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After a miscarriage or a stillbirth
For people in the United States who have lost a pregnancy or a baby, and for the people beside them. We are so sorry you have a reason to be here. What happened, in plain words. What your body may do, and when to call. What the health agencies say about why. Grief, partners and other children. Free people to talk to. And the words to say to a doctor or a midwife. Take only what you need.
Right now
- Call 911 if, more than 24 hours after a miscarriage or its treatment, you have a fever higher than 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit on more than two occasions, severe pain in the lower abdomen, or bloody discharge from the vagina that includes pus or is foul smelling. The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) says these can be signs of an infection in the uterus, which can be life threatening.
- Call your doctor or midwife now if you are soaking at least two maxi pads an hour for at least 2 hours in a row. NICHD calls that heavy bleeding and says to contact a health care provider immediately. If you can’t reach one, go to an emergency room. (That last line is ours.)
- Pregnant and bleeding? MedlinePlus, the National Library of Medicine’s health site, says to contact your provider right away if you have any bleeding. NICHD says bleeding does not always mean a miscarriage.
- Need a person to talk to tonight? Call or text 1-833-852-6262, the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline, free, at any hour, in English and Spanish.
- Thinking about ending your life? Call or text 988, at any hour. In danger: 911.
More help
- Grief in general: When someone has died.
- Getting ready for the follow-up visit: Get ready for your appointment.
- No insurance, or a bill you can’t pay: When you need a doctor and can’t pay and When a medical bill is too much.
- The nights: Can’t sleep?, Breathe and ground and Small things.
- Low for weeks: When the heaviness won’t lift.
- Pregnant now: Pregnant, or with a new baby.
- The paperwork after a death: After a death: the practical things.
- All our free tools and Get help now.
This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). No doctor, nurse, midwife or grief counselor has reviewed it, and it was not written by someone who has lost a pregnancy or a baby: an AI has not, and cannot know what it is like. The facts come from pages read on October 6, 2026: MedlinePlus, the National Library of Medicine’s health site (medlineplus.gov: miscarriage, stillbirth, and its encyclopedia pages “Miscarriage” and “When your baby is stillborn”); the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (nichd.nih.gov: the causes, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of pregnancy loss before 20 weeks, and how stillbirth is managed); the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (cdc.gov: about stillbirth); the National Institute of Mental Health (nimh.nih.gov: the description of the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline); the March of Dimes (marchofdimes.org: dealing with grief after the death of your baby, and miscarriage); and the websites of Postpartum Support International, Share Pregnancy & Infant Loss Support, First Candle and The Compassionate Friends, for what each says about itself. The page says whose words it is passing on. We did not call or text any of the lines. We did not read about ectopic or molar pregnancy, ending a pregnancy for medical reasons, the death of a newborn, sudden infant death, leave from work, funerals or burial for a baby, birth or death certificates, what any state or hospital requires, or what any insurance plan covers, and the page does not speak to them. We give no doses. The line about 988 was read on October 1, 2026. Some lines are our own suggestions, and the page marks them as ours. This page saves nothing: no account, no cookies, nothing you tick is stored or sent, and no analytics (privacy). Scarlet Beast is not a clinic or a government agency, and takes no money from anyone named here. Found a mistake? Email [email protected].