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Emergency Department Discharge Instructions

Miscarriage - threatened

Category

Pregnancy

Emergency Care Discharge Instructions

Instruction summary

In the ER, it is usually difficult to predict the future of the pregnancy. You will need to book an appointment with your obstetrician or family doctor within ≈1 week, to schedule more tests. These tests include a blood test (called a beta-HCG, the pregnancy hormone) and an ultrasound. The blood test is most helpful if it is done three or more days after the ER visit. The repeat ultrasound can confirm the location of the pregnancy in patients who had an initial ultrasound that didn’t show very much (too early to see very well).

While there isn’t much scientific evidence for it, we generally tell patients with a threatened miscarriage to avoid heavy exercising and sexual intercourse.

Many people are unaware that one in five pregnancies end in miscarriage (20 per cent of pregnancies). If you do have a miscarriage, you should know that losing one pregnancy does not mean that you will not have a successful pregnancy if you try again. In fact, most women have successful pregnancies after a miscarriage. If you do miscarry, you can start trying to conceive again whenever you feel mentally ready to try again. For many women it is important to give yourself some time to grieve the loss of the pregnancy before trying again.

Reasons to return to the ER
  1. Severe pain, particularly sharp pain, often on one side of your lower abdomen (which may indicate an undiagnosed tubal pregnancy)
  2. Ongoing heavy bleeding with clots
  3. Feel light-headed
  4. Fever (≥38.0 °C or 100.4 °F)