Recurrent miscarriage: go through the test process or crack on TTC?

[MelsBells82]

Hi everyone, I’m new here and looking for a bit of advice although I'm not sure if this thread is still active, but will give it a go

I was wondering if anyone had went down the track of testing after multiple miscarriages and got pregnant half way through testing?

The reason I ask is after having 3 miscarriages in the last 18 months I finally had my consultation with St Mary’s recurrent miscarriage clinic in London. They told me that I’d need a 3D scan done and only need to have one set of bloods done (my doctor had sent me for a full round of bloods + APS and lupus after my 2nd miss and all came back normal).

I thought the process would be pretty quick but when my appointments came through I was looking at Nov for bloods, end of Dec for the scan and end of Jan for the follow up consultation and they tell you not to be pregnant until after the follow up app.

I’ve managed to arrange for the scan to be done privately (had it this week and all was normal) to try and speed things up but it’s not helped much.

I’m 39 - almost 40 and I feel that with two out of three of the tests all normal not trying for another 3 cycles until the final assessment feels like a waste. Has anyone had anything similar? Did anyone get pregnant while in the care of St Mary’s before the tests were finished and what happened?

Any advice or just reassurance welcome! :)

Go through the test process. I had 3 miscarriages before APS was flagged at the recurrent miscarriage clinic. My odds of a successful pregnancy without diagnosis and treatment was less than 20%. I was 38 at diagnosis (and weeks short of 39 when rainbow arrived) so definitely felt the pressure to carry on TTC!

That said, at the clinic they advised me that they ask us to wait until tests are complete, however recognise that ‘accidents’ happen and that I would have been monitored closely and treated according to what information they had at that point.

The blood tests for clotting factors can be done privately. I was looking into this myself and the 3 APS ones and lab work worked out at about £160 when I last checked, however you will still need to wait a period of weeks between the tests as 2 separate positives are needed.

Wishing you all the luck xx

thanks @Littlegoth that's really helpful! :) x

@MelsBells82 I had my first phone consultation with the RMC at St Mary's in July, and my first set of bloods done at the start of September. Found out I was pregnant five days later...I'm currently just over 10 weeks (furthest I’ve ever got!) and things are looking okay. They've been brilliant - I’ve had three scans with them and spoken to Dr Scott each time, and they prescribed progesterone too.

I was told not to get pregnant before the blood tests but I didn't try very hard not to, if I'm honest - partly feeling like I didn't want to waste opportunities and partly feeling it was unlikely to happen. I’m sure they're used to it!

Did they do any testing for genetic abnormalities? That’s why I was told to wait as they didn’t want us to try again if there was a karotype issue with one of us. I also had APS which was diagnosed after the second miscarriage and used tinzaparin and progesterone ( the latter at the beginning of the pregnancy). I got pregnant after the third miscarriage whilst waiting for the karotype test results which wasn’t ideal, but the wait was ages! Luckily we were both fine and now have a bouncing 6-month old!

Thanks all this is all really helpful - appreciate it! :)

@itssquidstella your story is really reassuring and so glad it all worked out for you!

@Grognonne they did say they were going to do a genetic test as a cousin of mine had 5 recurrent miscarriages between her 2nd and 3rd child. I'm not sure if there is a connection but the lady I spoke to wanted to rule it out - she spoke so fast though I didn't manage to get the name of the test!

@Littlegoth congratulations on your rainbow baby too :)