This information is for people who are experiencing a miscarriage in the first three months of pregnancy.
What happens to our pregnancy after miscarriage?
Following a miscarriage within the hospital, the person caring for you will need to discuss your wishes for your pregnancy. These are outlined in the ‘What are our choices?’ section below. Usually, histology testing will then be conducted before your chosen wishes are carried out, however if you do not feel this is something that you would like please make a member of staff aware.
If you experience a miscarriage at home, it is common that you may not realise when the pregnancy is passed. However, if you would like to consider the choices below then we would ask you to contact the Early Pregnancy Unit so that these wishes can be organised for you.
What are our choices?
One of the professionals caring for you will be able to discuss the different arrangements that are available and answer any questions you may have.
There are two options that you can consider:
- hospital arrangements — This option means that the hospital will take responsibility for the arrangements and a communal cremation will be organised with a local contracted funeral director. This takes place at Chelmsford Crematorium and there is a garden of remembrance which can be visited.
- own arrangements — This option allows you to organise your own arrangements and once histology testing has been completed, we will be able to contact you to arrange collection. There are many choices to consider including organising an individual service with a funeral director of your choice, having a private ceremony where you live; or purchasing a remembrance plant. This can be a difficult choice and is individual to each person/s.
What tests will be carried out?
Histology testing is routinely carried out unless you decide this is not something you would like to proceed with.
Histology testing looks at the cells under a microscope to determine that they are regular pregnancy cells.
For many people this is all that will be reported from the testing, and we will not contact you further regarding this. Sometimes, we will need to follow up people with further blood tests or another type of referral and in this instance, you may receive a telephone call from the unit.
Will this tell us why the miscarriage has happened?
Unfortunately, this testing will not be able to explain why a miscarriage has happened. Approximately one in five pregnancies will end in miscarriage and we often never know why. Although, we think that most happen because of some kind of abnormality while the pregnancy is developing, these occur randomly and are not under anyone’s control. Many people feel that they are somehow to blame and that they must have done something wrong, but this is rarely the case.
If you have had three or more pregnancy losses, you may ask for an early reassurance scan in your next pregnancy. These scans are normally done at 7-8 weeks. If you have had three miscarriages, your GP can refer you to the hospital for investigations.
Further information
If you would like further information about this, please contact the Early Pregnancy unit using the details at the bottom of this page.
Alternatively, you can visit these websites:
