A miscarriage is the loss of a fetus during pregnancy due to natural causes. It is the spontaneous termination of a pregnancy before fetal development has reached 20 weeks. If the pregnancy is lost after the 20th week, it is categorized as a pre-term delivery.

What are the causes of miscarriage?

There are many reasons why a woman's pregnancy ends in miscarriage. More than half the miscarriages that occur in the first eight weeks of pregnancy involve serious chromosomal abnormalities or birth defects that would make it impossible for the baby to survive. These are different from inherited genetic diseases. They probably occur during development of the specific egg or sperm, and therefore are not likely to occur again.

Most don't know that an estimated 50% of all fertilized eggs die before the woman knows she is pregnant. In known pregnancies, miscarriages usually occur between the seventh and twelfth weeks of pregnancy. What causes miscarriage anyway?

A miscarriage is commonly caused by an abnormal hormonal imbalance that interferes with the ability of the uterus to support the growing embryo, or the luteal phase defect. Another factor goes to the problem with the structure of the uterus or cervix.

Miscarriage can even happen at a higher rate due to smoking, infection, exposure to toxins like lead and benzene, multiple pregnancy and diabetes. If a woman has previously taken the contraceptive pill, the risk of having a miscarriage appears to be slightly reduced. However, the cause of a miscarriage remains unknown. If a miscarriage has started there is very little that can be done to stop it.

Miscarriage symptoms

The most common symptom is bleeding in the vaginal region. It could either be a light spot to a flow heavier than a period. Blood clots, brown discharge or other tissue that is not clearly identifiable can also be seen. Sometimes a sac-like structure is also included. Cramping, with pelvic or back-pain is also a symptom.

Some of the usual symptoms of pregnancy, such as breast tenderness, feeling sick and frequent urination were halted unexpectedly. At most times, there are no signs or symptoms of miscarriage and pregnancy at all and the miscarriage is only discovered in a routine scan.