What Happens To Your Body After A Miscarriage

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Written by Editorial Team

Editorial Team

With a rich experience in pregnancy and parenting, our team of experts create insightful, well-curated, and easy-to-read content for our to-be-parents and parents at all stages of parenting..

Pregnancy and childbirth are experiences which all women cherish. It is something they definitely want to experience, because this is what completes a woman. But in a few unfortunate cases, women go through miscarriages. These can be heart breaking.
Miscarriage means losing a baby in pregnancy. The pregnancy ends on its own within 20 weeks of gestation. The reasons are varied, but the most common reason is that there is something wrong with the baby’s chromosomes. Chances of miscarrying increase with age.

Physical Symptoms Of Miscarriage:
Effects Of Miscarriage:
How To Cope With Miscarriage?

Physical symptoms of miscarriage:

1. Bleeding and Cramping:

The main physical symptoms of a miscarriage are heavy bleeding and cramping. Some women also experience back pain and loss of nausea. In the early stage of pregnancy when it occurs, the body will expel the placenta and the fetus out by itself. You will have bleeding like a regular menstrual cycle, though it could be heavier and usually painful. There could be clot like stuff in the blood. If it occurs in the later stages of pregnancy, the doctors do a procedure using suction and remove it. Usually 80 percent of the miscarriages occur in the first trimester.
miscarriage-physical-symptoms

2. Miscarriage at home:

Miscarriage is unfortunate and can occur anytime and anywhere and even at home. If a woman feels sudden cramps or pain in the pelvic region or bleeding from the vagina, when pregnant, it is advisable to call a doctor and explain the situation. In most cases, the doctor will ask you to come in immediately for an examination and decide what’s to be done. The bleeding usually becomes lighter and stops within a week. In some women, it may take longer. But if you continue to have heavy bleeding or if there is severe and recurring cramp-like pain, it is advisable to meet a doctor and get yourself checked up.

3. Pregnancy Hormones:

In a few cases the pregnancy hormones remain in the blood for a month or two, where in you will continue to have nausea etc even after the miscarriage. This will gradually go away with time.
Uterus size: Though this experience is painful, the body recovers quite fast and women start ovulating within 2 to 4 weeks of miscarrying and they start regular menstrual cycles within 2 weeks of ovulation. Two weeks after the miscarriage, the uterus weighs around 300 grams and within a month, it is back to its normal size.
Normal activities: Women can return to their normal activities as soon as they feel good. It is also advisable to consult a doctor before starting any exercise or strenuous activity.

Effects of miscarriage

1. Physical weakness:

A miscarriage is physically very distressing. You don’t have the energy, sleep is disturbed and you end up feeling exhausted. You tend to lose your appetite for a while. There are disturbing dreams and thoughts and at the slightest provocation, you end up in tears. The complete experience takes a toll on your health.

2. Nutrition and nourishment:

The body becomes fragile and weak after miscarrying. So it is important to get adequate nourishment to get back to normal. The bleeding, which takes place, reduces the iron content in the body. So women are advised to eat iron-rich foods like leafy vegetables, lentils, soyabean, sprouts and brown rice. It is also necessary to eat fruits rich in Vitamin C like grapefruit, papaya and oranges, to ensure adequate iron absorption. Also important to eat are food rich in calcium, which include dairy products and dry fruits. It is important that you consume all types of fruits and vegetables and eat a balanced diet.
effects-of-miscarriage

3. Emotional trauma:

Though the physical symptoms ease after a while, the emotional low takes quite long to heal. The woman connects with the unborn as soon as she realizes that she is pregnant. She has already formed a bond. This becomes very difficult to break. After a miscarriage, some women feel empty and sad while others don’t feel anything at all. Some feel angry while others feel guilty All of it is normal. It is good to grieve and get over the loss. Anyway, nothing can change the fact that you have miscarried. So it’s good to accept it and move on. It is good to connect with other women who have gone through such experiences. They will advise as to how to cope with the grief.

How to cope with miscarriage?

During this period, it is good to keep yourself busy. You can get a new hobby and keep the mind diverted and busy. It can be a relief to jot down your feelings and give vent to your frustration. It will help you get over the trauma. All of this will help you come to terms with the loss. It is not only physically painful, but emotionally traumatic.
Women will heal though it will take time. It is normal to mourn for the unborn child. But it is also good to start planning a new pregnancy after a couple of months. This will help them get over their grief faster.

Editorial Team,

With a rich experience in pregnancy and parenting, our team of experts create insightful, well-curated, and easy-to-read content for our to-be-parents and parents at all stages of parenting.Read more.

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