Miscarriages (Spontaneous Abortions)

Miscarriages are common; about 1/6 pregnancies stop growing and miscarry. Usually it does not mean there is anything wrong with the woman or increase her risk of a second miscarriage.

At Willow Clinic we offer medical or surgical treatment of miscarriages. Most miscarriages can happen naturally without any treatment but sometimes it can take a long time.

Medication: We use methotrexate/misoprostol which causes the uterus to contract and expel the pregnancy tissue. Some women get side effects for a few hours such as fever, chills, diarrhea, headache or vomiting. We check afterwards to make sure all the tissue is gone.

Surgery: We do manual vacuum aspirations (MVA)  using a small plastic tube and syringe. We use local anesthetic (freezing) and some painkillers like ibuprofen and oxycodone.

On your first visit, you will have an examination and ultrasound by a doctor and a counselor will explain the procedure and medications used. You will have a blood test for hemoglobin and Rh. This visit may take up to 2 hours.

At the second visit, you will receive the medication or, if you are having surgery, the doctor will put the freezing in your cervix and use suction from the syringe to empty your uterus. This takes about 5 minutes and you will feel cramping pains. Another ultrasound it done to make sure the uterus is empty. You will need to wait in the clinic until the staff have checked and made sure your are ready to go (about 20-30 minutes).

This procedure is very safe. There is less than 1% chance of infection or complications requiring a second procedure. There is about 1/100,000 chance of a serious reaction to the medications used or any damage to the uterus.