Miscarriage is the lay term for what is medically referred to as a spontaneous abortion. It refers to the loss of a pregnancy in the early stages, usually prior to 20 weeks or before the the fetus reaches 500 grams, where it is not viable for the fetus to exist outside of the uterus. It is also known as early pregnancy loss before 12 weeks although this term may also include an induced abortion where a woman purposefully undergoes any medical or surgical treatment to end the pregnancy. Late miscarriages occur after the first 12 weeks and before the first 24 weeks of pregnancy. Up to 20% of pregnancies (2 out of 10) end in miscarriage and in the majority of cases this occurs in the first trimester (12 weeks). However, miscarriage is mainly a once off occurrence and a woman may go on to have a health full term pregnancy afterwards. Less than 1 out of 100 women will experience 2 to 3 consecutive miscarriages.
A miscarriage is not an unusual event in pregnancy but should always be investigated further to ascertain the cause. This is important to identify underlying disorders that could be life threatening for the mother or jeopardize future pregnancies. Miscarriage is the common term for spontaneous abortion. It means the the pregnancy is terminated spontaneously without purposeful intervention to end the pregnancy as is the case in induced abortion. It occurs before 20 weeks of pregnancy. A spontaneous abortion can be further classified as an early abortion if it occurs before 12 weeks of pregnancy (first trimester) or between 12 and 20 weeks.
Bleeding at any stage of pregnancy should be a cause for concern and medical advice should be sought immediately. It is important to bear in mind that the first trimester is a ‘touch-and-go’ time in any pregnancy. A host of complications are possible in early pregnancy that can lead to a miscarriage or threaten the life of the mother. Vaginal bleeding is one of those important signs that should alert expectant mothers of a possible problem.
Every year there are hundreds of thousands of women suffering from the devastating affects of miscarriage; while some get through this time relatively easy for others it can be devastating, leaving the women with many feelings such as grieving, guilt, inferiority and depression. One thing that almost all women will have in common is the question why me?
Unfortunately in many cases the question can’t be answered as miscarriages can and do just happen without what seems to be any clear reason, this is very often the hardest part to deal with. However some causes can be explained and while this doesn’t make it any easier to deal with at least you’re not left wondering why.
