice of natural versus assisted. Wonder OB got an earful from me next time I was in the office.


----------

