What is the average week to miscarry

Any treatment is to prevent heavy bleeding or an infection. Your doctor might advise you that no treatment is necessary. This is called 'expectant management', and you just wait to see what will happen. Eventually, the pregnancy tissue the fetus or baby, pregnancy sac and placenta will pass naturally.

This can take a few days or as long as 3 to 4 weeks. When it starts, you will notice spotting and cramping and then, fairly quickly, you will start bleeding heavily. The cramps will get worse until they feel like contractions, and you will pass out the pregnancy tissue. Some women opt to have medicine to speed up the process. In this case, the pregnancy tissue is likely to pass within a few hours. You may need to wait some time for your hospital appointment. The operation only takes 5 to 10 minutes under general anaesthetic, and you will be able to go home the same day.

Do what feels right for you. You can use paracetamol for any pain. If you are bleeding, use sanitary pads rather than tampons. In the first month of pregnancy, the developing embryo is the size of a grain of rice so it is very hard to see. You may pass a blood clot or several clots from your vagina, and there may be some white or grey tissue in the clots.

The bleeding will settle down in a few days, although it can take up to 2 weeks. During the bleeding, you may see clots with a small sac filled with fluid. The embryo, which is about the size of the fingernail on your little finger, and a placenta might be seen inside the sac. You might also notice something that looks like an umbilical cord. The tissue you pass may look dark red and shiny — some women describe it as looking like liver. You might find a sac with an embryo inside, about the size of a small bean.

If you look closely, you might be able to see where the eyes, arms and legs were forming. The clots that are passed are dark red and look like jelly. They might have what looks like a membrane inside, which is part of the placenta.

The sac will be inside one of the clots. At this time, the developing baby is usually fully formed but still tiny and difficult to see.

If you miscarry now, you might notice water coming out of your vagina first, followed by some bleeding and clots.

The fetus will be tiny and fully formed. If you see the baby it might be outside the sac by now. It might also be attached to the umbilical cord and the placenta.

This is often called a 'late miscarriage'. You might pass large shiny red clots that look like liver as well as other pieces of tissue that look and feel like membrane. It might be painful and feel just like labour, and you might need pain relief in hospital. Your baby will be fully formed and can fit on the palm of your hand. You will have some cramping pain and bleeding after the miscarriage, similar to a period.

It will gradually get lighter and will usually stop within 2 weeks. That chance increases each week. These statistics suggest that the chance of pregnancy varies from person to person depending on a variety of factors, including their age and overall health. Age is a major risk factor for pregnancy loss. This is because egg quality tends to decline over time. It is essential to note that these are average figures and do not take any other factors into account.

The effects of lifestyle issues, such as smoking or having a sedentary lifestyle, can also accumulate with age. This may worsen underlying health issues and further increase the chance of pregnancy loss.

Most people who experience a pregnancy loss go on to have healthy pregnancies in the future. Having a single miscarriage does not mean that a person will have difficulty getting or staying pregnant in the future. In fact, one study found that people are more likely to get pregnant again immediately after experiencing a pregnancy loss.

Some people ask for genetic testing following one or more pregnancy losses. Genetic testing may help a doctor understand the cause of pregnancy loss. Some risk factors for pregnancy loss include:. Most of the time, the earliest sign of a miscarriage is bleeding. However, not all bleeding is due to a pregnancy loss. Some people experience spotting during pregnancy.

Bleeding is more likely to indicate a miscarriage when it is heavy, gets heavier with time, or occurs with intense cramps. A person should speak with a doctor about any bleeding they experience during pregnancy. If the bleeding is heavy or painful, it is best to go to the emergency room.

Most pregnancies end with a healthy birth, even if the person has a previous history of or risk factors for a miscarriage. There is no right or wrong way to react to a pregnancy loss. The experience can be emotional or spur doubts about future pregnancies. Conversely, some people are surprised that they do not have a strong reaction to a pregnancy loss. Most people can have a healthy pregnancy following a miscarriage.

Home pregnancy tests are generally accurate, but sometimes they may provide a false-positive result. A partial molar pregnancy occurs when the mother's chromosomes remain, but the father provides two sets of chromosomes. A partial molar pregnancy is usually associated with abnormalities of the placenta, and an abnormal fetus.

Molar and partial molar pregnancies are not viable pregnancies. Molar and partial molar pregnancies can sometimes be associated with cancerous changes of the placenta. Some women who miscarry develop an infection in the uterus.

This is also called a septic miscarriage. Signs and symptoms of this infection include:. Often, there's nothing you can do to prevent a miscarriage. Simply focus on taking good care of yourself and your baby:. Mayo Clinic does not endorse companies or products. Advertising revenue supports our not-for-profit mission. This content does not have an English version.

This content does not have an Arabic version. Overview Miscarriage is the spontaneous loss of a pregnancy before the 20th week. Request an Appointment at Mayo Clinic. More Information Blighted ovum: What causes it? Share on: Facebook Twitter. Show references Tulandi T, et al. Spontaneous abortion: Risk factors, etiology, clinical manifestations, and diagnostic evaluation. Accessed May 15, Strand EA. Increasing the management options for early pregnancy loss: The economics of miscarriage.

American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Robinson GA. Pregnancy loss. Ferri FF. Spontaneous miscarriage.