Miscarriage/Pregnancy Loss

If you had a d & c, can you answer some questions?

I just found out yesterday that I lost my baby.  I am, of course, devestated.  This is not my first loss.  My first pg was identical twins and I lost one of them, Samuel, at 35 weeks. 

This loss is so different. I need to have a d & c tomorrow morning.  What can I expect?  Will I be in a lot of pain after?  How many days until the pain, bleeding or anything was gone?  When did you (physically) feel back to normal?

Anything you can tell me is helpful.  I do not know what to expect and am already emotional, which isn't helping my anxiety.  Thank you.

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Re: If you had a d & c, can you answer some questions?

  • I'm really sorry...

    I had a D&C on Friday. Honestly I felt ok after it. The anesthesia made me groggy the rest of the day and gave me a headache but my uterus felt fine. I felt nothing down there up until about 11:00 pm where I had some mild cramps. I did have bleeding after the D&C but it was like a light period. Each day it gets a little less and I've just been wearing panty liners. I only had cramps that one night. There has been no pain other than in my heart. I'm still having some light bleeding and I hope it goes away soon. As far as the rest of me, I felt fine the next day. Oh you might get constipated after it. I couldn't go for almost 3 days till I finally gave in and took a laxative.

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  • I'm so sorry for your loss.

    I've had 2 d&c's. I hardly felt anything after, just some period-like cramping, really. I didn't need anything stronger than tylenol, and I really don't even think I needed that. For the first I bled about a week and the second I bled maybe 3-4 days. I took the next day off from work, but physically I felt fine.

    GL to you.

    2 girls and a dog
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  • I am so sorry. hugs

    I had my d&c on a Thursday, I bled for 3 days and had some period like cramping on the Sunday morning, other than so grogginess after the procedure due to the sedation, I really had a smooth recovery. Emotionally I was a mess, in fact so much so that by the time I arrived to get the d&c I had been crying all night and the doctors gave me some sedation just to calm me down. It will take time for your emotions to feel less raw and there is nothing that can make the process easier emotionally but my doctors did everything they could to make the d&c as painless as possible. I took Advil for the first 4 days after surgery and I had sleeping pills for the first 10 days because I was too upset to sleep with assistance.

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  • I'm so very sorry. You will be put under, the procedure only takes 20mins or so. I was very nauseas after my D&C and threw up before leaving the hospital. I was in pain, but my doc perscribed me darvocet. You feel very...empty and sore inside your uterus. The first day wasn't so bad for me, but the next day was horrible. I was in and out of fevers all day, I felt high ( and it wasn't from the pain killers...I've been on much stronger w/ no reaction like that). I was in and out of deep weird dreams most of the day. The 3rd day I was feeling somewhat back to normal. You don't bleed alot b/c they've scraped everything out. And 4wks later I got AF.

       I don't know if this is typical. Some women don't have a reaction like this and are back to feeling normal the next day. ::hugs:: I hope your experience is better than mine.

  • I had my D&C two weeks ago. I did experience some painful cramps right after, but they gave me some pain killer, vicodin, to take which helped a lot. I took vicodin for the first few days, but then the extra strength tylenol worked. I'm still bleeding, I don't know when I'll stop. Don't be surprised if you continue to have cramps afterward - my nurse said it was a result of my hormonal levels going down. Expect to be very emotional afterwards - it will be a combination of your emotions and hormones.

     I'm so very sorry that you have to go through this. You're in my thoughts and prayers. HUGS!!!!

  • I had my d&c exactly a week ago.  I posted on here about my experience.  I'll c&p it below.  I have not had any more bleeding since the day of the surgery.  I have had some cramps, but it just feels like menstral cramps. I have been charting and my temp is slowly decreasing and I have been having some brown spotting.

    Here it is:

     

    So, yesterday I had my d&c.  I would have been 9 weeks 4 days, but the baby was measuring around 6 weeks.  I thought my description would be helpful if someone is wondering what it will be like.

     I was very nervous, but everyone at the hospital was very nice.  I thought it was interesting that none of the nurses directly talked about why I was there.  Which is probably good from a privacy standpoint and there's no way for them to know why I was there.

    I went into a pre-op room and they drew some blood and started an IV with just salt water.  My Dh could be with me at that time.  Then (after an hour-long delay because my dr had to deliver a baby), a nurse came into take me to the OR.  She had me pee first and then put me in a wheelchair and wheeled me to the OR.  When we got there, it was pretty frightening with all the lights and machinery and tools.  I stood up and got on the table myself and they put my feet in stirrups and put warm blankets on me.  Then they started putting the drugs in my IV and I felt dizzy and very very tired.  I was awake, I knew where I was and I could feel her working down there.  I know she injected my cervix with a local anesthetic.  But it all felt like a very uncomfortable pap smear and I was very sleepy the whole time with my eyes closed.

     After the surgery, they strapped a pad contraption on me.  I stood up and they wheeled me back to the pre-op room.  I had some cramps, but they gave me drugs and a heating pad.  Last night I just felt so tired, but that was my only problem.  I have had some very light bleeding, but no more cramps.  in fact I feel more awake and aware today than I have in weeks.  Especially since the time I found out the baby had problems.  I am very happy that this is over with.

    Hope my story helps someone who is planning their own d&c.


