9w, 4d: Keep praying, we haven't lost Thumper yet.

Yesterday afternoon I updated my post saying that I was having red bleeding, but no cramping. However, last night the cramping started around 9 pm and carried on until around 4 am with an awful climax that almost made me cave and take my one remaining oxycontin from my last miscarriage. I just couldn't do it, though, because I don't know that the baby is dead. Even through the horrendous cramping, there wasn't increased blood flow, still only about a teaspoon every two or three hours. I must say, that cramping signalled what I thought was the end of Thumper; we asked our friend to step in for Jonathan at Sunday School today so that he could stay home with me to make sure I didn't bleed to death.

At this point, I think it's safe to say that I'm at best having a threatened miscarriage and at worst an attempted miscarriage. The only difference? A closed cervix. If that little piece of skin is holding fast, it could mean the difference between joy in seven months or sorrow in the next few days or maybe weeks. I guess Thumper would still have to be alive, too, but I really don't think that fetal demise is what set this all off. I can't see him/her having died that quickly after our ultrasound that it triggered bleeding less than 24 hours later. I am a bit concerned, though, that all of this cramping could have shaken the placenta loose. Can that happen?

One question I still have is, how quickly do miscarriages usually progress? We're working on almost 48 hours now, and I haven't seen much progression. I thought that if things were going to happen, it would have been over more quickly than this. I haven't had a regular miscarriage before, Max's was initiated by Misoprostol, and I'm not sure if a medicated miscarriage is in the same time frame as a spontaneous one.

Also, I had morning sickness today still. Good sign, I think.