When Can I Get Pregnant After Miscarriage? – when to start trying after miscarriage

When Can I Get Pregnant After Miscarriage? – when to start trying after miscarriage

Transcription :

The topic of miscarriage can actually be taboo. It’s something that most people are just really not that comfortable talking about. And that’s unfortunate, because I think it’s such an important topic, so much so, that over the last couple of weeks I’ve been talking about it quite a bit. And if you’ve missed any of those videos, then I want to invite you to go back and check those out first, then come back and watch this one, as we start to wrap up this topic of pregnancy loss and miscarriage. Today, we’re going to talk more about trying again, getting pregnant again after a miscarriage, which I know can be a scary thought, especially if you’ve had multiple losses. But I want to reassure you that you can get pregnant and have a healthy pregnancy after a miscarriage. And that’s why I want to talk about this a little bit more today.

Before I do so, I do want to give a quick shout out and mention about today’s sponsor for this video, the FertileMind App. It’s an amazing app. You maybe heard me talk about it before, but when we start talking about miscarriage, it’s even more valuable because you have so many resources and mindfulness practices to help you get past this crucial time, back at it again, and hopefully having a successful pregnancy. So I want to encourage all of you to check it out. For my listeners only, that’s right for my listeners only, with this code, thefertilityexpert, all one word, you get a free 30 day trial. They don’t do it for anybody, just for all of you watching here with that code. So I want to invite you to check it out. You get 30 days for free on me, use that code and let’s see how they can impact your fertility and hopefully your future pregnancy.

My name is 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. And the reality is, as I’ve mentioned many times, this topic comes up weekly, if not daily, because we’re always supporting someone who’s gone through a loss, unfortunately. And getting back on track and trying again is such a valuable and important conversation, which is why I’m doing that today with all of you. So let’s keep watching and dive into it. So if you’ve been pregnant before, you know that the main hormone that gets tested is HCG and this hormone tells us how strong your pregnancy is. And if we’re talking about a healthy pregnancy, we typically want to see that number double every 48 hours, roughly doesn’t have to be exact. It could be more, it could be slightly less, but about that double in the 48 hour window. And that’s how we can track it and make sure that everything is going well.

Well, this is also an important hormone if we’ve had a loss and a miscarriage, and we want to get back to trying again. The important thing about this number and this hormone is that we need that to be down to zero or very close to zero, to allow your body to reset and start to cycle again and have your hormones regulate once again. Now, the earlier that you have a loss, the easier it is for that number to drop back down appropriately and quickly, and for you to get back on track and have a regular cycle. The longer that you go in a pregnancy, certainly towards that 12, 13, 14, or beyond in terms of weeks, then it becomes much more difficult and takes longer to get back on track. Meaning that HCG can take longer to drop down and it’s going to take longer for that to get to zero. And as a result, it takes longer for you to be able to try again.

Now, there are circumstances where we’re going to help that, so you might be given some medication to help bring that out and lose the pregnancy or pass the pregnancy. You might also have what’s called a DNC. In both of those circumstances, if there is some retained tissue, which I did talk about in video number one on this topic a couple of weeks ago, then that can prevent a cycle from starting and prevent your HCG from dropping down enough for you to be able to get back on track and be able to try again. So this is an important piece that you all need to pay attention to, which is why it’s important to track your HCG regularly, not only when you’re pregnant, but if you’re also having a loss so that you can know when everything is back down to zero. And that helps to know when your cycles are going to start to resume in their normal fashion.

If your cycles do not resume on time or get back on track in a relatively reasonable time. And I guess this is a good place for me to talk about what’s reasonable. It’s reasonable for you to go one to two months before getting back on track with a cycle, with a bleed. Now, typically we want to see that on the shorter side, not the longer side. And then I do typically recommend that, don’t worry about when your next bleed is going to be, unless it’s really long. Unless you’ve gone six, eight weeks without a bleed, then we do want to have that looked at by your OB GYN to make sure there’s no retained tissue. And if there isn’t, why is it not getting back on track? But I typically say, don’t worry about that next bleed, because you don’t want to track anything at that point, it’s hard to track. So we want to just make sure that your bleed comes at some point and then from there forward, we want to track again and make sure that you’re back on track to your normal routine and normal length of a cycle.

So within two months of a loss or a DNC, we should expect your cycles to return, which would be the first time that you can start trying again, if everything looks good. So coming back to the question of, so can I start trying after I’ve had a miscarriage? Well, in general, the answer is yes, but there are some complicating variables that might impact that. So again, I think I mentioned this earlier, if you have a loss at the end of the first trimester or into your second trimester or beyond, that’s certainly going to be a reason to maybe take a little bit more time before you start trying so quickly again. If the passing of the fetus was a difficult one, you needed multiple attempts, whether it was with medication or a DNC, or if there was retained tissue, then absolutely we want to give your body a little bit more time to heal. If you lost a lot of blood, that would be a reason to also take some time to recover and wait a little bit longer before you start trying again.

Other complicating factors are going to be what’s called a molar pregnancy and an ectopic pregnancy. I did define those in the first video on this topic a couple weeks ago. So you can go back and watch that if you didn’t. But if you do have those complications, then typically we’re going to recommend that you wait at least three months, especially if you were given methotrexate to address the ectopic pregnancy. So we need time for that medication to get out of your system and for your body to recover. So in general, yes, you can, but there are some exceptions to that rule and to that question. I said this before, I think last week, that you are actually more fertile after a miscarriage. So we do want to try to take advantage of that if everything is working in your favor. But the other reason to actually take some time before you start trying again, is if you actually have had multiple losses and have never done any testing, because then we do want to take a step back and do some more advanced and more detailed testing.

And that actually requires you have some time away from the loss, have a cycle back on track, let your hormones regulate so that we can get accurate information and get real information for what’s going on. So in those circumstances, if we’re going to dive deeper, I do typically recommend that couples not try again so quickly so that we can gather the information that we need and get the answers that we need. So hopefully the next time, when you start trying, we’ve done all the hard work and the next pregnancy is going to be successful. And last but not least when we’re talking about this is, and potentially even the most important piece of it is, are you emotionally ready? Are you ready to try again, here and here? So it’s not always about the physical piece of it. It’s about you emotionally as an individual and as a couple, to be able to try again and feel confident in your ability to try and get pregnant and trust in your body and know that it can conceive.

Because if you’re going through the motions, but you’re second guessing your ability, and you’re always scared that it’s going to happen again, those are things that we need to work on. And so I want to encourage you all to get the emotional support that you need if you’ve had multiple losses, because it’s not easy. It is absolutely challenging. And without getting the proper support for both yourself and as a unit, as a couple, it’s going to be challenging to move forward because there’s always going to be that fear in the back of your mind that it can happen again. So again, this is where some of the resources, like I mentioned earlier, like the FertileMind App can be really beneficial for all of you. All those links and resources are in the description below. But I want to make sure you get the support that you need, both physically and emotionally so that you know that it’s the right time to start trying again.

If you want some of that support and you want some of that guidance to help first and foremost figure out what’s going on and have a community, a big community of individuals and couples who are there to support you on your journey, that’s where my HOPE Fertility Coaching Program can absolutely be a piece to your puzzle. If you want to apply or learn more about it, I want to invite you to use the link in the description below to find out if it’s the right fit for you. So I also want to hear from all of you. What did you like about this video? What was valuable and what questions you have? Comment below and let me know. If you like this video, give me a thumbs up. If you’re not a subscriber to my YouTube channel, you need to be so hit that bell to subscribe and make sure that you get notified when I put out a new video for all of you. And I’ll be seeing you all next week in my next video. And until then, stay fertile.