"Early Miscarriage"

After receiving 2 positive pregnancy tests, I woke bleeding 10 days later. I'd had a baby before and never had any bleeding during that pregnancy so I was immediately concerned. I phoned the number for maternity triage as it was the only phone number on the letter I had received from the midwife.

After trying to call 4 times with no success I finally reached someone who answered the call with "will this be quick as we're very busy". After being rushed through my story I was given the phone number for the Early Pregnancy Unit as I was under 14 weeks.

I called the Early Pregnancy Unit I reached a staff member who informed me that every pregnancy is different and told me I couldn't have an appointment as I wasn't bleeding heavily enough. I was to call back if I was soaking a pad an hour.

I knew that something was not right, so I called my gp but they told me the best thing to do was call the hospital immediately. I did call back and was again told I would not be seen as I wasn't bleeding heavily enough.

I decided to go to a&e which I would never usually do unless it was urgent, but I was not being taken seriously and could not wait 3 weeks until my midwife appointment. The doctors at a&e were far more caring and respectful. I gave a urine sample and although I am not sure what tests they actually ran, I know that they performed a urine pregnancy test which they informed me had come back negative. I was advised to contact the Early Pregnancy Unit to have it confirmed, but that it would appear I had indeed had a miscarriage.

So I returned home and immediately took a home pregnancy test which clearly showed POSITIVE. I called the Early Pregnancy Unit for the last time and again spoke with the same member of staff as before who was noticeably frustrated that I had gone to a&e against their advice. They could not see any record of me going to a&e, so they called the dr themselves to confirm this. I was then told that as the pregnancy test was apparently negative there was no need for them to see me, and I should take another test in 3 weeks.

I continued to have POSITIVE pregnancy tests for a week, then they began to fade and showed negative. I am very disappointed in the 'care' I received, and this differs greatly from what is written in the NHS guidelines which I did look at when this was happening.

If I had taken the advice I was given I would not have known about my loss until my 12 week scan. I am just happy that I managed to have a complete natural miscarriage on my own because this experience has lead me to believe that if I had any retained products or infection I would have needed to become very sick before I would have been seen.