Getting Pregnant after Miscarriage

Preconception & Pregnancy Conception
1

I have had a miscarriage over the last 3 week - I was 7 weeks pregnant. A little over a week ago, I took some medicine (Cytotec) to help my body finish the miscarriage. I have finally stopped all of my bleeding.

Of course, the paperwork from the doctor says to go back on the pill for a month before trying to conceive again. However, I have read that your first 4-6 weeks after miscarriage you are your most fertile. We really don't want to wait a month to try again. Has anyone had experience with this that they would share?

2

Were you on the pill less than 6 months ago? If so, many believe that trying to conceive less than 6 months after you stopped the pill often results in miscarriage, and that is what happened to me, I truly believe thats the reason. I wouldn't go back on the pill at all, but I have no idea what Cytotec is nor have I heard of it, so I don't know what that does to your body, I certainly wouldn't try to get pregnant without finding out what that medicine does to your body as in how fertile you will be and if it will cause you to miscarry again if you conceive soon. Maybe thats why the doc thought you should go on the pill? Food for thought. Good luck, and baby dust!

3

Like Katie I do not know what the medicine does to your body . But I would listen to your doctor and wait . Why not use some other form or birth control for a little bit . Use condomes . I would let your body heal for a while . You may feel alright and ready to try but losing a baby is rough on a body .

4

I had a miscarriage and was told not to try again until I've had 3 normal periods in a row to make sure my body was back to normal. That took 5 months. I got pg the first time trying after that. My doctor said that if you try right away, you are at a very high risk for another miscarriage. You need to let the hormones subside first.

5

Casey,

So sorry to hear about your miscarriage. It's good that you are wanting to try again. My very cautious doctor actually said to wait 3 months before trying again because even though you are most fertile right after a miscarriage, you are also most likely to have another miscarriage if you get pregnant right away. We didn't quite make the full three months. We were pregnant again after two months. The earliest blood tests said my pregnancy started off with twins, but I gave birth to one perfectly healthy boy. Because you are most fertile, you are also likely to be releasing multiple eggs and becoming pregnant with twins. 3 of my 4 pregnancies started as twins, but I always gave birth to single babies. I don't know if it was the miscarriage that created the twins that time or the fact that twins run in my family.

Best wishes,
Shellie

6

Make sure to have a period before you get pregnant. I had three miscarriages between my daughter and my son (they are 6 years apart). I was 4 weeks along when I lost the 3rd one, not more than a week after my next period I was pregnant and SOOOO happy. I had no complications or anything with him. I say wait until after you have a period so that if there is anything (i.e.tissue) it will come out with your period.

Good luck and I'm sorry about your loss.

7

I'm so sorry for your lose; I feel your pain first hand. Here's my story, take from it what you like.

My husband and I got married in May 2003, we started trying right away to get pregnant, we were both eager to have a family.

Finally in June 2004 we got pregnant, this one ended in mis-carriage at 8 weeks (It was a molar pregnancy, so no actual baby was inside, it grew faster then a baby and had all the symptoms of being a baby, but it was actual grape like things growing inside, very weird). Our doctor suggested we wait for at least 3 months before we start trying again, due to more complications and higher risk of another mis-carriage if my body was not back to normal. Due to emotions running high at this point we did wait 1 month and then we never actually did anything to prevent a pregnancy.

Well, in April 2005 we started on clomid, and in May we were pregnant again, this one also ended in mis-carriage at 7 weeks, this was a normal mis-carriage (I have never went on the medication you are talking about, I lost all the tissue naturally). Our doctor once again told us to wait 3 months – we ended up getting pregnant 2 weeks after our 2nd mis-carriage and we now have a healthy 3 year old boy, born May 2006.

We again started trying right away for number 2, since it took us so long with number 1 and we did not want them that far apart in age.