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    Baby N conceived after 1 miscarriage and more than 2 years of TTC. Diagnosis was low sperm count. We found success after 3 months of anastrozole to increase DH's testosterone and one IUI.
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  • I'm so sorry that you are going through this. I had one almost two weeks ago. I was fully sedated and bled a lot right after the procedure but that let up by the following morning. Everyone is so different. I did have some back cramps for a couple days but it wasn't anything that the motrin couldn't handle. I am still bleeding on and off today. I have my f/u appt. on Monday so I hope I stop by then. Afterwards the emotional pain was worse than the physical pain but that is expected for what we are going through.

    Please know that we are here for you if you need anything!

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  • I am very sorry for your loss.

    I had a very similar D&C story to the easier ones mentioned. Physically, not that big of a deal. Emotionally, a rollercoaster that just kept going.

    Although it is easier said than done with young ones around, just sleep and rest as much as you can the 1st couple of days so you can get back into the swing of things easier. Let yourself grieve and hurt, though. I found myself feeling a whole set of emotions just because I had a beautiful child meant I was not supposed to feel bad I lost this one, or something. It was very hard. I felt very dismissed by others, sometimes.

    The hardest part was 2 weeks later when everyone's lives went "back to normal" and I was still raw. Save some energy for that, and ask your friends and family to rally around that time if they can. That was the hardest part for me.

    Also, you mentioned anxiety... if you are general a "high anxiety" person like I am, please consider asking the doc for a little nip of ativan or something, if you don't already take something. I got a script for a few days worth, just 0.5mg tabs, and it was enough to take the edge off, and I was still able to function and be present for my child, and my family, and not be a hot mess 24/7.

    My thoughts are with you and your family.

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  • I am very sorry for your loss.  My D&C was not painful at all.  When I got home after it, it hurt to pee that afternoon because of the catheter.  I had cramps for a couple days, but they weren't too horrible.  I had bleeding for two weeks and 1 day.

    I think I have largely healed emotionally from it.  It has been seven weeks, and while I still get sad sometimes, I think I am moving on somewhat.  I have a therapist that I see anyway, and she was hugely helpful in getting through this horrible experience.  I would recommend seeing a counselor, for ANYONE who goes through this.  Good luck to you.

  • I'm so very sorry for your loss.  

    As most people as mentioned, physically, the d&c was very easy for me.

    I was put to sleep and the procedure itself only lasted about 5 minutes. I was in recovery to wake up for about 30 minutes. The first two days I had hardly any bleeding or cramping. Around day 4 I had some bad cramps and some heavier bleeding. Things subsided after that and I completely stopped spotting about 2 weeks after my d&c.

    Pain wise, I never needed anything stronger than motrin. I was terrified of having a d&c, but it really wasn't that bad. Emotionally, I feel much more "normal" now then I did three weeks ago. Things have gotten a little easier each day.

  • Mine wasn't bad, I was put under. I took pain meds for 2 days, then stopped them. I had bleeding for 3 weeks after, but that's unusual. The pain from the surgery lasted about 3ish days. I was up and fine 2 days after. I hope it goes well
  • I am very sorry for your loss.  :(

    I had a D&C about a week and a half ago.  It was a last minute decision, as it was a Friday.  I originally had one scheduled for Monday.  Around dinner time, my cramps increased as did the bleeding so we called the dr and she had me come in right away to get it done.   She said I'd be scheduled for about 9-10 pm and could go home around midnight.  It ended up happening more like 8:30 and didn't leave until 1 am!  Then I had to go back to the ER because the nurses didn't read all the paperwork to see that I was to get a shot of Rhogan.  Argh!  We were at the ER then for over an hour and a half.  I hope that parts of my experience don't happen to anyone...

    I was put under and when I woke up I felt incredible nauseous.  I remember constantly saying how I felt like I was going to throw up and felt so nauseous.  It took them about 30 minutes or so to get those meds.  Then the cramps came in.   They weren't too awful, but a little worse that my period cramps.  It took them at least 30-45 minutes to get the pain meds.  They inserted both through the IV.  Once I peed, ate some food, and walked around a bit I was allowed to go home.   I bled only really at the hospital.  I only had a little bit of bleeding the next day and mild cramping.  The cramping was really only Saturday and Sunday.  

    Today, a week and a half later, I had some bleeding in the morning.  It stopped around 12ish and I haven't had any since. 

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  • so sorry for your loss. just hug your 2 children as tight as you can & appreciate the fact that you have them & they are healthy.

    i had my d&c done on fri sept 11th at almost 9 weeks (baby measuring almost 8 weeks) the procedure was painless. i did not take any pain meds at all afterwards. like you i was so emotional & barely got any sleep the night before (we had just found out on the 10th there was no heartbeat) i was in the recovery room for a little over an hour because my blood pressure was still low, but i felt fine physically. i went home less then 3 hours after getting to the hospital. i had bleeding for about 4 days that required a pad, but only spotting for the next week or so i just wore a pantyliner. having a 15 month old at home forced me to function the day to day tasks & my husband was wonderful. we bummed around on saturday & took our son for a walk in the neighborhood then tried to resume normal activities on sun. i did take off work the mon & tues (i am a teacher) because i needed to be home with my son for a few days to save my sanity.

    emotionally i am still having a difficult time but i have to keep on living so i do. i was doing ok until i had to go for the follow up bloodwork 2 weeks later & had to rehash the whole experience & sit in a waiting room with pregnant women. my levels are still at 120 so i have to continue to go back until they are at zero which sucks. after that i will go for some tests to see if they can figure out why this happened.

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