“Will a miscarriage affect my chances of getting pregnant again?”
I am 28 years old and I had a miscarriage last year. I had carried for 4 months. Will this affect my chances of getting pregnant again?
6 Answers
A miscarriage will not affect your chance of getting pregnant, but it may affect your risk of having another miscarriage. It is always best to have an early evaluation should you believe that you are pregnant.
Judy
Judy
No, your miscarriage will not affect your ability to get pregnant again. It is important that you discuss with your obstetrician physician why you miscarried. Depending on the cause, sometimes there are things that can be done.
It will not affect your chance getting pregnant again. It might increase your risk of miscarriage in the next pregnancy.
Nashwa Bryant
OB-GYN (Obstetrician-Gynecologist)
Hi it shouldn't depending on the cause. We usually don't start thinking of investigating causes until 3 consecutive miscarriages occur (3 in a row) especislly if you got pregnant naturally. You're very young and shouldn't have a problem getting pregnant again. I would advice you to go to your doctor to discuss maybe checking to exclude infections as a baseline measure. I hope this helps
Dr. Victoria Mondloch
OB-GYN (Obstetrician-Gynecologist) | Gynecology
This is a great question. When a miscarriage occurs before 12wks pregnant or in the 1st trimester, that is the most common, but can still have multiple reasons. Statistics say that 1 in 10 women will miscarry, no matter what the reason; that’s a statistic most women never hear.
Common reasons for 1st trimester miscarriage:
1. Genetics of the fetus are just not destined to make a healthy fetus, either from the woman’s egg or the man’s sperm.
2. Low Progesterone <20 that doesn’t make for a lush uterine lining for the fetus to implant into. Low Progesterone can also lead to pre-term labor later in a pregnancy.
3. Poor control of known medical conditions such as thyroid dz, poorly controlled diabetes, severe ulcerative colitis with diarrhea and GI bleeding as well as others, esp if strong medication with category C, D, or higher is being taken by the mom.
4. Clotting disorders that may not manifest until a pregnancy occurs; these can cause microclotting in the placenta, which cuts off blood supply to the fetus (see the list in #5 of the 2nd trimester miscarriage list below).
5. Certain viruses such as the virus that causes 5ths disease can only give mild symptoms to the mom, but catastrophic to the fetus.
6. Abdominal trauma such as a motor vehicle accident with an intact lap belt as well as a missing lap belt.
7. A significant fall on your bottom which jars or may even fracture the pelvic bone structure or tailbone.
8. A fever of 102.5 or greater from any reason.
9. A maternal diagnosis of anovulation (not ovulating) or irregular ovulating per menstrual cycle such as polycystic ovary, or PCO; this diagnosis may only have a patient ovulating once every couple of months or, in a severe case, ovulation may be so irregular as to require fertility medication or an infertility specialist.
However, there are less common reasons for a 2nd trimester miscarriage, or from 12-24wks:
1. Abnormal genetics that allow the fetus to grow to this stage of pregnancy, but will not support life outside the womb; doing genetics on the "products of conception" are important to perform.
2. Low Progesterone <20 can still be responsible and an easy issue to "fix," but difficult if your healthcare provider doesn’t feel this may be a cause.
3. Poor blood pressure control or a variant of pre-eclampsia (severe high blood pressure in pregnancy) can occur that causes dangerous blood pressures before 20wks pregnancy that can cause damage to the blood vessels of the placenta or even cause a stroke in the fetus. If this condition occurs before 20wks, it is also dangerous to the mother and can also cause stroke or even rupture of internal organs such as rupture of liver or spleen, which can cause internal bleeding or even death.
4. Abnormalities to the uterus such as fibroids or a prior uterine scar from a prior C-section or myomectomy can cause altered blood flow to that internal section of the uterus where the placenta may grow over; this causes poor blood flow interaction that can also cause painless and sometimes painful bleeding and cramping that can lead to miscarriage. This chain of events with abnormal bleeding can also cause premature rupture of the bag of waters; in that case, the fetal lungs are unable to properly develop and the usual outcome is miscarriage.
5. Again, clotting disorders such as Factor V Leiden, Antiphospholipid antibody syndrome or anticardiolipin antibody syndrome or Methyltetrahydrofolate reductase deficiency (MTHFR) need to be tested.
