PREGNANCY-BIRTH Messages for November, 1998: Question about two ERPC's (D&C's) after missed miscarriage

Question about two ERPC's (D&C's) after missed miscarriage

From: Tracy (anonymous@obgyn.net)
Sat, 28 Nov 1998 14:45:14 -0600 (CST)

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Okay, here is the story....sorry it is long...

I had a scan on 20 october which revealed that our baby had no heartbeat...i was 12 weeks pregnant and the baby had died between 8 and 10 weeks. I had an ERPC (Evacuation of Retained Products of Conception) on the 21st. I bled a lot during the operation and had to have two lots of syntometrine to stop the bleeding..I bled for over 2 weeks following the operation although it wasnt much, but was mostly light pink bleeding and then changed to brown and stopped...

...two days after the bleeding stopped (3 weeks after the first operation) I started to haemorhage, with no warning...I lost LOTS of blood and it was like the consistency and colour of very thick cream of tomato soup) and was rushed to hospital where they did an internal scan which revealed an area of very vascular trophoblastic tissue. They said i would have to have another ERPC and that there was a possibility that i could have a molar pregnancy. There was some doubt though because the histology from the previous ERPC was negative and my hormone levels were only 300 (apparently quite low for a molar pregnancy). I had the second ERPC and lost over 700mls of blood, they set up a syntocinon drip during the operation to contract my uterus to try and avoid the remote possibility that they may have to do a hysterectomy if the bleeding didnt stop and became life threatening. I recovered okay, although was very weak and went back to the hospital last week for a pregnancy check and the results of the second histology. This showed that the tissue was normal and the pregnancy test was negative.

The problem now is that i am so worried that i will haemmorhage again....the bleeding is following the same pattern as before....occasional spots of bright red blood, and sometimes light pink bleeding...my stomach seems bloated and quite large just like it did before i haemmorhaged before and i occasionally have period pains. I did another pregnancy test to make sure my hormone levels were still down(thinking it might put my mind at rest) and it was still negative (thank goodness). I need some kind of reassurance that it wont happen again...The doctor couldnt give me an exact answer to exactly what happened....they seemed to think i was a bit odd because nothing matched up...when tissue is retained it does not normally show up on the scan as being as vascular as it was, with its own blood supply....which is apparently why i bled so much.

I'm sorry this is so long, but i am scared this will happen again and just want some kind of reassurance and explanation about exactly what happened.

I would appreciate an answer the following questions

a) what sort of bleeding and cramping pains can i expect after an ERPC? b) an explanation of what happens when tissue is retained and why that causes a haemmorhage?

Thank you so much in advance....looking for some reassurance.

--
Tracy Lavery
UK

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