*TMI and Trigger warning; sharing details about miscarriage*

I know this is a lot to read and a lot of TMI, but I was looking for information like this when I was freaking out during and following my miscarriage, so I’m hoping this post is helpful to others also seeking this information ❤️

I was 7w3d when I began spotting on December 21, 2022. It started pinkish orange, but was bright red within a few hours. The next day I was bleeding like a period, no cramping and not “heavy”. That night I began passing small clots, having cramps like bad period cramps, and then passed a large clot about the size of a lemon. I couldn’t see any tissue, it just seemed to be a large jelly like clot. After that I bled VERY heavily, I almost went to the ER thinking I’d bleed out - I didn’t go though because it abruptly stopped after filling 2 overnight pads in an hour and a half. I never felt faint, shakey, sweaty, pale or even cramps.

My bleeding was BARELY even spotting and I felt fine… I wasn’t convinced I had miscarried at this point, I spent a lot of time searching posts like this looking for others’ experiences and thought it could just be a subchorionic hematoma. The spotting continued until Saturday December 24th, I started cramping. The cramps were like bad period cramps and my lower back hurt like a bugger. The cramps started to really hurt, like contractions, and would come in waves… that’s when I knew, I was in labour. The pain changed suddenly and it felt like I really had to have a bowel movement. When I went to the toilet I didn’t actually have to have a bowel movement, it was that I was passing a lot of small/medium blood clots (still no visible “tissue”) and then a large chunk of tissue that appeared to be the placenta; round, flat, tissue not clot, textured/bumpy on one side, looked kind of veiny, odd colour; not red (I wish I thought to take pictures, but I don’t have pics of any of my miscarriage clots/tissue).

After the clots and tissue came out I bled. A lot. Straight up, bright red blood, and two full overnight pads of it. But it stopped/slowed after about 50 minutes and I had no cramping after that. I spotted/had light flow until January 3rd, 2023, then nothing.

Out of curiosity, and because I wasn’t being monitored by my doctor because they were on holidays, I checked my HCG at home via HPTs (see photo). I was curious how long it would take for my body to kick the HCG and prepare for ovulation again. Interestingly OPK’s showed positive when I was getting positive HPT tests. Today (January 11, 2023) is 3 weeks after my miscarriage started, and my HCG is low enough to not register on a HPT with sensitivity of 25mIU. Because the OPK read positive right after my miscarriage, I’m assuming I wasn’t ovulating and it was mistaking my other hormones for LH; but I don’t know for sure. But today my OPK is showing ovulation day is nearing… but maybe it’s still going down from before… so I’ll update tomorrow or the next day to see if OPK gets darker.

Feel free to message or comment with questions or if you need reassurance or to talk ❤️