In August 2007 we finally got pregnant again, to only have this one end in a normal mis-carriage at 8 weeks. We did not wait the suggested 3 months due to the 3rd one working out without waiting. Then in 2008 we went on Femera (like clomid) we got pregnant again finally in Jan. 2009 only to loose this one again. We did wait the suggested 3 months; it is now Sept. 2009 and still no luck at getting pregnant again. In the future if this happens again we will take our chances on another mis-carriage and try right away. I truly believe there is something in my body that needs that mis-carriage to get things going and to have a viable pregnancy, but that's just in my head I'm sure because it worked out with our son I so want it to work out again.

Good luck to you and I hope it all works out for the best for you (and us). I know how hard it is and how frustrating it is, especially when everyone around you is asking when you are going to have another baby.

Sorry my advice isn't straight forward, but I believe it is truly up to you as to how long you want to wait to try again and you also have to take into account that it is much more likely you will have another mis-carriage if you get pregnant right away. You just have to weigh how much you and your body can take. I have come to the conclusion in all this that we will get the baby we are meant to have, be it next month or 10 years from now, we got our precious little boy cause he was the one meant for us, so it WILL happen again and I will take any mis-carriage god wants to throw at me because I WILL get the baby I was meant to have when I am meant to have it. (and I am not an overly religious person and but I still belveive this)

8

I had 2 miscarriages, with one I got a D&C and with the other miscarried naturally. With the natural one, I was just told that I had to wait until it was completely out of my system. They checked this by taking my blood once a week and checking the hormone levels. Once it was all passed, I was clear to try again. I don't know why they would say not to start as long as you are sure it is all gone. And good luck...it will happen eventually. My doctor told me that a miscarriage that early is just God taking care of something that wasn't right.

9

If you are healthy mentally and physically, there is no reason to wait. Doctors want you to wait so they can more accurately "date" a pregnancy from your last period. I might want to wait until I've had one regular period for that same reason. I would not go on the pill for one month (and throw my hormones out of wack again??) when they warn you that the pill may not be totally effective for the first couple of months anyway. Use something easy like condoms, etc. And there is no predicting when a miscarriage will happen (after a miscarriage, or after going off the pill, for instance). Good Luck - many of us have had great normal pregancies right after miscarriages.

10

Bear in mind i have no real proof of this; it is, however, a very strong gut feeling. I miscarried at 11 1/2 weeks and, while it was not emotionally traumatic (we had a definite sense of meant-to-be about it), it WAS very physically traumatic. I lost a lot of blood, wound up in the ER, and had extremely low BP for almost a week thereafter--could not go an hour w/o 8oz of water; the blood lab could not find a vein to draw blood three days later. I waited the two months my surgeon suggested, during which I had very long cycles. I'm normally 23 days; these were like 31. I had a normal cycle my third month, and that's when we started trying. My cycles resumed normal length. I miscarried Aug 23, and we got pregnant over Christmas. I had the roughest pregnancy, and I believe, anxiety about loss aside, that my body was not yet ready to be pregnant. I've heard that it takes women 2 years for their body to recover from a pregnancy--and I suspect that, with my miscarriage, I did not give my body enough time to recover. I know all miscarriages are very different, but this is just something else to consider. I also know people who have gotten pregnant immediately post-miscarriage and had very successful pregnancies that felt great.

11

Because the next 4-6 you are so fertile is why after my miscarriage I tried again and was immediately pregnant again and got a wonderful daughter out of it.

12

We miscarried at 11 weeks, had a D&C, and since it had taken us almost a year to conceive the baby that miscarried, I didn't think we had a chance of conceiving right away. Sure enough, it "reset" my cycle somehow and we got pregnant 4 weeks later even though we were supposed to wait a couple months. We had a healthy baby girl. It helped with the healing process although it was a nerve-wrecking first trimester as I waited for something to go wrong with the pregnancy and prayed for everything to go right. I wish you the best.

