Preventing Miscarriage

By E Douglas Kihn, OMD, LAc

Miscarriage, the common term for spontaneous abortion, is the unintentional termination of a pregnancy before the fetus is capable of independent life.  Spontaneous abortion may be contrasted with induced abortion, in which an unwanted or dangerous pregnancy is intentionally ended.

Surveys estimate that 25 percent of all human pregnancies abort spontaneously, with three out of four miscarriages occurring during the first three months of pregnancy. Some women have a tendency to miscarry, and recurrent miscarriage decreases the probability of subsequent successful childbirth.

The causes of miscarriage are varied and not clearly defined by Western medicine. The usual “causes” have little to do with understanding how to prevent miscarriage, an unfortunate situation all too common for emergency-oriented Western medicine.  In this essay, we will explore causes that lead to preventative measures, leaving aside obvious causes such as infectious diseases, chronic systemic diseases like nephritis or diabetes type 1, genetic malformations of the uterus, and trauma.

Curiously, the main causes of miscarriage for American women are similar to the causes of infertility.  Our Stone Age body/mind complex looks for situations in which pregnancy and the raising of a child will most likely be successful.  Internal and external environments with high stress or scarcity will prevent a smooth conception and a fruitful gestation.  For example, when a woman’s body fat percentage drops below 12% - more or less – due to anorexia, extreme athleticism, or starvation, the body/mind senses that there won’t be enough extra food to raise a child and either prevents egg fertilization or else aborts the embryo or fetus.

When a pregnant woman starts bleeding and/or experiencing abdominal cramps, she is usually ordered to stay in bed for most of the time.  The purpose is to create stability in the uterus.  This is an emergency measure.  The real preventative measures begin before conception.  In order to create a stable and healthy uterus, we must first create a stable and healthy woman.

Preventative measure #1:  Stop hurrying.

Speed and excessive activity create molecular friction.  Friction creates heat and instability.  When heat and instability lodge in the uterus, we have an unstable and unfriendly home for the fertilized egg.  The body mind assumes that the environment is not a relaxed one, but rather one of high stress with barely enough time and resources for survival – nothing left over for offspring.

Plenty of sleep and rest breaks every 24-hour period are critical to reducing heat.  Adopting a relaxed pace while talking, walking, driving, working, reading, thinking, and living will prevent the buildup of heat in a powerful way.  It is also important to avoid multi-tasking in order to stay cool and calm.  Move fast only when you really need to.

Other factors that create excessive heat, by the way, are smoking, overeating, excessive consumption of meat, an addiction to loud sounds and electronic media, and carrying around rage.

Preventative measure #2:  Stop worrying.

Worrying about the past or the future – which don’t really exist – creates muscular tightness.  Chronic fight-or-flight tightness will surround the uterine region and prevent proper circulation of nutrients and oxygen to the fetus.  A starving and suffocating fetus will become a dead fetus if not ejected first by the body/mind.  The unconscious assumption is that the environment offers too little support or safety to raise offspring.

Like hurrying, worrying is ingrained in American life.  Letting go of worry takes an enormous effort for most, practically a reinvention of one’s self.  Both cognitive and behavioral techniques must be used.  Cognitive techniques include things like understanding the big picture through philosophies such as Taoism or Zen Buddhism, practicing instant forgiveness, and investigating childhood hurts through talk therapy.  Behavioral techniques include the regular practice of meditative exercises such as hatha yoga, taiqi, and qigong, deep breathing, hypnosis, and visualization.

Preventative measure #3:  Get lean.

Body fat affords ample nutrition and stability for the fetus.  However, too much stability will choke and suffocate the fetus.  The body/mind is looking for an optimal situation, not one in which excessive pounds of body fat have been accumulated for the apparent purpose of avoiding a long, hard winter or an approaching famine.

Optimal leanness will also facilitate fertility.  Successful fertilization and gestation both require open spaces for movement of egg and sperm, as well as an absence of excess material such as fibroid tumors and cysts.  A fetus also needs room to grow and exercise.

Most advice to pregnant women in this country centers around what to eat, as well as “be sure to eat, eat, and eat some more!”  This is really sad, since the the body/mind is never wrong in these matters, and a pregnant woman will be most in tune with her eating instincts than anyone else in the world!  How could it be otherwise, since all species in the history of the world have been successfully bringing to term their babies without the help of modern “scientific” advice. 

Hunger is a healthy feeling that occurs only for people and animals who are not too fat and not starving either.  It is an empty sensation – not a sound, burning feeling, or tight feeling - in the upper abdomen that motivates all species to go to work, get food, and eat it.  When hungry, the body will tell us if there are any special nutrients needed, and for pregnant women, this is famously true.  Strawberry ice cream and a pickle at 3am might be just exactly what are needed to build an eyeball, for example.  But the food choice instinct only occurs in conjunction with the hunger feeling.  Therefore learn to wait for the hunger feeling before eating.

The human body, pregnant or not, will also declare when it has had enough food.  The signal for this is a comfortable feeling in place of the hunger feeling.  This is the message to stop eating.  Continuance will cause discomfort and the gaining of excessive pounds of unwanted fat, growths, cholesterol, and poisonous fecal matter.

Forget about “scientific” tables of weight gain and nutritional mumbo jumbo for pregnant women, and just go with your instincts instead.  They will never betray you, and instead will facilitate the cultivation of self-trust and self-love, two life-affirming factors that will eventually be adopted by your children.