how do you know if you are having a miscarriage?

Question

i woke up monday morning bleeding. it is a darkish brown and not really enough to wear a pad or anything. i called the doctor and they didnt seem to concerned. but i have never bled before when pregnant. this is my third. how long can you bleed before you normally have a miscarriage? does it usually immediately follow if you are going to have one. is my mild bleeding ok, or do i need to still worry that a miscarriage could follow? i am almost 10weeks pregnant.

Answer 1

I was told not to worry enless it was bright red, but that was in my case and not yours. I bled through my entire pregnancy and they never determined the cause, even with tons of ultrasounds. I gave birth at 37 weeks to a beautiful baby boy!
I'm 5 months pregnant now with a girl, and I had alittle spotting a month ago, but we figured out it was from intercourse.
When you have enough bleeding to wear a pad, call your doctor. When you have contractions or a lower back ache with the bleeding, then you really need to get to the ER. But once a misscarriage starts, there's really nothing they can do to stop it. Usually the baby is dead a couple days before the person starts bleeding and cramping.
I don't think you have anything to worry about. Its most likely from an internal exam, or some humpy humpy love.

Answer 2

Bleeding: Bleeding that starts and stops and starts and stops is often a sign that your hormone levels are falling. While you may still be okay, you need to have your blood hCG pregnancy hormone levels monitored. Heavy bleeding that soaks a pad in an hour is a sign that a miscarriage may be beginning. See the sections on "definite signs" for more information on what to do. Keep in mind that while bleeding is always scary, 70% of all pregnancies have bleeding at some point. Both of my normal pregnancies had bleeding, heavy and red. And the one I lost at 20 weeks never even spotted.

Cramping: You are going to feel a lot of random cramping down there the whole pregnancy. The only time cramping is a concern is if you are breathing in a labor-like huff, or if you also begin bleeding with the cramps.

Loss of pregnancy symptoms: This is a question I get all the time. While the complete and sudden loss of pregnancy symptoms can signal a pending miscarriage, usually it is not the first sign. You will have many days where you don't feel pregnant, when the nausea abates for a day or two, or your breasts are less sore. This is expected and not a concern at all. Around weeks 10 to 14, this is completely normal, as your hormone levels even out and the placenta takes over. The loss of pregnancy symptoms during a miscarriage is usually something you see in hindsight, not ahead of time.

A pregnancy test that is positive, then negative: This is a classic sign of an ectopic. Often you may also see spotting. If you have taken a pregnancy test that is positive, then another one a few days later that is negative, alert your doctor immediately. You want to rule out an ectopic or take care of it before you have to go the surgical route. If you are taking the tests in the same day, though, you might be right on the edge of a positive result, and urine later in the day may not be concentrated enough to keep the test positive. Test again the next morning to be sure.

You should always call your doctor when you are worried, however; because it is better to call for something that does not turn out to be a problem than to stay up half the night worrying about it.

Answer 3

When i miscarried at 8 weeks. It started with brown blood and no pain only when i wiped. Went to the doctor and he said dont worry. Over the next week the blood changed to a pink colour but still only when i wiped (i did not even need a pad), and still no pain. 6 Days after 1st lot of blood i started to need a pad. Their was still no pain.I went hospital and they said you are not miscarring dont worry. Exactly a week later i went to the early pregnancy unit, where they did an internal. My cervix was still closed and they seemed to think bleeding was stoping. So they said no miscariage. That night i suddenly had a spacim of pain which lasted 10 minutes in my cervix area. I went back to hospital where i passsed 5 clots over 2 hours.

At the time another women on yahoo answers answered the same question you asked. She said that she bleed then a weeek later she miscarried. I expect had i been able to have a scan it may not of taken that long.

But the other answers on here are right , their are many other reasons for bleeding and as many as 4 out of 5 women who experience bleeding in early pregnancy do not miscarry.

One cause that You could be having is a threatened miscarriage, best thing for that is to put your feet up and rest in till you can have a scan.

Im really sorry if i scared you, i was told by 4 different doctor that my bleeding was ok, and it was mild even a few hours before i miscarried.

Good Luck

Answer 4

I had that fear with this pregnancy.

Basically took alot of convincing from My doctor AND my midwifes.

BUT my current Mantra is "bleeding, ITS OK. Cramping, ITS OK. WHEN I've got RED BLOOD AND CRAMPING NOT OK."

IT took me a while to keep that in my head. Because from week 7 until week 22 I was having one symptom or the other. I'm currently 25 weeks and hoping to make it to the end.

BUT its always scary

Answer 5

Doctor told me that dark blood is old... nothing to worry about. Bright red blood is fresh and is something to be concerned about. sounds like you're still in the safe zone... put your feet up and take a bit of extra pampering...