Understanding Miscarriage
Facts..
• When you miscarry early it is largely because
of genetic abnormalities in the growing cells; the condition
of the growing fetus and embryo is incompatible with
normal life. Over 50% of miscarriages are due to abnormal
chromosomes.
• Faulty conception is the culprit: the fertilized
egg may fail to implant in the uterus, fail to undergo
cell division or the cell division is somehow all wrong.
Besides the genes and conception factors, an embryo
or fetus can be defective because of maternal infection,
environmental issues such as radiation or drugs or in
relatively small numbers, due to unknown reasons.
• The reasons enumerated above then cause the
fetus or embryo to become terribly malformed or simply
incapable of surviving. Nature takes over and terminates
the process. (As cruel as it may sound, this act of
nature happens for the best)
• A miscarriage often goes unnoticed in many instances
because it happens early on within a fortnight of conception
and is mistaken for a late period.
• The issue that baffles many experts is why does
conception progress to fertilization stage, only to
fail at the subsequent step or two. One theory in support
of this question is that a normal egg may have been
fertilized by an abnormal sperm. In such a situation
the fertilized egg is termed 'blighted ovum'.
• Most miscarriages occur in the first three months.
• Nearly 2% of miscarriages happen because of
an incompetent cervix.
• Miscarriages do not happen because of minor
emotional disturbances, minor falls, normal lifting
and other physical activities, moderate exercise, sexual
intercourse, and the occasional stress.
Emotional
Recovery
For a lot of couples pregnancy loss is never handled
lightly since it was a much awaited event. Having said
that, don't go on a guilt trip and wallow in self-pity
but do allow yourself to grief - it is a natural part
of healing. Chances of putting the blame on yourselves
are high. Most women feel they could have prevented
the loss; they blame it on something they did or didn't
do or on their partners: maybe they didn't eat or drink
right or they didn't manage their physical activity
well or didn't handle themselves emotionally, and many
other reasons. A miscarriage is not your
fault. Give yourself time to repair emotionally.
Focus on your needs rather than on any misplaced guilt.
Emotional recovery can take longer than physical recovery
for a lot of women - many would have already bonded
with the baby growing inside even at the very early
stage of pregnancy. So it becomes hard to let go, but
let go you must, and you will.
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