Being pregnant after a miscarriage, ectopic or molar pregnancy

Pregnancy after a previous loss or losses can be a complicated and emotional time. You may be feeling quite anxious and looking for reassurance wherever you can. This page is for you if you’re pregnant again after a miscarriage, ectopic or molar pregnancy.

On this page

Pregnancy after a miscarriage, ectopic or molar pregnancy

Extra care in pregnancy after a miscarriage, ectopic or molar pregnancy

Extra ultrasound scans

Will I have another miscarriage?

Coping with difficult emotions

Bonding with your baby

Postnatal depression

Pregnancy after a miscarriage, ectopic or molar pregnancy

If you are pregnant again after a previous loss, you probably have a lot of different feelings. You may feel excited or relieved that you’re pregnant again, but very worried about how this pregnancy will progress.  

You may still be grieving for the baby you lost, and worried you will forget them.  

You may find it hard to get excited, especially if you have had recurrent miscarriages in the past. Or you might find it easier to cope with if you stop yourself feeling anything much at all.

You might find scans and appointments more stressful, especially if it means going back to a place where you have had difficult experiences before. If you have had PTSD symptoms such as flashbacks, it may feel almost impossible.

Partners or parents using a surrogate may feel even less in control, desperate for things to go well but without even a bodily connection to the pregnancy.

The strain of waiting and enduring uncertainty about something so important and for such a long time can be exhausting.  

“We got pregnant 3 months after my miscarriage and now have a healthy 1 year old. I got emotional on the estimated due date of the failed pregnancy, even though I was pregnant at the time. I was also emotional on the 2-year anniversary of finding out I had miscarried, even though my son was almost 1 by that point. I felt guilty about this sadness, because I wouldn't have my son had our other baby survived. But talking to others helped me realise that this was normal, that it was OK to feel upset and that it bore no reflection on the love I have for my son.” 
Samantha

You might find it helpful to join our Facebook group for people who are trying to conceive, pregnant or parenting after a loss or losses.

You may also find it helpful to use our Safer Pregnancy Tool, which gives advice and information about care based on your own pregnancy history.

Extra care in pregnancy after a miscarriage, ectopic or molar pregnancy

If you have had 1 or 2 early miscarriages before, you probably won’t be automatically given any extra clinical care during this pregnancy. This is because most women and birthing people go on to have a healthy pregnancy after a miscarriage. You should still be able to access any mental health care you need.

If you’ve had recurrent miscarriages, or a second trimester loss (late miscarriage), you should have specialist care, which can include extra scans. This will either be arranged by the hospital where you have booked to provide your care in pregnancy, or through your GP.

If you have had a previous ectopic or molar pregnancy, you should get extra ultrasound scans.

If you have bleeding in early pregnancy and have had one or more miscarriages before, you should be prescribed progesterone once it’s confirmed that the pregnancy is not ectopic. Read more about getting progesterone in early pregnancy here.

You may have heard of women and birthing people being offered aspirin during pregnancy after loss. You will only be offered low dose aspirin if you have been diagnosed with Antiphospholipid Syndrome (APS). It is not safe to take aspirin if you have not been prescribed it by a doctor.

Extra ultrasound scans

You might find that extra scans give you some peace of mind. And you might feel that you want to know as soon as possible if something has gone wrong.

You might find the idea of having extra scans increases your anxiety, particularly if you had difficult experiences at scans in the past. Extra ultrasound scans won’t guarantee anything or predict how your pregnancy will progress.  

If you do want an early scan, you can talk to your GP or Early Pregnancy Unit. They may be able to offer you an early scan if there are appointments available and they feel it would benefit you.

You might choose to pay to have scans through private healthcare, but this can be expensive. If you choose to book a private scan, make sure you choose somewhere that is regulated by the Care Quality Commission.

If you’ve previously had an ectopic pregnancy, you should be offered a scan at 6 to 8 weeks to check that the baby is developing in the right place.

If you have had a previous molar pregnancy, tell your GP straightaway so they can organise early scans for you.

See more information on early pregnancy scans after a miscarriage.

“I had an early scan at 8 weeks. All was well and they asked me if I wanted a photo. I don’t know why, but I just couldn’t. It’s like I didn’t want to bond yet, or really acknowledge their existence, in case it went wrong again. When all was well at 10 weeks, they kindly printed the 8-week scan picture for me too. He’s 3 now.”

Rose

Will I have another miscarriage?

It’s completely natural to worry about things going wrong. While there are no guarantees, most early miscarriages are one-off and there’s a very good chance that your next pregnancy will be successful.

If you are not pregnant yet, but are planning a pregnancy after miscarriage, you can find more detail on your individual risk by using our Miscarriage Support Tool. This gives you a likelihood based on a number of factors.

