An expert has opened up on why women should not be blaming themselves for miscarriage. Pregnancy loss is something that affects a lot of women, and it is an issue that comes with a lot of mental health struggles. Women who have lost a baby can find themselves in a place full of grief and blame. They blame themselves for doing something that may have caused the miscarriage. It often does not matter how many times they are reassured; they will continue to hold some blame for themselves, and this can be damaging to a woman’s mental health.
According to The Conversation and Medical Xpress, an expert has recently opened up about what causes a miscarriage, and also explained why women cannot blame themselves for their pregnancy loss.
Rochanda Mitchell is the expert, and she is in maternal-fetal medicine and she stated that she has first-hand experience in witnessing what can happen to a woman who undergoes a pregnancy loss. She stated that having an open and honest conversation about what happens in a miscarriage may help take some of that burden off a woman’s shoulders and help them to understand that it is not their fault.
When it comes to miscarriage, about 15% to 25% of all pregnancies result in miscarriage, and 80% of those occur within the first trimester. These miscarriages are often caused by having missing or extra chromosomes, which is medically called aneuploidy. Many of these are incompatible with life and will cause a miscarriage.
These errors are considered “sporadic” because they happen by chance, and they are not passed down from any parent. When looking at the medical explanation, it is clear to see that there is no control over these events, and it very simply is something that “just happens.”
When a miscarriage happens in the second trimester is typically caused by a uterine abnormality. A septate uterus is the most common condition, and it is when the uterus is divided by a muscular membrane. This condition happens when a mother is a growing fetus within her own mother, and unless a doctor specifically checks for this, a woman is unlikely to know she even has this problem.
This is why it is important that a woman who experiences recurrent pregnancy losses checks in with a medical provider for a check-up. However, this is also something that is out of a woman’s control and she cannot be blamed for losing her pregnancy.
Sources: The Conversation, Medical Xpress