JOY FEELINGS MAGAZINE APRIL ISSUE | Page 29

hospital doctors. The bleeding may mean there are some pregnancy tissues left in your womb (uterus). This is called an incomplete miscarriage and may need treatment. Your doctors are likely to advise one of the following approaches:    Expectant management: the bleeding is given up to a week more to settle, without treatment, as long as there's no sign of infection. Medical management: your doctor will give you medicines to help along completion of the miscarriage. Surgical management: your doctor will perform a minor operation to complete the miscarriage. Doctors call this an SMM, which stands for surgical management of miscarriage. JOY FEELINGS MAG With medical management, you may be offered tablets to swallow or a pessary to insert into your vagina. The bleeding after medical management can be heavy and take longer to stop. But it will mean you don't have to have surgery, and you should only have to stay in hospital for a short while after your treatment. An SMM takes a few minutes and you're likely to recover quickly. It's most likely that your doctor will carry out the procedure while you're asleep under a general anaesthetic. Some hospitals offer the option of surgical management with a local anaesthetic, instead of a general. This procedure is called MVA, which stands Page 29