When a woman finds out that she is pregnant, she often experiences a wave of excitement and anticipation for all of the days to come. However, some women may experience the devastating news that their pregnancy is not progressing normally. Blighted ovum is a condition in which the fertilized egg fails to develop, meaning the sac and embryo do not form. It is an incredibly difficult diagnosis to receive, as many women have already made plans for a future with their unborn baby. For those women who have experienced a blighted ovum, the question then arises: what should they do next if they choose to conceive again? This blog post will explore the potential risks and considerations associated with pregnancy immediately after blighted ovum. We will discuss the various medical, physical, and psychological factors that should be taken into account when deciding whether to try for a pregnancy soon after a blighted ovum. We will also look at how to best prepare for a successful pregnancy in the future. By the end
How is a blighted ovum diagnosed?
Some blighted ovums are never diagnosed. A positive pregnancy test might be followed a few days later by the start of your period. This is a chemical pregnancy, or a very early miscarriage.
At their initial doctor’s appointment, other women learn that they had a miscarriage due to a blighted ovum. Around three weeks after your missed period, or by week seven of pregnancy, an ultrasound can detect a blighted ovum. This is a blighted ovum if there is only an empty gestational sac and neither an embryo nor fetal pole.
Nothing that you or your partner did caused the blighted ovum, nor anything you could have done to prevent it. In most cases, a blighted ovum miscarriage occurs because of chromosomal abnormalities. In one study that analyzed the chromosomes from 88 blighted ovums, nearly two-thirds were found to have abnormalities such as extra chromosomes or missing chromosomes[1.”Cytogenetic testing of anembryonic pregnancies compared to embryonic missed abortions“].
This implies that even though these eggs were fertilized, their genetic material never gave rise to any offspring. It is believed that genetic mutations stopped development in the one-third of cases for which chromosomal abnormalities were absent.
In many instances, your body will react to a blighted ovum just like a normal pregnancy, continuing to produce the hormones that cause early pregnancy signs and symptoms even after the fertilized egg has stopped growing. When this happens, it’s called a missed miscarriage.
Many women continue to have positive pregnancy tests and experience nausea, bloating, and breast soreness during a blighted ovum because there aren’t always signs that something is wrong. Sometimes, there are indicators like spotting during pregnancy, heavy bleeding, or excruciating cramping.
Most of the time, your body will detect a blighted ovum pregnancy early on and you will naturally miscarry. This might feel like a heavy period, and there might be more cramping. In fact, it’s likely that some women have miscarriages due to blighted ovums without even realizing they were pregnant.
After a few weeks, if your blighted ovum does not miscarry naturally, your doctor might suggest medication or surgery. You can undergo a quick surgical procedure known as a dilation and curettage (D&C), which causes your uterus to clear its contents, or you can take the medication misoprostol.
How soon after a miscarriage can I get pregnant?
Despite the latest research, many doctors continue to recommend waiting at least 3 months before trying to conceive after a miscarriage. The World Health Organization (WHO) is even more conservative, stating that women ought to wait at least six months.
Where does this old advice come from? It was based on a hodgepodge of vague, biological-sounding reasoning (“Wait for your hormones to settle back down”), conventional wisdom, and the fact that outcomes in a subsequent pregnancy are better when conceived at least a nine months after a live birth.
In other words, the outdated advice was not supported by any actual research on conceptions following miscarriages. These data, which we now have, categorically contradict the previous guidance.
Studies suggest that waiting too long after a miscarriage may actually reduce your chances of getting pregnant again.
Consider the conclusions of a meta-analysis of 16 studies involving a total of over a million women. Women who conceive within 6 months of a miscarriage were significantly less likely to have another miscarriage. Not only that, but these women also had lower chances of delivering preterm. And they were not at higher risk of adverse outcomes like stillbirth, preeclampsia, or low birthweight.
According to studies, waiting too long after a miscarriage may reduce your chances of getting pregnant again.
Expectative approach
Since blighted ovum eventually results in miscarriage, some women choose to wait for the miscarriage to happen naturally. This doesn’t require any medical intervention but can be mentally and physically exhausting since it can take days to weeks for the bleeding to stop. In addition, this approach miscarriage can be painful. It can also be mentally and physically agonizing since it can take days to weeks for the bleeding to stop.
Your experience with this method may vary greatly depending on the stage of pregnancy. It might feel more like a painful menstrual period at first. But if you’re further along, you might have contractions that resemble labor, which some people might find traumatic if they’re unprepared for.
FAQ
Does blighted ovum affect next pregnancy?
What are the chances of a blighted ovum happening twice?