Meghan McCain opened up about her silent miscarriage in 2019, which left her with feelings of fear and anger because she was unaware of what was happening to her body.
In an interview on the "Me Becoming Mom" podcast, McCain said that she didn't recognize that something terrible was happening when she had morning sickness and felt unwell. But then she felt there was no need to be concerned as her symptoms faded eventually.
However, upon a check-up with the doctor a few days later, McCain was told that her pregnancy wasn't progressing as it should. Her doctor said she suffered a miscarriage and will need to undergo a dilation and curettage (D&C) procedure.
What is Silent Miscarriage?
McCain admitted that she felt confused because her idea of a miscarriage includes "bleeding profusely in the middle of a room." However, McCain had none of that episode because she had a silent miscarriage.
A silent miscarriage is also known as a missed miscarriage or missed abortion. It happens when the fetus inside the womb has died, but the body has failed to recognize what has happened. As a result, the placenta continues to work and release pregnancy hormones.
Pregnant people who experience a silent miscarriage do not exhibit symptoms like vaginal bleeding, abdominal pain, and expulsion of the fetal tissue. Some may also notice that their pregnancy symptoms disappear, such as nausea or breast tenderness.
Around one to five percent of pregnancies can end up in a missed miscarriage, which may be attributed to the chromosomal abnormalities within the fetus. In McCain's case, the doctor confirmed her silent miscarriage with blood work, which indicated that her HCG levels were low.
McCain said the experience made her feel scared, sad, freaked out, and angry. She felt that her body rejected and betrayed her. After her D&C, McCain said she wasn't prepared to experience bleeding a lot as her body finally realized that there was no more baby. Her silent miscarriage also happened when she was going through a public disaster in her career, so she was utterly heartbroken about everything.
Feeling So Alone
McCain also confessed that she felt alone in her suffering despite her doctor's support and the love of her husband, Ben Domenech, and their friends, who made sure she never saw any of the baby books she had at home anymore. Speaking with Entertainment Tonight, McCain said that it's hard for her to stop blaming herself because of what happened. Hence, she wrote an op-ed piece to process her feelings and share her experience with other women who could relate.
The former TV host also said that she doesn't wish this experience on anyone because a pregnancy loss can be "so horrendous." But more than a year after her miscarriage, McCain gave birth to a baby girl in September 2020. Meanwhile, McCain finds comfort in the fact that the daughter she lost is now with her father, Sen. John McCain, in the afterlife.
