from “Miscarriage: The loneliest grief of all” in The Independent by Kate Evans:

“The first trimester is when a woman does the work of creating the baby. Every organ in the baby’s body is formed, and the mother experiences worse fatigue and nausea than at any other point of gestation. Women need to be supported through this vulnerable period and, with no outward sign that they are pregnant, how are they going to access that help if they can’t ask for it?…And if they miscarry, as one in six early babies will, women need even more support through their trauma. “Not telling” leaves women stranded with their grief. How can they begin to explain that they are mourning the loss of something whose existence was kept secret in the first place?”

“About half of miscarriages are thought to be due to the fact that the foetus is not developing normally because of chromosomal, genetic or other problems. The causes of the other half are not known.”

“If a woman has three consecutive miscarriages, this is known as recurrent spontaneous miscarriage and doctors will want to investigate any possible causes. But often no cause can be found.”

from Coming to Term: Uncovering the Truth about Miscarriage by John Cohen:

“Thirty-one percent of pregnancies end in miscarriage.”

“50 percent of conceptions fail, which means that at least half of all pregnancies fail, 25 percent of women who attempt to become pregnant likely will have two miscarriages, and 12.5 percent will have three.”

“Researchers have found that 50 percent of miscarriages are chromosomally abnormal- some studies suggest that the rate ay even be as high as 70 percent- and if those pregnancies continued to term, they would result in children who died shortly after birth or who survived with severe mental and physical problems.”

“Women who suffer a single miscarriage face hardly any increased risk of a second loss; a huge study of Danish hospital records looked at 300,000 clinically recognized pregnancies and found that women had an 11 percent risk of miscarrying if they had never had a loss, and it went up to only 16 percent in those who had had a previous miscarriage.”

“For women who have two, three or even four miscarriages, frequently chance, rather than some underlying biological problem, appears to explain their losses. Indeed, in study after study, women who have up to four miscarriages and become pregnant again typically carry to term.”

“When women who have suffered “re-current spontaneous abortions,” (three or more miscarriages in a row) become pregnant again, they will, with no treatment, carry to term nearly 70 percent of the time.”

“A woman who is trying to become pregnant will succeed, on average, one out of every four menstrual cycles. So for each menstrual cycle, a sexually active woman not using birth control has less than a 10 percent chance of carrying to term.”

“During the third week of pregnancy, the fetus’ nervous system emerges, fashioning a tube that will in time become the spinal cord and the brain. An S-shaped organ that will become the heart begins to form and pump fluids. During the fourth week, the embryo looks like a minuscule hammerhead shark with limb buds popping out from its sides. It measures less than half an inch and weighs less than a gram. By week five, the embryo has pits for eyes and a nose. At week six, the bones begin to harden, and the tip of the nose become distinct, as does the lower jaw and the outlines of the fingers and toes. The next week the gonads form. Brain waves become detectable, and knees and elbows take shape. Week eight separates an embryo from a fetus, as all essential structures have developed. More than 90 percent of miscarriages occur by the eighth week.”

from “People Have Misconceptions About Miscarriage, And That Can Hurt” on NPR by Katherine Hobson:

“Miscarriage [is] defined as a pregnancy loss earlier than 20 weeks of gestation. (Pregnancy loss after that point is called a stillbirth.)”

“Miscarriage is actually ‘by far the most common complication of pregnancy,’ says [Dr. Zev] Williams.”

from “Finding Hope After Miscarriage” in The New York Times by Kendra Hurley:

“Most early miscarriages are caused by embryos with genetic abnormalities, which are more common with older eggs.”

“Though only 1 or 2 percent of couples experience recurrent pregnancy loss — defined as more than two miscarriages in a row — miscarriage itself is remarkably common, happening to roughly one quarter of all known pregnancies.”

“The dearth of research surrounding miscarriage only fuels the isolation and remorse. Fertility specialists generally default to treating women who lose pregnancies the same way they do women who have been trying for years to conceive.”