Pregnancy should be an exciting time, but for many women the fear of having a miscarriage can overshadow this.

“There are many different kinds of miscarriage, however this overarching term is categorized as the spontaneous loss of a pregnancy before the 20th week,” says Dr Evangelia Elenis, chief physician in Obstetrics and Gynecology and chief medical advisor at AI-led fertility app Tilly.

“Whatever stage a miscarriage is at — whether it's five weeks or 20 — it's still a pregnancy loss and if that pregnancy has been meticulously planned and anxiously awaited, it can be all the more devastating,” adds midwife Kate Taylor, from The PEP Midwives. “It is grief at the end of the day and it’s very sad for all involved.”

Miscarriages are relatively common — most happen during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, known as the first trimester and about 10-20% of pregnancies end in miscarriage (around 1 million a year in the US). But that doesn’t mean it’s any less upsetting, especially if it happens multiple times. And because talking about miscarriage and grief can make people uncomfortable, it’s often a taboo subject.

“No matter how common they are, miscarriages are sad,” says Taylor. “Afterwards, women can find it traumatizing to be around people who are pregnant, as well as adjusting to having a bump that no longer has a baby in it.”

The good news is that, according to the American Pregnancy Association, most women (about 85%) who miscarry will go on to have a healthy pregnancy later. In this article we talk to the experts to find out more about the signs, symptoms and causes of miscarriage.

Types of miscarriage

Chemical pregnancy

“A chemical pregnancy is an early pregnancy loss that occurs within two to seven days after implantation,” says Dr Elenis. “Because chemical pregnancies occur so early on, ultrasounds aren’t able to detect the fetus, but pregnancy tests can still come up positive as the ‘pregnancy hormone’ human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is present in the body. It’s very common for people to not know that they’re pregnant at this stage, and it’s most often noticed by those who are actively trying to conceive. Typically, chemical pregnancies occur because there is a problem with the embryo’s DNA that stops it from developing, but it’s often likely that the next embryo will develop without issue, if wider fertility complications are not at play.”