13

When I miscarried I was about 7 weeks and it took my body about a month to complete the process without help. My Dr. only recommended to go on birth control if I had a D&C so my body could heal before I got pregnant again. Since I didn't do that my Dr. said I could try again when I was ready. I miscarried from september to October and found out I was pregnant the following January. We have a healthy daughter.

14

I had a miscarriage in late March. I then got a regular period in May. I conceived number two in July. My doctor mentioned waiting until I was emotionally ready but said physically I had the go ahead. My miscarriage was natural. I am not sure if Cytotec remains in your system and needs to be flushed out or not.

15

Casey,

I had a miscarriage the end of April and found out I was pregnant the beginning of July. I didn't know when to start taking my pills again and was waiting for my first cycle. You need to do what you think is best. Multiple miscarriages can be very hard on you physically and emotionally. But only you know when you are ready to try again.

Lisa

16

Do NOT go back on the pill. That would just mess with your body and it's natural hormonal levels. I had a miscarriage last February and it took us 3 months to concieve again. My doctor said that sometimes after a miscarriage you can be more fertile for a few months - I guess he means having good strong ovulations. I struggle with infertility.

I don't ever use any hormonal contraception. I'm very against putting something in your body (ie..the pill) to "fix" something that isn't broken. There are so many side effects from this and if you go back on it, you will be messing with your body's way of working to heal itself and start new again.

I've charted my cycles for 15 years. After I miscarried in February I noticed that I had a very late ovulation for the following month and then the second month my cycles seemed to go back to normal.

Unless you have a history of repeated miscarriages then there's nothing wrong with trying to concieve again right away. I did some research after our last miscarriage and there's no strong evidence out there they says you will miscarry again if you get pregnant too soon. I know of several people who've gotten pregnant right away and had a good healthy pregnancy.

Good luck with your decision!

17

From personal experience, I was told to wait 2 months to try again. We didn't want to risk anything so we did. This gives you body time to heal back to normal. I got pregnant 4 months after my miscarriage and had a healthy baby girl!! My sister-in-law miscarried at the same time and got pregnant 3 months after miscarrying.

Good Luck!!

18

I'm so sorry about your miscarriage! I too had one last year. Like you, I used cytotec, but it was at 16 weeks. I ended up losing a lot of blood and had a low hemoglobin. I bled for about 4 weeks, had two periods and got pregnant right after the second one. My miscarriage was at the beginning of Feb. and I got pregnant in the middle of April. My dr's only concern was that my hemoglobin was still on the low side, so had to take extra iron and monitor it closely. I too was so incredibly nervous, but now I have an eight month old little boy! Good luck!

19

Sorry to hear about your miscarriage. I hope you can conceive again soon! I just wanted to share that I had a miscarriage (about 5 weeks, no D&C) and got pregnant before my next period. I have a healthy 16 month old son! I would agree that if you haven't had any complications with your miscarriage that the real reasons that OBs suggest waiting is to make sure that you are ready emotionally and so they have a more accurate date when you become pregnant! Good luck!

20

You have gotten a lot of advice here and I just thought I would respond briefly. When we were trying to get pregnant wiht my duaghter, I had a miscarriage in the end of June/ July and again in September. We then got pregnant in the end of October/ early November and had my daughter in August. The nurse after I got pregnant (successful pregnancy) actually YELLED at me b/c I couldn't give them my last period because it was actaully my miscarriage that i was using as a date. I am not particulaly religious but I felt it was in god's hands to give us another child.

My doctor when I told her waht had happened (of course worrying the ENTIRE time I would lose this child) stated it is more for your emotional well being to wait. My husband was NOT supportive during this time as he felt I pushed him for a second. I would just recommend having a support network in case...I plan for worst case scenario and hope for better. Ultimately it is your decision to go a head or wait but it took losing 2 to make the magic happen for me and I was a nervous wreck the entire pregnancy and had to take meds to get my hormone levels up.

Good luck!!