A healthy pregnancy lasts about 40 weeks. When a woman losses a developing baby before 20 weeks of pregnancy, this is called miscarriage. The medical term of miscarriage is spontaneous abortion. Many miscarriages happen before a woman knows she is pregnant. Miscarriages are the most common early pregnancy complication. About 1 of every 5 known pregnancies end in miscarriage and it happens at higher rates in woman who are more than than 40 years.

Don't blame yourself for the pregnancy loss. It can not be stopped by medical intervention but intervention for recurrent miscarriage can help. In fact, woman who miscarry are still likely to have healthy babies in the future.



Terms to Describe Miscarriage

Every woman's miscarriage is individual, experienced under different circumstances. However, there are several medical terms to describe miscarriage which you may hear.

• Threatened miscarriage: there is bleeding, sometimes accompanied by pain, often this is unexplained and no cause for either is found
• Delayed/missed miscarriage: the pregnancy has ended, either the baby has died or the embryo never developed, but you have not expelled the pregnancy. You may have begun to feel less pregnant, with a lessening of any symptoms, such as tender breasts and nausea, but you have not experienced any symptoms of miscarriage, such as bleeding or cramping pelvis pain
• Incomplete miscarriage: the miscarriage is inevitable, but not all the tissue from the pregnancy has been passed
• Complete miscarriage: a pregnancy that starts to develop outside the womb, usually in the fallopian tube

Signs of Miscarriage 

Bleeding is the most common sign of a miscarriage. The amount of bleeding can vary from light spotting to heavier than a period. The color may be brown or bright color. Other signs of miscarriage include:

• Severe pain in the lower abdomen
• Cramping
• Passage of tissue and/or clot like material from the vagina
• Fluid draining from vagina without pain

If you bleed while you are pregnant, you and your doctor will need to be watchful for a few days. It is hard to tell if the pregnancy is going to miscarry in the very early stages of pregnancy. Your doctor may order blood tests or perform an ultrasound exam.

Mild cramping of the lower stomach or a low backache sometimes may occur with bleeding. Bleeding may persist, become heavy, or occur along with a pain like menstrual cramps or the breaking of amniotic sac (the fluid-filled sac that surrounds the fetus in the women's uterus).

Causes of Miscarriage

The causes of miscarriage are usually unknown. It is important to realize that miscarriage is not because of anything you or your partner did or did not do. The most common cause for first trimester miscarriage is chromosome abnormality - meaning that something is not correct with the fetus's chromosomes.

Chromosome abnormality


Chromosome abnormalities - extra or missing whole chromosomes, also called aneuploidy - occur because of a misdivision of the chromosomes in the egg or sperm involved in a conception. Typically, humans have 46 chromosomes that come in 23 pairs. Missing or extra material at the time of conception or in an embryo or fetus can cause a woman to either not become pregnant, miscarry, or have a baby with a chromosome syndrome, such as Down Syndrome.

Hormonal


Getting pregnant and staying pregnant is dependent on the correct balance of reproductive hormone. Any hormonal imbalance, which leads to miscarriage, is most likely to be a one-off event that is unlikely occur.

Infection


Some viral and bacterial infections increase miscarriage. Many micro-organisms live harmlessly - even helpfully - in the male and female reproductive tracts. But certain bacteria can cause problems, such as Mycoplasma hominis and Ureaplasma urealyticum. These infections can usually be treated easily with antibiotics.

Lifestyle (Cigarettes, Alcohol, Drugs, Environmental Toxins)


Smokers have twice the rate of miscarriage as nonsmokers. Drinking more than two alcoholic beverages a day is also associated with miscarriage. Women who work in certain environments, including farms, operating rooms, dental offices and hospital laboratories, have a higher rate of miscarriage for unknown reason.