In some cases, the fetus dies but the womb does not empty, and a woman will experience no bleeding. Some doctors refer to this type of pregnancy loss as a missed miscarriage. The loss may go unnoticed for many weeks, and some women do not seek treatment.

The youngest mum in the world was a Peruvian girl called Lina Media who was only five years and seven months old when she gave birth in May 1939 to a boy called Gerardo. Her parents thought she had a tumour but when she was taken to hospital, she was found to be seven months pregnant.

The answer is — yes! While it isn’t likely, any activity that introduces sperm to the vaginal area makes pregnancy possible without penetration. To understand how, let’s consider how pregnancy usually occurs.

In the case of fetal demise, a dead fetus that has been in the uterus for 4 weeks can cause changes in the body’s clotting system. These changes can put a woman at a much higher chance of significant bleeding if she waits for a long time after the fetal demise to deliver the pregnancy.

And the symptoms of pregnancy in the early months — nausea, breast tenderness, increasing weight, and abdominal size — are all good signs. If you have any uterine cramping or bleeding, however, call your healthcare provider immediately.

Sometimes a baby dies in the uterus (an intra-uterine death or IUD), but labour does not start spontaneously. If this happens, you will be given medicines to induce labour. This is the safest way of delivering the baby. It also gives you and your partner the chance to see and hold the baby at birth, if you want to.

Early loss If you miscarry naturally, even in the early weeks of pregnancy, you are likely to have period-like cramps that can be extremely painful. This is because the uterus is tightly squeezing to push its contents out, like it does in labour – and some women do experience contractions not unlike labour.