A while ago, I attended the virtual Healthy Pregnancy Summit, where there was a wealth of great speakers, and one that stood out to me was Dr Winifred Mak, also known as the @MiscarriageMD. She ran a session on how you can reduce the chance of miscarriage. Although there is still much to learn about why all miscarriages happen, here are some known reasons.
Chance Of Miscarriage
Dr Mak told us that 15-25% of women experience pregnancy loss – that’s up to 1 in 4. The word miscarriage is used to apply to the early loss of pregnancy before 20 weeks, and the majority (85%) are in the first trimester (12 weeks). Of these miscarriages, the majority are due to genetic abnormalities and 60% of these are due to chromosomal abnormalities.
Reasons For Miscarriage
- Underactive thyroid
- Hypothyroidism
- Something inside the uterus, such as a fibroid or a Polyp
- Lifestyle issues, such as smoking or alcohol use during pregnancy
- Overweight or obese women have a higher chance of miscarriage
- Vitamin D levels – Lower levels of vitamin D are more likely to cause miscarriage, hence the importance of prenatal vitamins 🙂
- Plus other unknown reasons
Usually, miscarriage happens in the first trimester, and usually around 8 or 9 weeks. If you get past that, the chance of miscarriage lowers.
Doesn’t Bed Rest Prevent Miscarriages?
Unfortunately, not. Bed rest actually increases the chance of blood clots due to the lack of movement.
The good news (if any news on miscarriages is good news) on miscarriages is that only 5% of women will have two or more miscarriages.
Working Out The Chance Of Miscarriage
The following table is from the Datayze Website, where you can input your information such as age, height, weight and previous live births and miscarriages, and it will tell you the probability.
When I got pregnant with my embryo transfer, I miscarried at the 6-week mark, so there was a 21.5% chance of me miscarrying. More chance of it working than not – isn’t life unfair at times?
Like much of the medical world, science has progressed a long way, but doctors still don’t understand exactly why someone miscarries in most cases. I hope you aren’t reading this because you have miscarried. If you have, we send you lots of love and hugs xx
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