Story Idea
book excerpt: “Unlikely Causes of Miscarriage”, from AFTER MISCARRIAGE
Print or online media may reprint this excerpt with the following attribution: “Excerpted from After Miscarriage, by Krissi Danielsson. (c) 2008, used by permission from The Harvard Common Press.”
Unlikely Causes of Miscarriage
Let’s consider factors that likely do not cause miscarriage. If you have been wondering about any of these, I hope this discussion will set your mind at ease.
Sex. Women commonly fear that sexual intercourse while pregnant could cause a miscarriage, but no one has ever found evidence that intercourse or orgasm has any bearing on whether a woman will miscarry.
Having a few drinks before finding out you are pregnant. A few studies have found links between miscarriage and consumption of small amounts of alcohol among women around the time of conception and even in male partners just before conception. Causation isn’t certain, however. These studies may be confounded by unknown variables such as other lifestyle factors that coincide with alcohol consumption.
Moderate drinking (one to two drinks per day) and heavy drinking in the first trimester does increase miscarriage risk, but it’s hard to draw any conclusions about the effects during the time before a woman knows she is pregnant. Usually, the embryo has been implanted in the uterus for only about a week when a woman discovers she is pregnant. For the first week following fertilization, the tiny developing ball of cells is merely floating in fluids and not sharing the mother’s blood supply at all, and it seems unlikely that drinking alcohol would have any effect on the pregnancy during this period.
Using aspirin or another nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug before finding out that you are pregnant. Aspirin, ibuprofen, and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are another gray area. It seems unlikely that using them in the immediate weeks after conception, when the embryo is floating in the fallopian tube or only very recently implanted, should pose a risk. Low-dose aspirin, in fact, is commonly used as part of the treatment protocol for miscarriages caused by blood-clotting disorders. Still, some studies have shown an association between the use of NSAIDs and miscarriage, although causation hasn’t been established.
Acetaminophen (such as Tylenol) is generally considered a safe pain reliever for use in pregnancy, but check with your practitioner before taking it.
Lifting and other physical exertion. A few studies have correlated physical stress such as heavy lifting with increased miscarriage rates. Although the evidence is far from conclusive, it’s probably best to avoid strenuous work when you are or may be pregnant. Mild to moderate exercise appears to pose no miscarriage risk.
Falling down in the first trimester. I have been unable to find any good studies about falling and miscarriages, but women who have fallen and then miscarried often worry that the fall caused the loss. The general consensus among doctors, however, is that a baby is well protected by amniotic fluid in the early stages of pregnancy and should be unaffected by falling or many other kinds of physical trauma.