Because these reasons for 2nd trimester miscarriage are more serious, it’s possible that these reasons may still have the underlying cause remaining to cause a repeat miscarriage in the event of a 2nd pregnancy. So, getting pregnant may not be the problem, staying pregnant may be the bigger problem; check with your healthcare provider as the work-up for a 2nd trimester miscarriage is similar to that for recurrent miscarriage or 3 or more 1st trimester miscarriages.
I realize this is a longer answer than you might have been expecting, but it’s a more complex question with a more complex answer than a 1st trimester miscarriage. Be certain that your healthcare provider has you see an OB-GYN who can do the work-up for you. You can even have a lot of the work-up done remote from the miscarriage in case this testing was missed.
Dr. Victoria J. Mondloch
Common reasons for 1st trimester miscarriage:
1. Genetics of the fetus are just not destined to make a healthy fetus, either from the woman’s egg or the man’s sperm.
2. Low Progesterone <20 that doesn’t make for a lush uterine lining for the fetus to implant into. Low Progesterone can also lead to pre-term labor later in a pregnancy.
3. Poor control of known medical conditions such as thyroid dz, poorly controlled diabetes, severe ulcerative colitis with diarrhea and GI bleeding as well as others, esp if strong medication with category C, D, or higher is being taken by the mom.
4. Clotting disorders that may not manifest until a pregnancy occurs; these can cause microclotting in the placenta, which cuts off blood supply to the fetus (see the list in #5 of the 2nd trimester miscarriage list below).
5. Certain viruses such as the virus that causes 5ths disease can only give mild symptoms to the mom, but catastrophic to the fetus.
6. Abdominal trauma such as a motor vehicle accident with an intact lap belt as well as a missing lap belt.
7. A significant fall on your bottom which jars or may even fracture the pelvic bone structure or tailbone.
8. A fever of 102.5 or greater from any reason.
9. A maternal diagnosis of anovulation (not ovulating) or irregular ovulating per menstrual cycle such as polycystic ovary, or PCO; this diagnosis may only have a patient ovulating once every couple of months or, in a severe case, ovulation may be so irregular as to require fertility medication or an infertility specialist.
However, there are less common reasons for a 2nd trimester miscarriage, or from 12-24wks:
1. Abnormal genetics that allow the fetus to grow to this stage of pregnancy, but will not support life outside the womb; doing genetics on the "products of conception" are important to perform.
2. Low Progesterone <20 can still be responsible and an easy issue to "fix," but difficult if your healthcare provider doesn’t feel this may be a cause.
3. Poor blood pressure control or a variant of pre-eclampsia (severe high blood pressure in pregnancy) can occur that causes dangerous blood pressures before 20wks pregnancy that can cause damage to the blood vessels of the placenta or even cause a stroke in the fetus. If this condition occurs before 20wks, it is also dangerous to the mother and can also cause stroke or even rupture of internal organs such as rupture of liver or spleen, which can cause internal bleeding or even death.
4. Abnormalities to the uterus such as fibroids or a prior uterine scar from a prior C-section or myomectomy can cause altered blood flow to that internal section of the uterus where the placenta may grow over; this causes poor blood flow interaction that can also cause painless and sometimes painful bleeding and cramping that can lead to miscarriage. This chain of events with abnormal bleeding can also cause premature rupture of the bag of waters; in that case, the fetal lungs are unable to properly develop and the usual outcome is miscarriage.
5. Again, clotting disorders such as Factor V Leiden, Antiphospholipid antibody syndrome or anticardiolipin antibody syndrome or Methyltetrahydrofolate reductase deficiency (MTHFR) need to be tested.
Because these reasons for 2nd trimester miscarriage are more serious, it’s possible that these reasons may still have the underlying cause remaining to cause a repeat miscarriage in the event of a 2nd pregnancy. So, getting pregnant may not be the problem, staying pregnant may be the bigger problem; check with your healthcare provider as the work-up for a 2nd trimester miscarriage is similar to that for recurrent miscarriage or 3 or more 1st trimester miscarriages.
I realize this is a longer answer than you might have been expecting, but it’s a more complex question with a more complex answer than a 1st trimester miscarriage. Be certain that your healthcare provider has you see an OB-GYN who can do the work-up for you. You can even have a lot of the work-up done remote from the miscarriage in case this testing was missed.
Dr. Victoria J. Mondloch
No
