Is vacuum aspiration an option instead of D&C?
Hi everyone. I am new to this board. I went to the doctor for my first prenatal appt on Friday and she said I had a "missed" miscarriage. I was supposed to be 10 weeks along but the ultrasound showed the baby was only 5 weeks. The options they gave me were: 1.) wait it out 2.) take medicine 3.) D&C. The one page handout they gave me didn't provide a whole lot of info, so I started researching online. I came across a procedure called vacuum aspiration. Was that ever offered to anyone as an alternative or is there a particular reason why I must have D&C? I am afraid of the anesthesia for the D&C and the side effects of the medication. The doctor said I shouldn't wait it out much longer since it has been several weeks already and I still haven't had any spotting or any other symptoms of a miscarriage.
I feel so numb and sad right now. It is so hard spend my time on the computer doing research when all I want to do is grieve for my lost baby.
Re: Is vacuum aspiration an option instead of D&C?
i'm so sorry for your loss. miscarrying is really an awful experience. something that can make it even more awful is the medical terminology-- most of the time, dr's and literature will refer to it as a "missed abortion." and when i was looking up information for my own miscarriage, i was often refered to "abortion procedures". i know some women are very sensitive about the word abortion because to them it means a choice, and when you miscarry, you don't have that choice. unfortunately, medical terminology, and the resources i found, don't distinguish between the two.
with that said, as the previous girls said, there's a d&c, and there's a d&e, for which a woman is given general anesthesia. both of these use aspiration, however a d&c also uses a scraping instrument, and a d&e may use a scraping instrument and/or forceps. which one you get is determined by dr's preference, size of pregnancy, etc.
with that in mind, as i understand it, another possible option is to use aspiration alone, especially if it is a very small/early pregnancy loss. for that, you do not have to be under general anesthesia, although you do get locals. i am not entirely sure why this procedure is not more common. i think it's because a d&c or d&e is more "thorough" and gives the dr more control, and ideally is supposed to ensure that all "products of conception" are removed.
this information comes from webmd and wikepedia so i'd be happy to share the links with you, or encourage you to look it up yourself. just be prepared that the medical terminology can be a little harsh, and you may not want to read about induced procedures.
on a final note (and i know this was a really long reply!), i was also really nervous about getting a d&c because i didn't want to be under general. my doctors never even discussed aspiration alone with me. but the d&c really wasn't that bad at all. it's so quick, it's over before you know it. and my anesthesiologist gave me anti nausea meds, so i wasn't the least bit sick. and they didn't have to intubate (stick a tube down the throat) or anything like that. it was just some meds given to me IV, and i fell asleep, and woke up a few minutes later and it was over.
*hugs* to you.
Thank you so much everyone. You are all so kind and helpful. I talked to my doctor today. She uses both the suction and the scraping tool for the D&C. She said I could go with local anesthesia and also have an IV, if I wanted to avoid general anesthesia. The only problem now is that I would have to wait until next Thursday to be scheduled for the surgery and I don't want to wait that long. The fact that I have been carrying a dead baby for over a month now was very hard news to digest, especially since I still have pregnancy symptoms and I don't feel at all like I'm miscarrying (no cramping, no spotting). My hcg levels are still high - - 28,000 as of yesterday.
So the doctor and I talked some more about the misoprostol option since I can do that from home. Since we're coming up on a 3 day weekend, I suppose it would be a good time to take the pills. At least my husband will be at home with me so I won't have to go through this alone.
I told my angel baby to be on the look out for all of yours. I like to think that she will have lots of tiny angel friends to keep her company up in heaven. Blessings to all of you and thank you so much for your help.