While many miscarriages begin with signals of pain and bleeding, a missed miscarriage frequently does not. Pregnancy hormones may remain elevated for some time after the baby has died, causing you to feel pregnant and a pregnancy test to come back positive. However, the majority of women will experience painful symptoms by this point, so if there's no evidence of a pregnancy, then the body has stopped producing more embryos. In most cases, your body will be able to remove the dead embryo without help from medical professionals. The process is called "spontaneous abortion" and can happen at any stage in a pregnancy. In about 80% of cases, there are no signs of trauma or infection to explain why a pregnancy has been lost. Often, a second trimester loss is a completely normal event that occurs during the development of your baby's brain and organs. In fact, many women have multiple losses before they realize they're pregnant again. The only way to know for sure whether a body has removed an embryo is through a tissue scan or other diagnostic method. If a woman continues to bleed after a miscarriage, see a doctor right away if she hasn't already done so. A failing blood clotting mechanism often leads to heavy bleeding after a miscarriage. You should also call your doctor if you've had three or more miscarriages in a row because there may be a problem with your reproductive system.