No follow up after natural m/c?!?

mom22labs

I never heard anything from my Dr. after she sent me home to have a natural m/c.  Everything went fine and seemed to be normal with the m/c.  And I had gotten my period about 4 weeks after m/c and it was a little heavier than normal.  But should I have had a follow up appointment if? 

Oh and I found it a coinsidence that I received a letter in the mail yesterday telling me that my Dr. will no longer be practicing as of Feb.!  I guess I would have had to change Dr.'s if I was still pregnant...

So do i need a follow up appt.?  If so should I schedule it with her or with a new Dr.?

starpants

I'm waiting to miscarry. My doctor told me that after it happens I should come in for a sonogram to make sure everything is OK. 

Sorry for your loss. 

HadleyS

The office called and said that there is no need for them to follow me up "since I am not pregnant."  JERKS!  I had a very efficient and natural miscarriage, so I suppose I can see their point, but I am going to be taking HPTs to follow my HCG level down myself.  They did say to call if I got a fever or bled excessively or for a very extended amount of time.  If I were you, I would probably start hunting for a new doctor, but for peace of mind, you could call and ask about a follow up appointment.  You need to get your medical records transferred to a new doctor anyway.

lc&jw

With my first miscarriage, I had an ultrasound in the ER that confirmed that everything had already passed and I had blood drawn to check HCG. After that my doctor had me get labs done weekly to confirm that my HCG was going back down to zero.

With this current miscarriage, my doctor is having me come in for an ultrasound tomorrow to make sure that everything has passed. Not sure what she'll do about betas since it's a different doctor, but I would hope she would follow them back down to zero. She also wants to run some more labs due to recurrent losses.

I think it's pretty common for doctors to follow your HCG levels back to zero. It's important to do that so you make sure that there isn't any tissue left that is still growing, but also to make sure that when you do become pregnant again, that the elevated HCG level isn't from anything leftover from the miscarriage.

If it were me, I'd probably request a follow up appt with a new doctor, maybe even a different practice. Good luck.

ppants

I'm sorry for your loss.  I had a natural m/c at 6 weeks.  The dr did check my HCG until is was less than 5.  It took almost 2 weeks. 

proudmommy2b

after all of my losses, I was was told to come in weekly to monitor my hcg. For the previous two, I never had to have an u/s confirm there was nothing there because my hormone levels fell so quickly. We'll see with this one as I just naturally miscarried yesterday. Good luck and so very sorry for your loss. It is so difficult to go through this.

Niftyroses

Yes, definately call them.  ESPECIALLY if you have a negative blood type!!!!  If you're a negative, you'll have to get a shot within 72 hours.....which I found out today...5 days after my M/C.  Basically you can form antibodies to future babies.  Which means you can be "allergic" to future babies and it can cause miscarriages or for them to have medical problems before and right after birth.  I'm not trying to scare you, but I'm petrified right now.

Other than that, they may check an u/s to make sure everything passed.  Plus it's nice to ask questions like when you can try again, when can you exercise, should you be taking off work, etc.

I'm really sorry for your loss, but remember that your doctors are there through the good and the bad.  You should always feel comfortable calling and going in.  You can't be too careful, you only get one uterus, take care of it! 

 

mom22labs

Thank you for all your replys. I think I will call and see what they say.  I live in a rural area and there are very few OB's that I can see, and they are all in the same practice...

-niftyroses-  That is a scary thought, I have never heard of that!  And I am so very sorry for your lost also.

Thank you all for the kind words.