I'm so sorry for you loss.

I've had 2 m/c - one at 4 1/2 weeks (I had only known for 4 days!) and the second is technically recorded at 11 weeks.

I had an scan at 6 weeks and the baby only measured 5 1/2 weeks, the same thing when I went in for my 8 week scan (only measured 7 weeks) and when I went in for my 11 week scan we were told only that there wasn't a HB, I had to ask specifically how far along the baby looked. She was measuring about 9 weeks.

I don't know how long she actually made it, if she passed around 9 weeks, or just grew slowly and passed sometime before 11 weeks. My OB said that her heart could have stopped beating at any time after 9 weeks. It was difficult to accept, especially as it occurred only 4 months after my first m/c.

I chose to have a D&C so that genetic testing could be performed. They diagnosed a chromosome abnormality that is listed as the cause of m/c. I do believe that this abnormality caused my little angel to not develop properly and eventually she could not survive.

You do need to know that it was not your fault in any way and the majority of miscarraiges before 12 weeks are based on similar events. If there was a growth problem, there was most likely a reason behind it.

Praying for your recovery!

I sooooo understand your desperation. I miscarried three weeks ago and i have to wait two more to get the results of my placenta and the autopsy. There are days where I literally want to call the hospital and beg them to give me SOME kind of information. All is have is the assumptions in my head and unfortunately, the info I find on the internet (which is always the worst-I am convinced that it's going to be the worst results). My husband has banned me from that...he's so right. I am not the doctor, I will torture myself, and websites don't always have to be licensed information. The truth is, we won't know until the appt. and all of the thoughts/blame that I put on myself is pointless until we find out exactly what happened. That sucks. Easier said than done when you're not the one who went through it huh?

From what I hear from other miscarriage experiences, no heartbeat and no growing can be a result of a chromosome problem or something similar? Am I right ladies? Are you getting testing done on the baby? My situations was different, my water broke. Something my mom told me that helps me calm down when I want to find someone who has been through the same thing as I have is this: Just like labor and pregnancy...every woman goes through individual experiences ...miscarriage is no different. It's really one of those things where you need to wait until you get the info/advice from your doctors about your situation. You can try to figure it out all you want....but when it comes down to it...there are several reasons why it could have happened and unfortunately...concrete causes aren't always there for us.

so sorry you have to go through this, I understand your struggle to find out why. I ask myself that all the time too. Talk it out here...be vocal with your doctors if they have not given you support about how to find out. Big Hugs.

yes i cant help but do my own research on this i cant help it i have 2 know something. I have heard alot of stories where the baby stops growing and has no heartbeat but when i had my ultrasound her little heart was still beating thats what is confusing i havent heard a story like that. I cant get any testing done on macy bc the hospital sent me home n said i was just having a threatned miscarriage and everything should be ok. I didnt find out until two days later that macy had gone so i had no remains.
Sorry for blabbing on but i just feel so desperate
in my post i had a bit of a typo there was no way i could of been 7w3d bc i had known i was pregnant for over 6 weeks n knew my dates exactly

I'm so sorry for your loss. My doctor won't do any tests after one miscarriage, and I will never know the cause.

My sister has had several miscarriages. They did a battery of tests and she doesn't know why. It seems that age was a factor in her case.

I hope you are able to determine the cause of your loss.

*HUGS*

I am so sorry for your loss.

I think that the discrepancy in the dates means that there was a reason from the beginning that the baby was not growing. At my first ultrasound I was 5.5 weeks. At the time I felt that that was wrong as I was pretty sure I was closer to 7 weeks. At my ultrasound at 12 weeks I learned that the baby had stopped developing at 7 weeks. Most likely my dates were correct, but the baby was not developing correctly so she was smaller that she was supposed to be.

It seems like this is probably what happened in your case as well. It must be really difficult to see a heartbeat and then no heartbeat 2 days later.

In my case we did have testing done which revealed that chromosomal anomalies caused the miscarriage. In my case it was the anomaly which caused the baby to stop growing. I believe this is a common reason for miscarriages.

You did nothing to cause this and many first trimester miscarriages are caused by this type of anomaly.

hugs!

I'm sorry for your losses.
I think it is usually assumed to be a genetic problem that causes early miscarriages. So much can go wrong with the DNA during the reproductive process and I think it is more likely to go wrong when the egg precursor cells are older - so in older women.
Simple things like the chromosomes not separating properly into the egg: some eggs (and sperms) will have an extra chromosome or a missing one. If one of these forms your baby, there will be lots of faults with it and usually it can't survive. Sometimes these chromosomal abnormalities produce babies that do survive because the abnormalities are not fatal. Down's Syndrome happens when there is an extra copy of chromosome 21 (which has less DNA than most of the other chromosomes) and Turner's Syndrome when there is a missing X chromosome (if I remember correctly). An extra chromosome 13 or 18 usually means that that fetus may survive to term but is likely to die soon after birth. Any of the other chromosomes can also be missing or have an extra copy and this is thought to result in early miscarriage - like having a duplicated/missing page in a recipe would cause your cake to go horribly wrong (daft analogy but you know what I mean).
Unfortunately this is just something that happens - a bit like cancer happens to a lot of people because something's gone wrong with the DNA in a single cell and gets more common as people get older - it's no-one's fault. I'm sure that a proportion of sperms in every ejaculate will be carrying the wrong number of chromosomes as will some of the eggs every woman ovulates. It's just bad luck if those are the ones that happen to meet up! :(
I don't know if this helps but at least it's important to realise that it's no-one's fault (unless you believe in Intelligent Design - then your creator's got a few questions to answer!) :)
Seriously - I don't know of any specific genetic effect that would cause slow growth but I suspect that that is probably what happens when something isn't quite right genetically - the embryo/fetus stops growing and developing normally and the heart eventually stops. So the miscarriage would be because a genetic problem caused disrupted development leading to the end of the pregnancy.
I hope your post mortem results give you some closure but I've heard that often they can't tell you exactly what was wrong.
Take time to grieve and do push to get the tests done - sometimes there are reasons for repeat miscarriages such as uterine abnormalities, hormonal deficits, clotting disorders etc.
Take care.

