Late pregnancy miscarriage

[cassie_faith]

My character is a healthy 17-year-old female who will experience a miscarriage at 18 weeks gestation in present day America. Between all my Google research, each mother seemed to have their own unique experiences, so I can't draw much for standard procedure. This need has brought me here

Comments

[bork]

If you're looking for medical info, you may have more luck with the phrase 'spontaneous abortion'.

Mod Note

[orange_fell]

It will make quite a difference whether your character is in or near a major city or not. Rural American communities may be quite remote from major health centers, which would affect your character's transportation and how close she may be to her support system (family, friends). Also, "routine procedure" could vary wildly by hospital. For example, a Catholic hospital and a non-religious-affiliated hospital would treat this exact situation extremely differently. Overall, it would help the community if you could narrow down the location.

RE: Mod Note

[cassie_faith]

Thank you. Will edit and add those details.

[ellettra]

This actually happened to me. I can share whatever details you might find helpful. (It happened 20 years ago, but you don't forget.)

[anonymous]

Hi, US EMT here. In our region, an ALS (advanced life support) crew would likely be dispatched, i.e. firefighter paramedics, the ambulance belonging to the fire dept. If they weren't available, then EMTs would be dispatched. In both cases, their assistance will be limited because a spontaneous abortion requires hospital equipment and care to ensure no fetal tissues remain to cause infection, etc. The EMT would assess her, ask her questions about the onset, location and severity of the pain, color of blood or discharge, clots, allergies, medications, and history of pregnancies or deliveries. They would ask her if she's seen the fetus in the expelled tissue. The assessment can be upsetting. Of course, they don't usually use medical language when interacting with patients. If the fetus hasn't been expelled, it's possible she may keep bleeding, so that's a concern

[belleweather]

At 18 weeks, the process of miscarriage is going to be very much (almost exactly) like going into labor -- it's going to take a while, and it's not going to come out of nowhere. If I were your reader, I would need to see a solid reason in the story as to why this character stayed at home for the process and didn't go to the hospital, either for pain medication or medical help. (In some cases, miscarriages this late can be stopped long enough for the fetus to develop further)

[angelinw8ing13]

This! I went into what they call preterm labor at 25 weeks, so not exactly the same but here is what I went through if it helps. I knew something was wrong I felt it, there was no movement and I started to feel contractions. I had called my OB's office (of course it was after hours) I was told to lay on my side, drink some OJ to see if our son was sleeping the sugar might help wake him up and move and LOTS of water. The pain got worse my husband took me to the hospital. I went into the ER then was immediately taken to L&D hooked up to monitors. I was them given medication via injection (It hurt like a witch) to stop my contractions. It worked for us thankfully. I was put on bed rest for the rest of my pregnancy. Had it been worse I would have been hospitalized for bed rest until at least 37 weeks.

[maeveth]

Echoing this. In modern-day urban US settings I would need to see a very solid reason why the character didn't race straight to the doctor/hospital at the first sign of something going wrong that far along in a pregnancy. When I miscarried -- although to be fair it was at 28 weeks, late enough that it was considered a stillbirth, so the medical circumstances are somewhat different -- I was in my ob/gyn's office the minute they opened on the day everything went straight to hell and admitted to the hospital a little later that morning.