I had the Ipas procedure 2 days ago on Tuesday, February 7th and just wanted to share my experience for anyone else who may find themselves in the unfortunate situation of considering their options for a missed miscarriage.

Timeline:

1/1/2017: 2 positive pregnancy tests (first pregnancy)

1/31/2017: first ultrasound - at this appointment, learned we may have miscarried at 3-4 weeks, a follow-up appointment was scheduled to confirm

2/6/2017: follow up appointment confirmed no fetal heartbeat and given "diagnosis" of blighted ovum

2/7/2017: Ipas procedure to remove remaining pregnancy tissue

When we learned that I had a missed miscarriage, my doctor told me I could either wait for the tissue to pass on it's own or take misoprostol to trigger contractions and "speed it up". I honestly just wanted everything out of my body as soon as possible so I could get closure, heal and prepare to start trying again.

I had read about the D&C procedure, but I didn't want to go under general anesthesia and my doctor told me it's typically not even done on miscarriages that occur before 12 weeks. I told her I wasn't comfortable passing the tissue on my own and she suggested the Ipas procedure. The process she explained to me involved: taking the misoprostol pill 1-4 hours prior to the procedure to help dilate the cervix, receiving local anesthesia to the cervix to ease pain while they manually dilate the cervix, then use a tool the "vacuum" out the pregnancy tissue.

The procedure itself took about 6-7 minutes and we were in and out of the doctor’s office within 45 minutes. Because I've never had a child before, my doctor was nervous about how I'd respond to the dilation, but I never once experienced any pain. It was slightly uncomfortable at times, but I never had any pain. Emotionally, it's a little taxing, but compared to the other options, this method was the fastest and would allow me to begin healing sooner. I go back in 7-10 days to get blood work to test my HcG levels. Once those are near 0, I should have a period and will then be cleared to begin trying again.

That night and the next day I experienced period-like cramps and light bleeding. Now, 2 days later, the bleeding is slightly heavier, but the cramps have subsided. The only other "side effect" I have to report thus far is that the misoprostol caused diarrhea the night that I took it (which is a known and reported side effect, along with constipation and a bunch of other fun ones). That has since passed though, thank god.

Overall, the Ipas procedure was swift, painless and was the best way to help ME heal from this loss. It may not be for everyone, but I wanted to share my story and experience.