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Hi Ciara,
Oh that is just scary and nerve wracking and I am sorry this happened. These things are so unpredictable. I would also be interested to hear more about her pattern.
If I am working with someone with a missed miscarriage who wants help passing the pregnancy at home I always am working closely with their midwife or doctor and have the primary provider at the ready via text for me and for them just in case there is excessive bleeding and we need to make decisions about transport…it sounds like this was provided to her, which in my mind is an essential part of having good safety nets in place.
I think with that many prior pregnancies, prior hemorrhages and prior d&c’s (we know risk of hemorrhage increases in grand multips…and with that many d&c’s, particularly if any of them occurred very recently, there would also be a higher likelihood of retention in my mind) I would have really thoroughly looked at her differential diagnosis and talked to her about risk before getting involved. I think I would be very hesitant for her to be at home for this, but thats just me…there would be so many factors in that decision.
When I work with missed miscarriage I use a combination of acupuncture and herbs, but one thing I always provide is education about the use of Spleen 1 with strong pressure from a fingernail for heavy bleeding and I provide a 1oz emergency tincture with things like Yarrow, Shepherd’s Purse, Witch Hazel, etc to be used if heavy bleeding occurs. In my experience these will get borderline heavy bleeding (not a hemorrhage) well under control quickly. I’ve never had someone hemorrhage at home with a miscarriage and I certainly wouldn’t rely on Spleen 1 and the emergency herbs to stop hemorrhage, but they might slow things down a bit and buy the person slightly more time to get to the ER.
Interested to hear what others have to say!
Sarah Tewhey