# Bleeding after miscarriage: What's Normal?



## longtallanimal (Apr 21, 2009)

Hi there,

This is actually the first time I have posted in MDC since finding out my baby had died. I went in to my midwife 6/16 to hear the hb, and that day I should have been 12 weeks along. She couldn't find the heartbeat and sent me for an ultrasound, and we found out then that the baby had stopped growing at 8 weeks. I waited to have the mc naturally, and when it hadn't happened 1.5 weeks after we found out the baby was "gone," I took a dose of Cytotec vaginally, and miscarried that night (6/27). I had contractions, felt the sensation that I was pretty sure was my water breaking, and started bleeding.

The thing is that I am _still_ bleeding. Tomorrow will be four weeks since the miscarriage and I am still spotting, and sometimes bleeding a little heavier than what I would consider spotting, with occasional strings/bits of bloody mucus. I took a pregnancy test 2 weeks ago, and it was negative. I have spoken with my midwife, who assured me that it was normal to bleed/spot up to 6 weeks after a miscarriage like mine. I have not seen a doctor because I've been trying to avoid it, although my mother has encouraged me to go and see one. Today I was standing at work (I have a desk job) and felt a particuarly large "sploosh" of blood come out onto my pad, and it has me worried/skeptical

I wanted to ask you knowledgeable ladies about your experiences. This forum has helped me feel "not alone" during both my pregnancy and miscarriage experiences, and I was hoping for a bit of sage experience.


----------



## Manessa (Feb 24, 2003)

I'm so sorry for your loss







I had a miscarriage using cytotec too. Unfortunatly I had a piece of retained tissue and required a d&c 7 weeks after my loss. My bleeding was definately more than spotting though, but it would get a little better and then get heavy again. However, I did test positive on a pregnancy test 5 weeks after my loss (that was my first clue that something wasn't right). The next step was to have an ultrasound, and that showed that my uterus had a lot of blood and a piece of placenta that was vascular. I'm not sure what "normal" is, I just know that my experience wasn't. You may want to request an ultrasound so that you can get a clear picture of what's going on. Hope that helps


----------



## MarineWife (May 1, 2004)

I'm so sorry for you loss.









I had a miscarriage at 11 weeks. I found out at about 10w that my baby had died at around 8w. It took a week from the time I found to start bleeding but 3 weeks from the time the baby had actually died. I bled like a regular period for 10 days, had 2 days of brown spotting, then had very light bright red bleeding for another 7 days followed by 3 days of brown spotting. That's a total of about 3 weeks of bleeding/spotting. I was getting concerned because I didn't want to not do anything if there was a problem and end up causing permanent damage. I've now had 2 days of nothing so it seems to be over for me.

My midwife told me that as long as it wasn't heavy bleeding and/or didn't have a foul smell and/or I didn't have any other signs of infection/flu-like symptoms it was probably ok. Someone else told me that having the bleeding/spotting to last up to 6 weeks just like after having a baby is normal. Based on that, I'd say what you are experiencing is within normal. You may have some blood clots. That might be what that whoosh you felt was. I'm not a medical professional so I'm just brainstorming.

You could try some herbs/teas to help things along. Red Raspberry leaf tea, and vitamins C and E can help. Blue or black cohosh are the two herbs listed in my herbal book to use to help with a miscarriage. One of those is absolutely contraindicated if breastfeeding and the other is sort of like a category C med. It has been used without problems but has not been determined to be safe. I can't remember which is which now.


----------



## WaitingForKiddos (Nov 30, 2006)

This seems like it varies for everyone. I was a bit over 19 weeks and I bled for 8 1/2 days at about a normal period flow. Then a day of nothing and then the next day I woke up at the time of Amelia's death (2:20am) with a small gush of blood. That was the night before last. Since then, nothing. I'm hoping it's over with.

I was given 2 cytotec in labor. I pushed both tablets out completly undissolved. I did take one orally, but I was well into contractions at that point. My placenta was supposedly intact but I passed a silverdollar size piece about 12 hours after the birth.










It's tough when your body doesn't just get this physical part over with.


----------



## Amy&4girls (Oct 30, 2006)

I'm so sorry for your loss. I think there is a wide variation of normal and varies from one person to the next and can even vary from one miscarriage to the next for the same person. My thoughts are w/you during this time.


----------

