I know that the misery of miscarriage is a sadness faced by many women and I had some experience as early in our marriage my wife too had a miscarriage. It was awful, the thrill and joy and anticipation replaced by despair and deep sorrow.

Apparently miscarriage is very common, and occurs in three out of every 10 pregnancies. Most miscarriages happen in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Having a miscarriage doesn't mean that you won't be able to get pregnant again, and most women go on to have a successful pregnancy in the future.

The most common symptom of miscarriage is vaginal bleeding. This can vary from light spotting to bleeding that is heavier than your period. You may also see blood clots, a brown discharge, or other tissue that isn't clearly identifiable. There may often be cramping and pain in the pelvis or back and the usual symptoms of pregnancy, such as breast tenderness, feeling sick and having to pass urine more frequently than usual, stop unexpectedly.
Sometimes there are no symptoms and the miscarriage may only be discovered in a routine scan. If you have vaginal bleeding at any time during pregnancy, you should contact your GP or midwife immediately for advice.

Hi Rob I am sorry to hear about your loss of the baby you and your wife were so looking forward to.

In fact about half of all early miscarriages happen because of a problem in the way your genetic material combined when the egg and sperm has joined during fertilisation. You may never find out why this has happened, but it's more likely to be due to chance than to any underlying problem with either you or your partner.

Imbalances in pregnancy hormones, problems with your immune system, and some infections are also thought to make miscarriages more likely.
Miscarriages become more common as you get older, because egg quality decreases with age. Drinking alcohol while you're pregnant, makes the risk of having a miscarriage higher. It's also higher with multiple pregnancies, such as twins. Smoking may also increase the risk of miscarriage.

There isn't enough evidence to show whether or not stress is a risk factor for miscarriage, but it's a good idea to take time during the day to relax.
Doing moderate exercise or having sex whilst you're pregnant doesn't increase your risk of miscarriage.

It does seen that you are slightly less likely to have a miscarriage if you previously took the contraceptive pill.

Sadly often you won't know what has caused a miscarriage and if a woman has already started to miscarry, unfortunately there is very little that can be done to prevent it.

I think all of us have had some experience of this or know someone who has, it is very common it seems. I had a friend recently who was not sure if she was having a miscarriage and I had to take her to the doctor.

Form her experience if this happens to you, your GP will ask you about your symptoms and examine you and ask you about your medical history, and may also give you an internal examination.

Your doctor may refer you to a gynaecologist or to an early pregnancy assessment unit at a hospital to have further tests, including these ones listed below.

An ultrasound scan uses sound waves to produce an image of the inside of your womb (uterus). If you're in the early stages of pregnancy (less than six to seven weeks), it's sometimes not possible to tell if your pregnancy is progressing in an unusual way that might indicate a miscarriage. If this is the case, you may need to have another scan in seven to 10 days time.

Blood tests can be used to find out if you have a rhesus-negative blood group. If you're rhesus negative, you will be offered an injection to prevent a condition called rhesus disease in subsequent pregnancies.

You might,. like my friend, be asked to take a pregnancy test if your pregnancy was not confirmed. This may be repeated 48 hours later to check your hormone levels, it was with her and sadly she had lost her baby.

Yes, from our own sad experience your doctoror gynaecologist may use one of the following terms to describe your type of miscarriage.

A threatened miscarriage describes bleeding in early pregnancy where the cervix (is tightly closed. Thepregnancy should continue if the ultrasound scan shows the heartbeat of your developing baby.

An inevitable miscarriage describes bleeding in early pregnancy where thecervix is open, which means the pregnancy will be lost.

An incomplete miscarriage is a miscarriage that has definitely started, but where there is still some pregnancy tissue left in the womb. The cervix is usually open.

A complete miscarriage means that the pregnancy has been lost. The womb is empty and the cervix has closed.

A delayed or missed miscarriage means that although the baby stopped growing and died, pregnancy tissue was not lost straight away. This type of miscarriage usually causes a small amount of dark-brown blood loss. There may be sudden end-of-pregnancy symptoms or no symptoms at all.

Whatever the name put on it, it is a very sad day for most expectant parents.

If a miscarriage is complete, there won't usually need any further treatment. For an incomplete or missed miscarriage or when there is a lot of bleeding, treatment with medicines or surgery to remove the remaining pregnancy tissue might be needed and this is what happened to my sister. Although some women may prefer to let nature takes its course (this is called expectant management) she was persuaded to take the medicine. She was told that expectant management is linked with an increased risk of bleeding, whereas surgical treatment carries a slightly increased risk of infection but she was just fine.

Doctors may prescribe mifepristone (Mifegyne) alone or in combination with either misoprostol (Cytotec) or gemeprost. These soften the cervix and make the womb contract so that the remainder of the pregnancy tissue is expelled.
An infection might arise which can make any bleeding last longer and can sometimes cause an unpleasant smelling discharge from the vagina. If this happens, a doctor may prescribe a course of antibiotics such as metronidazole (Zidoval) to clear up any infection.
Always ask your doctor for advice and read the patient information leaflet that comes with this or any medicine you take.