Natural MC - how long to pass the sac?

AL_TwinCities

I have read so many old posts on this board with this question, but am not seeing any experiences similar to mine so thought I'd throw this out there just in case any new stories can be shared.

I found out my baby no longer had a HB on Dec 29. I was 9+4, baby measured 8w. I started taking black cohosh and angelica herbs this past Sat night, and finally started bleeding and cramping stronger than period cramps this Sunday night. Monday night I had stronger cramping and bleeding, and Tuesday afternoon I had 5 hours of strong contractions. Wednesday morning, 4 more hours of strong contractions, and then nothing for the rest of the day. I haven't passed any large clots yet (just smaller ones that look like liver) and I'm sure the sac hasn't passed yet. I am 11+6 today.

For those who have miscarried naturally, how long did it take from when you started the strong cramping/contractions to when you passed the sac? Did anyone else experience contractions starting and stopping? If so, how long did it go on? If you had a natural miscarriage later in the first tri, were you immediately passing large clots or did it take a while to start? Thanks in advance for your stories - I'm not sure where to go from here and hearing others' experiences will help.

valleric

I had a nature mc at 8+3. Started out as strong contractions, I couldn't leave the toilet for awhile then would lay on the bed, then back to the toilet to pass more. From start to finish, it was about 3 hours for me to pass.
Sorry yours is taking forever!!! It was the worst pain I'd ever been in in my entire life!

AL_TwinCities

valleric said:

I had a nature mc at 8+3. Started out as strong contractions, I couldn't leave the toilet for awhile then would lay on the bed, then back to the toilet to pass more. From start to finish, it was about 3 hours for me to pass.
Sorry yours is taking forever!!! It was the worst pain I'd ever been in in my entire life!

It is oddly comforting to hear I'm not the only one who thinks the pain is unbearable. When I called my doctor's office they said since I'm so far along this is likely progressing like labor. So now I guess I am more prepared for labor someday!

m6agua

I had a natural MC at 10+5 (on a Sunday). Mine was a Blighted Ovum so it was just a sac measuring 6w. It was exactly a week after I started spotting that it happened. I thought it happened Saturday. I had some cramping throughout the day and then bled and passed large clots. Sunday I passed more clots. Cramps started around 5/6 pm then felt more like contractions. I passed the sac around 10pm. So from when the contractions started it was about 5 hours. The contractions sucked they came in waves and the one right before I passed the sac was extra long. I took some Tylenol, but a little too late I think.

witchymom

It took me about a week and a half to stop having the daily contractions. On the second to last day I had a very large blod clot which I believe was the sac coming out. But then two days later I just woke up without the pain, and no more clots were passed with just a small amount of dark brown blood left over for a couple days without pain. I miscarried in a warm bath which I highly suggest. It greatly eases the pain and stress and my boyfriend was able to sit with me and coach me, which was the most helpful of all. I used some stress relieving bubble bath and oils in the tub. The natural miscarriage is very very painful, and the most painful days for me were days 1 through 5. It started easing up after that but still painful till about day 10.

Im so so sorry for your loss.

witchymom

I agree the only way to describe the pain is contractions and labor. It was so inbearable I got physically sick to my stomach multiple times and I very very rarely throw up. I didnt know you were able to take midol until I was about 5 days into the miscarriage. I started popping 2 when I would feel the contractions coming on and it helped a lot. My doctor made me feel like I was over reacting to the pain and he described them as "period like cramps" which it definitely is not.

witchymom

My previous comment was supposed to be for twin cities. Sorry im new to this and couldn't figure out the quote option!

shena7385

I thought I was the only one feeling like I was about to die from the pain. my bf took me to the hospital. it took them 4 hours of me screaming and calling on God to give me morphine. nothing else they gave me worked. my lost was on November 20, 2015. its funny how I can remember that day so clearly n cant remember what I ate for lunch yesterday. I had my d&c yesterday morning after n unsuccessful miscarriage at 8 weeks.some tissue was still iinside which caused the bleeding everday since nov 22. does it get easier? will be easier to get pregnant after a d&c? how long before we can start trying again or have sex?

BornReady

I miscarried at 9 +3, but baby was only measuring a little more than 6 weeks. I started spotting on a Friday night, bleeding on Monday night and eventually passed the sac on Wednesday morning. Starting on Tuesday I was passing some clots of varying size. I went to bed on Tuesday night and when I woke up on Wednesday and started to walk to the bathroom everything sort of fell out for lack of a more elegant way of putting it. Lots of cleaning up, so much blood. I continued to pass some clots the remainder of the day, but after that the bleeding was much more like a period.  I had some minimal cramping, but no real contractions. Sorry you are going through this.

lrkn09

Sadly it makes me happy to read this. I started bleeding on Thursday 1/14 at 5 weeks 5 days and went to hospital for ultrasound, hcg confirmed my levels dropped to 15. Thursday wasn't bad pain. Yesterday however i got home from work and went straight to the shower, I literally was on my knees on the floor of the shower with my head on the ground. The doctors didn't tell me what to expect but when I previously read I would have some cramping I seriously thought I was going to have my husband take me to the er bc that was hell. I got out of shower and passed my twins the feeling of that coming out of me was absolutely horrible. My husband just stood there watching me both bawling.

