Imminent miscarriage: abort or wait

scouserT

Hi,
I am a long time reader and first time poster.

My wife was told (by doctor in a hospital) that she has a blighted ovum and that miscarriage is inevitable and that it will typically occur around 12 - 14 weeks into pregnancy. She is currently approximately 9 weeks. Apparently the embryo is till at the 2 week stage and is not developing.

She is sick with worry. According to the hospital she can either wait, have a D&C or take a pessary to relax the cervix and hasten miscarriage. She doesn't want to wait because prolonging the inevitable makes no sense to her and she feels that she can't cope with the demands of our other young children through this time. She doesn't want a D&C. She will probably opt for the pessary. My question is ... would that be abortion? I really do want to support her. I would prefer if she waited but am not going to stand in her way as she is the one who has to go through with it and anyway a spontaneous miscarriage will occur most likely over the next 3 to 5 weeks anyway.

Thanks!

Playboy

If the embryo isnt developing then I would assume that it is not abortion.

Flukey

Wait.

athena 2000

scouserT wrote:

My question is ... would that be abortion? I really do want to support her.

I don't know. But whatever her choice, give her as much support as possible with your other children to help relieve the mental and physical stress of her situation.

dahamsta

Next time someone asks why I'm not into organised religion, I'll just point them here.

Nevyn

Look I suggest that if you conciense is pricking you or you want good soild
christian advice that you go and have a talk with your priest/vicar/pastor.

IF you dont have one I am sure that you can find out where your nearest
place of christain worship is and go get in touch with some one that will
help you in this difficult time.

smidgy

I dont want to sound over rightous but,
"man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the
mouth of the LORD" - nothing is beyond the power of the lord, life comes from the lord, so is it really in evitable?

You are in a very difficult personal situation. All you can do is pray and ask God to help you and your wife through this period. As an outsider to the event I would like to think I would wait and accept Gods will. If it was my wife though I know I would struggle with the pain of accccepting Gods will. Whatever you choose, just remember that god abounds in mercy.

ArthurDent

Definition of blighted ovum:


What is a blighted ovum?

Blighted ovum refers to a pregnancy in which the embryo did not develop or failed earlier than six-and-a-half weeks. When a sonogram is performed, only the gestational sac that would have surrounded the embryo is seen.

The vast majority of blighted ovum are caused by wrong chromosome number in the conceptus. This means that an error occurred when the egg or the sperm was dividing its genetic information in half in order to create the pregnancy. Occasionally blighted ovum are caused by a problem with the egg or sperm, so that too much genetic information from either the egg or the sperm is present in the pregnancy. Recently, early x-rays or early viruses have also been suggested as a possible cause.

Because the placenta can continue to grow and support itself without a baby for a short time, pregnancy hormone levels can continue to rise after the death of the embryo. However, they may not increase at the rate doctors look for to document a healthy pregnancy. (Doctors generally look for levels to approximately double every two or so days, although there is often some individual variation.)
http://www.earlypath.com/faqs/ovum.html

There is no viable embryo/ foetus - therefore any procedure/medical intervention is not abortion.

My sympathy to you and your wife on finding yourselves in this position.

Dades

Acting now is the sensible thing to do IMO. The result is inevitable and you owe it to your family to have their mother healthy and stress-free as soon as possible.

I wish you and yours the best of luck.

Flukey wrote:

Wait.

Thanks for the considered opinion.

Excelsior

scouserT, you and your wife's situation is very sad and you have my prayers.

But in the strongest terms possible I would advise you to seek advice from a minister or priest in your locality.