Early Miscarriage – 10 Things to know when trying to conceive

Early Miscarriage – 10 Things to know when trying to conceive

Transcription :

If you have suffered from a miscarriage, first and foremost, I want to say, I’m so sorry to hear that. My heart goes out to you. I know how difficult that can be. But I also want to say that I want you to know it’s not your fault. There’s a lot of reasons why a miscarriage can happen, and the most common one, most prevalent, is chromosomal abnormalities. If you watched last week’s video, you also know that there are other factors that can impact your ability to hold a pregnancy such as lifestyle factors, like alcohol consumption, smoking, drugs, caffeine, just to name a few. These can all impact your ability to hold and have a healthy pregnancy.

But if you are a regular FertilityTV watcher, then I know you already know about all of those things, and odds are, you’re not doing any of them, which is great. That’s exactly why I’m going to cover in this video the top 10 things you should know about miscarriage, especially if it’s an early miscarriage. Hopefully, you can take care of all of those things, and your next pregnancy is going to be the one that sticks and be a healthy one.

Before I dive into my top 10 things that you should know about miscarriage, I do want to give a shout out to this week’s sponsor of FertilityTV. The sponsor of this week’s video is Fairhaven Health. I often talk about their vitamins, but today I want to talk about their lubricant. BabyDance is my favorite lubricant, bar none. It’s safe, water-based, no parabens or chemicals, and it is fertility-friendly for all of you. So if you want more information on Fairhaven Health, on BabyDance or any of their products, use the link in the description below to learn more.

Hi. I’m Dr. Marc Sklar, also known as the fertility expert, and I’ve been working with couples for over 19 years through my online coaching programs and right here in San Diego at my clinic. Miscarriage is a very common thing that we address. I mentioned it last week. I’m talking about again this week because it’s so important. But we’re going to take a slightly different approach this week because I want to dive deeper into it to answer all of your questions. We got tons of amazing questions this past week about this topic, so I’m going to incorporate them into this video as well. So keep watching to learn more.

All right, so let’s jump into it. Topic number one is, can early miscarriage be prevented? Well, the answer is yes and no. Ideally, you’re going to start to be proactive before you get pregnant to make changes so that once you are pregnant, you don’t have to worry about it. The reality is is once you are pregnant, there’s not a lot that can be done, we’ll dive into some things you can do in just a little bit, but really your work needs to be done beforehand.

That starts with testing. So if you haven’t had the right lab tests… again, I discussed so much of this in last week’s video, so if you didn’t watch it head on over and check that one out as well after you finish watching this one, but we want to investigate a little bit more. Is it truly chromosomal issues? Are there thyroid issues? Are there autoimmune issues? We can go on and on. We need to understand what your body is going through and why this happened.

Now, I will say, if you had one, it is fairly common. Again, the older you are, the more common it is. So I don’t want us to just rush to some testing after one, unless you know you already have a family history of some things that you want to rule out. So if you do, head on over for testing. If not, take a step back, take a deep breath, get back into it. Hopefully, we get pregnant, and the next one sticks. If you’ve had multiple miscarriages, then that is the time to start to do some more advanced testing and to work with your healthcare team to get that done and to get the right information and, more importantly, get the right plan. Because once you have the right information and understanding for why, making that plan and moving forward in the right direction is a bit more simple.

Number two, is an early miscarriage dangerous? Well, first I think there’s the potential that any miscarriage can be dangerous, but for the most part, they’re not. If you have an ectopic pregnancy, that for sure can be dangerous, so you do need to be careful about that. I do think it becomes more complicated, potentially more dangerous, the later into your pregnancy that you end up losing the pregnancy. So if you’re passed your first trimester, further along, it can be more complicated and more dangerous. But in general, no, for the most part, it’s not.

Question number three, can I get pregnant again after a miscarriage? Undoubtedly, that answer is yes, thank God, right? You’re actually more fertile. You’re more likely to get pregnant again right after a miscarriage. So we do typically want to take advantage of that if the situation is right, if everything is working in your favor, and the loss was an easy, smooth transition. If there were more complications, then we do need to take a little bit of a step back and take a pause for just a moment. But in general, you should be able to keep trying and hopefully get pregnant relatively soon after you’ve had a loss.

Number four, can it be a sperm issue or a male factor issue? The answer is undoubtedly yes, which is why having your partner or your husband tested is so important. First, it’s so important for so many other reasons. But 40% to 50% of all losses have some male factor component involved, so we can’t ignore it. Now, can we absolutely rule out a male factor if all the labs have come back normal? We cannot, but it doesn’t mean we don’t do the tests. So we should absolutely have a semen analysis, potentially also a DNA fragmentation test, understand what’s going on with your partner so that they can be part of that solution as well.

Can I feel an early miscarriage? Which is the next topic that we want to cover. Not necessarily. It depends what you mean by feel. If you’re talking about having cramps or some pain or discomfort right around the time you’re about to miscarry or have the loss, then the answer is yes, you absolutely can feel that. But if you’re talking about in advance of that before the actual loss begins, no, not necessarily. You should potentially feel just fine, and you might not know that there’s anything wrong. So my suggestion typically is just listen to your gut, trust yourself, but don’t let the worry and anxiety overpower your gut. Sometimes we get worried unnecessarily and we’ve got anxiety from previous pregnancies that weren’t successful, and that kind of drives some of our decisions when we get pregnant the next time. Stay grounded and listen to your body and trust yourself. That’s the best way to know how to move forward.

This sixth question is a common one that I get. Did I cause my miscarriage because I was exercising or exercising too much? The short answer is no. Odds are, you were going to have a loss anyway. Now, there is maybe a time where that exercise is not appropriate. If you have an incompetent cervix or a shortened cervix and things aren’t holding as well, then, yes, maybe that can be a contributing factor. But odds are, you would’ve already known that, and hopefully at that point, your OB would’ve already told you, “Pull back on the exercise. Take it easy for a little bit.” In general, exercise is not going to cause a loss. I’ll even take it a step further. You should be able to go on with your regular daily routine. Now, I do get a little bit conservative with the couples that I work with, and I will actually have them pull back a little bit, nothing too strenuous, nothing too crazy, but we can start to resume those things once we go back into the second trimester.

Question number seven I got this week, can I help you if you are going through a miscarriage? It depends what you mean by that. If you’re actively in a loss, then, no, there’s not much that we can do at that time. But if you mean by that, can I help you recover from a miscarriage and get ready for the next, hopefully, successful pregnancy? The answer undoubtedly is yes. You can do that by joining my Hope Fertility Coaching Program. You do have to apply for that. If you wanted more information on that and look to apply, then you can just use the link in the description below to learn more.

Topic number eight is potentially my favorite because this one is something we talk about all the time. Can I take progesterone to help prevent a miscarriage? There is some evidence to show that progesterone can be beneficial in helping to hold and maintain a pregnancy. Now, the first question that I always say is, well, do you need it? That comes back to testing, so we should always test your progesterone. Typically, what I recommend if you found out that you are pregnant is to go get some labs done and you’re going to get your HCG, which is your pregnancy hormone, and your progesterone tested so that we know where both levels are and potentially if you need some progesterone supplementation to support you.

If your levels are not high enough, and by that, I mean, at least 15, but I prefer 20 or higher, then a recommendation would be, and something for you to discuss with your OB, is getting on some progesterone. The sooner that you get on it, the better and more effective it is going to be. Some research actually points to it being more effective or the most effective actually if you get on to it right after ovulation before you even know that you’re pregnant. All of those circumstances really need to be taken on a case-by-case basis, and you have to determine what’s the right step for you. Can it be helpful? Yes. Is it helpful for everybody? No. But that’s something that you have to determine with your healthcare team.

Question number nine and topic number nine is also a very common thing to discuss and something that would logically make sense to think about or even do. Should I be on bedrest or I do go on bedrest when I get pregnant? I want to take this a step back. Do I think we can all benefit by taking it easier, relaxing a little bit, maybe not being on our feet as much? Absolutely, I think that can benefit you. Do I want you laying back in your bed 24/7 when you are pregnant? Absolutely not. We still need circulation. We still need that blood flow to happen. The more you’re stagnant laying down, the more that blood is not circulating in the capacity that it needs to. Now, obviously it’s circulating because our blood is constantly circulating, but not in the way that we would like.

It has to be a fine balance. I don’t want you on bedrest. Maybe we can call it pelvic rest where you’re just taking it easy. But the reality is is you should be able to go ahead and do most of the things that you want to do. But I would just say, take it easy. Maybe you’re not going to go and jog or run that five miles, or you’re not going to go on that crazy hike or be in the gym for two hours, but you could still be out cooking. You could still be doing other things and taking a nice, gentle walk around the neighborhood. All of those things should be fine. But if you do have a more complicated history, then I think that might be more appropriate for you. But even then, I wouldn’t even say that you should be on bedrest.

The last question, number 10, is an awesome one. Actually, so awesome I’m creating a whole extra video just on this question for next week. It’s coming to you next week, not this week. But I am going to answer it just briefly. When can I start trying again? Is it okay for me to start trying to get pregnant right after a miscarriage? The short answer is in general maybe, most of the time, yes, but I’m going to dive deeper into this next week. So tune into my next video to learn so much more about this topic.

Again, I do want to remind you all, if you’ve had a miscarriage, want to dive deeper into finding out why you’re having the issues that you’re having and why it’s been so difficult for you to get pregnant, then I want to invite you to apply and join my Hope Fertility Coaching Program. We’re here to support you if it’s the right fit. All you have to do is click on the link in the description below to apply. I also want to let you all know that I do have a free fertility guide for all of you. It gives you a ton of amazing resources. I’m going to drop that link as well in the description below.

If you like this video, please give me a thumbs up. But more importantly, I want to hear from all of you. I want to know your comments. What did you like about this video? What was new for you? What questions do you have after watching it? Comment below and let me know. If you’re not already a subscriber to my YouTube channel, you should be, so make sure you hit that bell to subscribe and get notified when I put out a new video for all of you. Until the next video, stay fertile.