Miscarriages happen when a pregnancy spontaneously ends before the baby is born. Unfortunately, pregnancy loss is common, and can occur in up to 20% of all pregnancies. It usually happens before the 13th week , but it can also happen later.

Risk Factors

You need to cut out the following activities, which increase the risk:

* smoking
* drinking alcohol
* doing drugs
* excessive caffeine consumption
* recurrent pregnancy loss
* fibroids
* lupus
* diabetes
* thyroid disease
* infection
* kidney disease
* age

Why Does This Happen?

It is difficult to know why pregnancy loss happens. Generally, however, if it happens early on, it is usually the result of abnormal chromosomes.

After 20 weeks , this may be associated with infection in the uterus or placenta, or a weak cervix that is incapable of keeping the womb closed until the baby is ready to be born.

Unfortunately, some tests that identify abnormalities in the baby may also cause a pregnancy loss. These two tests are: amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling (CVS) . This may cause between 1%-2% of pregnancy loss in women.

Recurrent Miscarriages

If a loss happens twice in a row, doctors may want to look further into possible reasons, other than chromosomal abnormalities of the fetus. The doctor will look for problems with:

* Structure of the uterus
* Blood clotting
* Certain chromosomal conditions
* Hormonal imbalances

Stillbirth And Infant Death At Birth

Stillbirths (death of the baby after 20 weeks) are tragic, but do happen. The reasons for these types of losses are different from those losses suffered before 20 weeks. These causes include:

* Placenta previa - when the placenta attaches itself to the lower part of the uterus, covering the cervix;
* Placental abruption - when the placenta pulls away from wall of the uterus during pregnancy;
* Underlying conditions that the mother had prior to pregnancy.

Signs and Symptoms

The most common signs are:

* vaginal bleeding
* sharp abdominal cramps

Common Forms: