What is missed abortion?

I was carrying a 5 -month pregnancy until a few weeks ago when I noticed that the pregnancy was no longer growing. The Nurse who attended to me could not give me enough explanation regarding what caused my problem apart from just informing me that I had a ‘missed abortion’.  I will appreciate your kind explanation.

Ngozi (by SMS)

A missed abortion is also known as a missed miscarriage or spontaneous abortion. It’s a miscarriage in which the fetus didn’t form or is no longer developing, but the placenta and embryonic tissues are still in your uterus. A missed abortion gets its name because this type of miscarriage doesn’t cause symptoms of bleeding and cramps that occur in other types of miscarriages. It’s common to have no symptoms during a missed abortion. This can make it difficult for you to know that the loss has occurred. The causes of missed abortion are not fully known. About 50% of miscarriages happen because the embryo has the wrong number of chromosomes. Sometimes, miscarriage may be caused by a uterine problem like scarring. You may be at higher risk for missed miscarriage if you have an endocrine or an autoimmune disorder, or are a heavy smoker. Physical trauma can cause a missed miscarriage as well. If you have a missed miscarriage, your doctor likely won’t be able to pinpoint a reason. In a missed miscarriage, the embryo stops developing, and there’s usually no clear explanation. Stress, exercise, sex, and travel hardly cause miscarriage, so it’s important not to blame yourself.

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