What happens to a miscarried baby?

When a baby dies before 24 weeks of pregnancy, there is no legal requirement to have a burial or cremation. Even so, most hospitals have sensitive disposal policies and your baby may be cremated or buried, perhaps along with the remains of other miscarried babies.

About 50% of women who miscarry do not undergo a D&C procedure. Women can safely miscarry on their own with few problems in pregnancies that end before 10 weeks. After 10 weeks, the miscarriage is more likely to be incomplete, requiring a D&C procedure.

When you have a miscarriage, Your embryo or fetus is spontaneously expelled from your uterus before you’re 20 weeks pregnant. You’ll have symptoms including heavy bleeding and abdominal cramps, sometimes for a few days or longer.

This treatment involves A surgical procedure known as a dilatation and curettage (D&C) Which is done under a general anaesthetic. The procedure will remove any pregnancy tissue from your uterus. It is successful in 95 to 100 per cent of cases but there are small surgical risks.

If you miscarry at home, it is important to preserve the baby’s body if you intend to bury it. A sterile saline solution works well – Heaven’s Gain Ministries offers information and kits for this purpose.

Recovering From a Miscarriage

The physical recovery can take 1 or 2 months. Your period should start within 4 to 6 weeks. Don’t put anything in your body, including a tampon, and don’t have sex for about 1-2 weeks.

If you have a late miscarriage, You will need to go through labour to give birth to your baby. This can be a very distressing time and you may be in shock. The staff caring for you at the hospital will understand this and will explain what your options are clearly so you can make a decision about your treatment.

Bleeding during miscarriage can appear Brown and resemble coffee grounds. Or it can be pink to bright red. It can alternate between light and heavy or even stop temporarily before starting up again. If you miscarry before you’re eight weeks pregnant, it might look the same as a heavy period.

If it is an incomplete miscarriage (where some but not all pregnancy tissue has passed) it will often happen within days, but for a missed miscarriage (where the fetus or embryo has stopped growing but no tissue has passed) it might take as long as three to four weeks.

If you miscarry naturally, even in the early weeks of pregnancy, you are likely to have period-like cramps that can be Extremely painful. This is because the uterus is tightly squeezing to push its contents out, like it does in labour – and some women do experience contractions not unlike labour.