I'm so sorry for your loss of Macy. I've had two miscarriages this year and I've started the testing process. All tests so far have come back normal. Now I'm off to another specialist for more testing. I've been told that I may not get any answers, but that we should at least to the testing to rule out any problems they might be able to treat. If not, we'll just have to go on faith and try again a third time. It's very tough to deal with all of the waiting and not knowing. You want them to find a problem so they can fix it for you, but then again you don't want anything wrong that could cause a problem again. I just wish that miscarriage was discussed more open publicly and not such a taboo subject. Otherwise I wouldn't have gone in so blindly optomistic that you just get pregnant, then you have a baby. I thought it was just so simple. Then in my desperate search for answers and comfort I thankfully found this site. Sadly, there are SO many women here and apparently all of this is much more common than anyone would ever imagine. I know there is no comfort in that knowledge, but I found comfort in knowing I am not alone. And no one is to blame for any of our losses.
I wish you the best.

I really think that information about miscarriage should be included in sex education at school. Everyone should know a bit more about it, not just those of us who've been through it :(
Good luck with the tests, Lily09.

So I have had 5 miscarriages in the last 2 years. My first one was a lot like yours wear the baby just stopped growing but I had no bleeding, we found out on my first ultrasound. After the 2nd one they did testing and EVERYTHING came back normal. So after my 3 rd miscarraige I went and saw an RE at a infertility clininc here in Houston. We talked about different options and he told me about some testing they could do on my embryos but we had to go through IVF. So after the 4th miscarraige we went ahead with IVF with PGD and then once we produced the embryos they would send of the chromosones to a lab and have them tested. Well long story short we found out the problem, my eggs were bad. They had lots of chromosone problems, hence the miscarraiges. i was only 25/26 years old at the time. So IVF was not recomended again and Dr. said we could "maybe" one day have a normal egg fertilize. Well we tried one more time and after my 5th miscarraige we decided to stop. My sister voluntered to donoate her eggs to me and we went through IVF with her eggs and my husbands sperm and now I am 21 weeks pregnant with a very healthy baby!! It was a very very long journey but I never gave up. Most of the time when a miscarraige happens or the baby stops growing its because of a chromosone problems. Some women can go one to have a healthy baby and drop that perfect egg and some women like me just have all bad eggs and can never have a child of there own genetics. I love my baby just the same and forget all the time of the beautiful gift my sister gave to me.

Please feel free to ask if you have any questions. You are in my thoughts and prayers.

I had to reply to this post of yours. I have been tested like crazy this last year. First of all, I would look into going to a high-risk OB or Reproductive Endocrinologist. They know so much info. about all the reasons you could possibly have a miscarriage. They also know all the latest tests to run. The high-risk OB did a bunch of blood work on me after my 2nd loss. I came back with two "mutated genes" that could cause miscarriage (MTHFR and PAI-1). The treatment is baby aspirin and high doses of folic acid. We did this treatment for my 3rd preg. But, we found out from the fetal tissue testing that this loss was due to a chromosomal abnormailty-extra chromosome on the 15th--also called Trisomy 15. This baby would not have survived to full term no matter what. They are also going to do a test for uterine abnormalities just to make sure we have covered all bases. I told them I wanted them to be very aggressive if I am going to try again. I think sometimes the doctors tend to be very cautious. I think we have to push for what we want. I don't think searching on the internet for answers is terrible, but maybe we should limit how often and how long we search the internet. I don't think it helps with the emotional healing. Sometimes it flips us out instead. BUT-I do think it helps us to be more informed and give us more empowerment with the doctors. My mom said to me that I am the only one who will advocate for me. I have to go to the doctor and tell them what I need/want, etc. We can't be sheep herded around by them. I do think knowledge is power. So, yes, a little bit of internet research is definitely helpful, but too much can often be detrimental. Just my opinion, though. I would be firm with them, and ask them to give you all the necessary testing out there to know if there is any reason that you may be miscarrying. I do think like Shannon said, our eggs can definitely not be good anymore. If we have a 4th loss, we will definitely look into that route. I am so sorry for your losses. Macy's life was important. She was your baby! What gives me hope is knowing that my little daughter with Trisomy 15 is now in heaven and is perfect! No chromosome abnormality....PERFECT! I think about that often. Please know there is nothing you did that would cause this loss. I am praying for you today.