AL_TwinCities

Thanks to everyone for sharing your experiences. I am going to update here in case anyone in the future is looking for stories to help them know what to expect.

Thursday around 2:30 I started cramping again, and by 4:30/5 the cramps had turned again to contractions. Just like Tuesday and Wednesday morning, they came every few minutes and lasted 30 seconds - 1 minute. All week, when I would be having contractions the pain was so intense, and Tylenol or ibuprofen didn't seem to help. Things that did help manage the pain: 
-hot baths
-rocking on an exercise ball
-squatting
-sitting on the toilet with my feet up on a stool
-laying on the bed doing a modified child's pose with my butt sticking higher up in the air. I'd rock forward and backward and felt best when my back was straightened while my arms were on the bed, pressing the top of my head onto the bed

So Thursday I took a bath and that helped but also seemed to slow things down. I only contracted for an hour or an hour and a half that night. After the bath, I passed a large clot, flat and about the size of an apple. Friday - nothing but bleeding like a period.

This morning I started contracting again around 7, and bleeding heavily at 7:30. I went through a pad between 7:30 and 8:30, and then 2 pads/hour for the next couple hours. I called the midwife on call and she said if I was starting to feel dizzy, to go to the ER. Thankfully I didn't have to.

My contractions were only coming every 5-10 minutes and weren't as bad as earlier in the week. I did pass some clots, and then at 11:30 a very large clot around the size of an orange, that I had to pull out once it was partially out. 11:45 I wiped and felt something there, so I pushed and out came what I believe was the sac and possibly placenta as well. It was oval shaped, the size of 2 eggs end to end, and was harder than my other clots, with a clear shiny outer layer, surrounded by blood clot. A little gray tissue was also attached, as well as a red clot that may be the placenta. I inspected it for signs of the baby but couldn't tell through the red dense tissue. Passing it didn't hurt at all. My bleeding has slowed and cramps are gone. 

I went to the doctor on Tuesday, 3 days later, and they didn't do an US - they said it sounded like I have passed everything. I was instructed to take a cycle off, so we will be TTA until I get AF.

ETA: I had a really hard time finding information on safe dosages for the herbs I took to help induce miscarriage, so if anyone in the future is looking for that information, here is what I used.

I started taking vitamin C as I had read it can help induce miscarriage. I would take 1000 mg pills, once - 6x per day depending on how often I remembered. I had read somewhere that you shouldn't take more than 6000mg/day. I did this for a week before bleeding started, and continued the first few days of my miscarriage.

I purchased dried black cohosh and angelica herbs the Saturday before my MC started. I made them and used the dosage guidelines below and took one dose Saturday night, all doses Sunday through Wednesday, and one dose Thursday night and the full doses Friday. I started bleeding and cramping Sunday night and my miscarriage finally finished the following Saturday, 6 days after bleeding started.

Angelica (helps start contractions)
2 cups water + 1 oz Angelica
Boil water, add Angelica
Cover, steep for 30 minutes
Strain, cool, bottle
Take 2 tbsp 2-3x/day

Black cohosh (helps to soften the cervix)
2 teaspoons black cohosh + 2 cups water
Boil, simmer 20-30 min until reduced by 1/3
Strain, cool, bottle
2-3 tbsp 6x/day

Note: they tasted gross (especially the black cohosh) so I'd put the doses into peppermint tea or orange juice and it would drown out the flavors of the herbs pretty well.

I had read somewhere that it isn't safe to take the full dosage of black cohosh for more than 10 days. I didn't need it that long, but I would have stopped at 10 days if the MC hadn't started by then.

CaliWhit

I just had a miscarriage on Thursday 1/14, and I have a question regarding the sac-- I was 9w1d, but the baby was only measuring about 7w. We went in for my first prenatal appointment on Tuesday 1/12, I had been spotting for a couple of days, and after the ultrasound and seeing the baby's size and slow heart rate (about 80bpm) my OB said I would likely have a miscarriage. The bleeding got worse Wednesday and Thursday, by Thursday afternoon my back was aching and the cramping was getting more intense. I took 3 Advil at 6:30pm, and the next 4 hours the contractions were very strong and painful. I definitely passed 2 sacs, one was about the size of a lemon, and the other slightly smaller....does that mean there were probably twins at some point??

Also, for those wondering, after about 4 hours of intense pain and passing the two sacs, the pain lessened to that of more normal (but still strong) menstrual cramps, and since then I have had periods of no pain or moderate cramps, and bleeding has been that of my normal menstrual flow.

I'm so sorry for the losses of every one here, but I'm glad we have a place to share our experiences.

AL_TwinCities

@CaliWhit I have read so many stories online, and talked to friends and family who have go through losses. I remember stories where people think they have passed the sac but an ultrasound still shows it inside (which is part of why I think mine is over, because I won't have an ultrasound to confirm until Tuesday). So it is possible that one of them was actually a clot. It seems unlikely that your doctor would have missed a twin on ultrasound, but if the sacs were positioned with one hiding the other perhaps it is possible? I'm sorry you are going through this!

m6agua

@AL_TwinCities so sorry for you. I'm glad that the waiting is over. Take care of yourself.

@CaliWhit my first thought is that it probably was a sac and a clot or a sac and the placenta. However like PP said it is possible it could have been twins.

AmMcc12

@AL_TwinCities take care of yourself!!