Miscarriage Overview

Most occur within the first trimester (<13 weeks), which may explain the stigma associated with announcing a pregnancy within the first trimester.³ Within that period, the risk of miscarriage is highest in the very early weeks (especially before 6–8 weeks) and then declines as pregnancy progresses, especially once a foetal heartbeat is detectable by ultrasound and significantly after 12 weeks.⁴

Some organisations define an early miscarriage as pregnancy loss that happens before 10 weeks gestation.⁵ Second trimester miscarriage (sometimes called a late miscarriage) is usually used to describe when the miscarriage happens between 14 and 24 weeks, in the middle stage of pregnancy.⁶

A typical miscarriage is what is referred to as a “complete miscarriage”. This describes the spontaneous, complete loss of pregnancy attributable to heavy bleeding (with or without pain).¹ However, there are different types of miscarriage where the symptoms and the emotional burden may vary.⁵

Pregnancy loss can be emotionally and physically challenging. Many women experience anxiety, or depression, especially after multiple losses.⁷ Support from loved ones and having a compassionate healthcare team can help with healing.

There may be situations where you and your partner must make difficult decisions, you may feel in shock, overwhelmed, angry, and sad. Too much information can be difficult to process during a distressing time. Therefore, we welcome you to use our interactive tool to personalise your experience, to access the information most relevant to you.

As the physical aspect of miscarriage affects everyone who is biologically able to get pregnant, we have used the term “women and birthing people”. If these phrases do not feel right to you, we hope you can still find the information in these pages helpful.