Types of Miscarriages

Septic Abortion—Septic Miscarriage

Any type of miscarriage associated with an infection of remaining pregnancy tissue or of the uterus itself is considered septic. Additional symptoms may include fever, chills, and foul-smelling discharge. This kind of miscarriage calls for urgent care (usually IV antibiotics) to prevent damage to the uterus, tubes, or ovaries.

Ectopic Pregnancy

This is a pregnancy that implants anywhere but the right place, the uterus. Most ectopic pregnancies are in the fallopian tubes, but they can be seen in the pelvis, ovary, and even the higher abdomen. Since most ectopic pregnancies are in the tube, diagnosis is often easy. The tube has a limited capacity for the growing process and will quickly stretch enough to cause pain.

The very rare ectopic pregnancy, in the pelvis for example, may get further along before there are symptoms of trouble, making blood loss worse with surgical treatment. Non-surgical treatments are also available.

Molar Pregnancy

This type of conception spans the gamut of looking nothing like a pregnancy to looking a lot like a normal pregnancy (sometimes called "incomplete mole"). It occurs when something goes amiss in the fertilization process, resulting in cells that would make up a placenta, but with no fetus or, in an incomplete mole, cells of a placenta and a fetus with such severe abnormalities that it could not survive.

Molar pregnancy is actually a tumor of pregnancy tissue, but usually only pre-cancerous. Thankfully, molar pregnancies are fairly rare.