If you have had a late miscarriage or recurrent miscarriages, you and your partner should be seen by a specialist health professional. Your doctor should talk to you about your situation and your likelihood of having another miscarriage and successful pregnancy.

It is worth remembering that most couples will have a successful pregnancy the next time, even after 3 miscarriages in a row.

If you had an ectopic pregnancy, your chances of having a successful pregnancy in the future are good. Even if you have only 1 fallopian tube, your chances of getting pregnant are only slightly reduced. For most women and birthing people, an ectopic pregnancy is a one-off.

Having a molar pregnancy doesn't affect your chances of getting pregnant again, and the risk of having another molar pregnancy is small (about 1 in 80).

Read more about what you can do to help reduce your risk of miscarriage.

“I was fortunate enough to become pregnant 2 months after I miscarried our first baby at 6 weeks, and I can remember feeling extremely anxious throughout the pregnancy. I constantly worried I was bleeding and found myself making multiple trips to the toilet just to check. I found hearing or reading other people’s stories of successful pregnancies after loss reassuring. I also found that the best way to deal with my anxiety was to take the pregnancy 1 day at a time, sometimes 1 hour at a time, and to set little milestones that I could achieve and tick off, week by week, scan to scan, kick by kick. However, if I’m perfectly honest, I didn’t fully relax until I had my son in my arms and I knew that he was safe.”

Elle

Coping with difficult emotions

Try not to bottle anything up. Tell your midwife, doctors or hospital know if you are worried about anyone or want to talk through any concerns. Some people worry about wasting people’s time. You’re not, and no-one will think that.

Stress and anxiety can make it difficult to take things in. It may be helpful to take a list of questions you want to ask to your appointments and write things down while you’re there.

You may feel you didn’t get the care or support you needed before or during your miscarriage. This may affect your relationship with healthcare professionals. If this is the case, you may feel more comfortable taking someone with you to your appointments to be your advocate.

Contact your midwife straight away if you are worried. Everything may be fine, but it’s important to get checked out

Tell your midwife about any dates that may be difficult for you. For example, you may need extra support around the time you lost your baby.

Try writing down your thoughts and worries. Lots of people use a diary as a way of releasing their emotions and anxieties. There is some evidence 18that regularly repeating and consciously thinking about certain positive statements can help reduce anxiety in uncertain situations. You can read more about this here.

Online searches can offer reassurance, but they can also cause additional worry. If you are trying to find information, make sure you use a trustworthy website. Think carefully about how you use the internet to get information and support for pregnancy after loss. Is it helping you or adding to your worries?

You may feel you will jinx their pregnancy if they do anything to prepare for life as a parent. Try to remember that packing your hospital bag or buying baby clothes will not affect the outcome of any pregnancy. Still, don’t put yourselves under too much pressure to do things you don’t want to do. If you’re feeling unprepared, perhaps your partner, family or friend could get a few essentials together for you.

Look after yourself extra carefully. Try to give yourself time out and doing things you enjoy or make you relax every day.  

Talk to other people who have been or are going through pregnancy after loss. Our peer support group on Facebook is somewhere where you can talk to other people with similar experiences.

Many women and birthing people who have miscarried before develop anxiety or depression during pregnancy. Some even experience post-traumatic stress.

If you or your partner are feeling low, tell your GP and midwife how you feel. They will help you get the help you need. This may include support from a specialist mental health maternity team.  

Read more about mental health and miscarriage.

Our midwives are also at the end of the phone if you need to talk. You can speak to them free of charge from 9am–5pm, Monday to Friday on 0800 0147 800.

There are lots of organisations, support groups and online communities that provide support with issues around wellbeing and mental health in pregnancy and afterwards.

Should I tell people about this pregnancy?

Whether you tell anyone about this pregnancy is entirely up to you (and your partner, if you have one). Take your time and decide what’s best for you. You are not ‘tempting fate’ if you do want to share your news. This does not affect the outcome of any pregnancy.

The first trimester of a pregnancy after loss can be very tough. It’s the time when most miscarriages happen, yet you are not booked in with a midwife yet. It is also often the time when physical pregnancy symptoms can be hardest to manage.  

If you do feel you need extra support, it may help to tell people you trust. This could be someone who supported you through your miscarriage. They may be able to help if you’re feeling tired or sick or just be there to listen. It can be comforting to know that someone is there to look out for you and understands how you feel.

“When I first fell pregnant my best friend was pregnant the same time. When I lost the baby and her pregnancy went on to be successful it had a long-lasting traumatic effect on me and on my third pregnancy. I was convinced that history would repeat itself and I would be the one not bringing home a baby at the end of it. It affected me so much that I avoided seeing her for my entire pregnancy. It’s hard not to compare pregnancies and think the worst if you’re experiencing different symptoms to your friends.”

Vicky