#miscarriage management

[thepro-lifemovement]

[pro-birth]

From Birthway Co on Facebook:

Maybe you’ve been told your miscarriage would be “just like a period.”

Maybe it will be. Hopefully it will be.

But I think it’s important to know that it might not be. And reducing the experience to a routine period doesn’t accurately depict the process.

Miscarriage is labor.

Miscarriage is birth.

You still deliver a baby.

It’s just, the outcome is unfortunately very different.

In general, the further along you were in pregnancy, the more difficult the miscarriage process will be. But again, this isn’t always true. You might experience severe cramping, heavy bleeding, and intense fatigue. The worst of it may last a few hours. Sometimes it’s a long, drawn out process.

I pray none of you are in this situation, but if you’ve been told by your provider a miscarriage is coming soon, here are 3 tips to manage it.

💕 Plan to take off work or send your older kids to a sitter. If you’ve been told it will be “just like a period” you might feel tempted to press on with normal life. Don’t. Even if it ends up being physically smooth, it is a highly emotional process. Take the time off and be kind to yourself.

💕 Use water. Whether it’s a hot shower on your back or a soothing bath, water will help you relax and will ease the cramping. It’s one of the best ways to manage the pain.

💕 Have Ibuprofen handy and don’t be afraid to take it. Your uterus will still contract, but you might experience more constant cramping without the breaks of full term labor so let the meds take the edge off.

Just like at term, miscarriage is a process that will transform you and it’s so much more than just another period. Praying comfort for anyone who might be reading this while in the midst of it. Always feel free to reach out 🤍

[protruth-prochoice]

People ask -- what if your mother had been aborted?

In 1951, a woman in her early third trimester wasn't always decorating a nursery -- they knew it still wasn't certain they'd be having a healthy baby. So much could still happen.

Like my grandmother -- she wasn't expecting her baby until at least March. That Christmas Eve, the last she and my grandfather would have as non-parents, though, wasn't the usual extended family celebration that was her family's tradition. She'd been too sick, for awhile now, to do much of anything.

Granny wasn't a woman to let illness get her down -- during the late '20s, she trudged to school every day the untreated malaria she suffered (they were too poor for a doctor) let her -- about every other day, sometimes only one out of three. The other days she was having febrile seizures. She kept working as long as she could even when my grandfather told her to quit -- what's morning sickness when we need to save for a baby? Even as an octogenarian, she didn't want pain medicine when she broke her hip.

The doctor who came to the house that day examined her. He'd seen the symptoms, even if there wasn't really a definite name for the constellation of symptoms. Swelling. High blood pressure. And that was just the start -- he knew the things that would happen if the pregnancy continued. They weren't pretty. They often ended in death.

He left my grandmother to rest, and gave my grandfather the cure -- two bottles of castor oil. Said they could try for another baby, but he wouldn't recommend it. He suggested they adopt.

He brought them in to my grandmother, and she knew what it meant. And it did take both bottles.

Fortunately, my mother was born on Christmas Day, and was feisty enough to live. My grandmother was extremely sick for a month afterwards, including having at least one seizure. Mom was an only child. Grandpa wasn't going to risk losing his wife when he'd been given a gift by both of them surviving.

[thepro-lifemovement]