As Cherie Blair suffers the trauma of a miscarriage, Womens's Editor Christen Pears speaks to a woman who has both professional and personal experience of the tragedy.

'WHEN you have a miscarriage people tend to think you'll get over it in a couple of weeks. They can't relate to the fact that it's a baby that you've lost, but it is. Even if you're just a few days pregnant, you find yourself walking round rubbing your tummy because you're already developing a relationship with your baby. No matter how far into the gestation, it's your baby and when you have a miscarriage, you grieve for that baby."

Sandra Cooper, a former midwife, has suffered two miscarriages, her first in 1988. Following her own experiences, she became involved with the Miscarriage Association, hoping to make things easier for other women in a similar position.

She says: "I had just moved up to the North-East from the south to take a job as a community midwife and, at the time the Miscarriage Association was just getting up and running. Our boss had suggested that we write to them so we would have the information we needed if any of our clients had suffered miscarriages, and then I had one myself.

"Because I was in the profession, I knew things could go wrong but it didn't make it any easier for me. It was still a huge shock, but there are a lot of women out there who don't even think about the possibility of something going wrong. It must be like a bolt out of the blue for them. They don't understand it and, in a lot of cases, they blame themselves, even if they've just been carrying heavy shopping or had a row with their partner. Some see it as punishment if they've had an earlier termination. They're just looking for a reason, for someone to blame."

A quarter of all pregnancies in Britain are believed to end in miscarriage - up to 200,000 a year - but relatively little research has been carried out into the causes. Most occur during the first three months of pregnancy and the vast majority of women never know why they miscarried. Miscarriages can occur because of foetal defects, such as chromosomal abnormalities or low levels of the hormone progesterone. Any pregnant woman can miscarry, some have several miscarriages, and the risks increase with age. Women who are pregnant at the age of 25-30 have a miscarriage rate of 16 per cent, and the figure rises to 25 per cent by 40 years of age.

Peter Bowen-Simpkins, of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, says: "As women get older through the next ten years the rate goes up and up and up and would probably be at least 50 per cent by 47 or 48.

"This is largely because of chromosomal abnormalities in eggs produced by women who are coming to the end of their reproductive life. The body knows the egg will not form a proper baby and so rejects it and the woman miscarries."

Miscarriage is often physically painful. Some women begin to miscarry at home, bleeding and experiencing cramps and contractions. In other cases, the foetus dies in the womb and the mother has to have an operation to remove it.

Ruth Bender Atik, national director of the Miscarriage Association, says that when a woman begins to miscarry, she often feels powerless and frightened at what is happening. The association offers them much-needed support and information. "People want to be listened to. They want you to acknowledge what they are going through. It might be grief or it might be anger."

Couples who suffer a miscarriage can often feel very isolated and men in particular can be ignored, she says. "They are less likely to ask for help but it doesn't mean they are any less upset or affected," she says.

Sandra, who is 43, has two daughters, aged 16 and 12. She suffered her miscarriages after the birth of her first child.

"Obviously Cherie Blair already has four children. Some people say it's not as bad if you already have a child but that's just not the case. It doesn't matter how many children you've had, it's still a baby you've lost and you're still going to grieve for it. In some ways, it makes it worse because you know what you're going to miss out on."

But it's not just members of the public who don't always understand the trauma caused by a miscarriage; some women find their doctor or midwife unsympathetic. Recent research showed that nearly half of women who had experienced a miscarriage did not feel well informed about what was happening to them. The same study of more than 300 women found nearly four out of five received no aftercare, counselling or support.

During her time as chairman of the Miscarriage Association, Sandra introduced training days to educate health professionals about miscarriage.

"In the past, there was a lot of ignorance about miscarriage but I think things have improved a huge amount since I had mine. People are a lot more sensitive and they're probably better informed. When I was chairman, all the courses we ran were very well-attended. People do want to learn and that means things are going to get better."

*The Miscarriage Association runs a helpline on (01924) 200799 and provides information on its website www.miscarriageassociation.org.uk