Has anyone had recurrent m/c after dc1 and gone on to have dc2?

[digitalgirl]

Sorry if this has been done before, but am having a 'need to know right NOW' day about whether I'm likely to get an answer to why I've had 3 mc's after ds1 (2.3). All at 5-7 weeks. I've been told to wait two cycles post-mc before having the clotting tests and will then have to wait another two months for the results. I'm wondering whether to pay privately for nk cell testing.

Has anyone had recurrent mc after dc1 and been given a reason?

If not, did you go on to have anymore dc?

Just keep reading about women having 3mc then immediately getting pg again successfully. It's really making me question my decision to hold off ttc while we wait for these bloody slow tests.

I don't know the answer but I would be interested too if anyone does.
I have so far had 2 MCs after DD and am currently hoping but not really expecting to be 3rd time lucky.
I would have thought that having one healthy baby might rule out chromosome and clotting problems unless you can acquire them later but perhaps there are people out there who know different?

While I am not an expert on this, a friend of mine had her DD (after a couple of MCs), then several more MCs, but now has her DS - she was treated by the miscarriage unit at Paddington Hospital - I'm afraid I don't know what problem they identified and cured, but it did happen for her, so it is possible.
WIshingyou luck.

It's highly unlikely there is anything wrong. I am only speaking from what my consultant told me last night.

Most chromosome problems are highly unusual, and you would most likely miscarry every pregnancy.

The fact that your body has done it once says a whole lot.

1 in 5 women miscarry once, 1 in 25 miscarry twice, 1 in 125 miscarry three times, 1 in 625 miscarry four times. So while it is very upsetting, it is also not uncommon to miscarry two or three times consecutively.

I recommend Lesley Regan's book "what every woman needs to know about miscarriage". Having re-read the section about chromosome abnormalities, even if you do have one, it does absolutely not mean doom and gloom (necessarily). She also says that most miscarriages (as many as 80%) are down to a abnormality with the fetus (usually a trisonomy). She sites a woman who miscarried three times with three different trisonomies and then went on to have two children. She says those types of miscarriage (i.e. most) are due to "one-off" errors with the egg. That doesn't necessarily mean it wont happen three times in a row, then it is just down to very very bad luck.

digitalgirl I would hold off on NK cell testing for now if I were you.

Thanks banana I think I needed someone to tell me that.

I'm really really hoping they don't find anything wrong with me. I'm scared of having to accept that my next pregnancy will only be successful by taking loads of drugs and all the risks associated with whatever my 'problem' is.

I just want to be told to keep trying as my body is absolutely fine. But having to wait 5-6 months to be told that is driving me insane (only to be followed by god knows how long of ttc-induced insanity).

I'm currently at that hungry for information stage of coping with rmc. I literally cannot stop googling causes of recurrent miscarriage. Even at work. Yet nothing seems to explicitly refer to causes in women who've had dc already.

mamadoc I was told by the fertility nurse at the epu (where I'm being treated for rmc) that clotting issues can develop after a pregnancy. But not what the statistics were on it. I want to know how many women were diagnosed with it after one dc compared to women with no dc.

But as banana's consultant reckons it's unlikely then perhaps stats are in our favour.

hi there, my story is DC 1 (now three years old) followed by four MCs, all first trimester. zillions of tests; thousands of pounds, and a load of heartache. no definite answers, but some experimental treatment, and i'm now 31 weeks pregnant. it's been hell but really hoping now that we will have a DC2 to make it all worthwhile, in the new year. there is hope.

sotough was it NK cells they started treating you for or something else?

Hi digital

Ive had 1mc (13 weeks) DS1 4mc's (all before 7 weeks) DS2 2mc's (before 7 weeks) and now pregnant with DS3.

I have been diagnosed with a clotting disorder. My pregnancy with DS1 wasnt easy, he was born early due to problems clotting disorder caused with placenta at 30 weeks and I had a stroke the day after he was born and was quite poorly for a whil.

I was also diagnosed with a septate uterus after my 7th mc. Was referred for surgrey to correct this and got pregnant before hand!

Hi

A friend of mine had a MC, followed by her first child. She then had five more MCs, all early, before having her second child.

Blood tests all came back fine, and the only suggestion she was given was that as she was in her late 30s, it could be the quality of her eggs. Her last pregnancy was set to be her last whatever happened, as she couldn't bear any more, but happily there were no problems.

Best of luck to you.

julez were you diagnosed after before your mc's after ds1 was born? Just wondered if you were having treatment when you miscarried after ds1. Did you have treatment for your pregnancy with ds2? And are you having treatment now?

I'm 32 and have been told based on hormone test results that egg quality is good.

I had DS (now 27 months), one "chemical pregnancy" (technically a MC but AF wasn't even late it was so early, less than 4 weeks), MC at 5+ weeks and then MC at 6+ weeks. No reason was ever found - I had the usual blood tests. Am now (to my amazement) 16 weeks pregnant with what I hope very much is going to be DC2. I took a break from TTC for about 5 months after the 3rd MC and tried to get loads of sleep and eat healthily, but other than that didn't do much differently with this pg.

Good luck and hang in there.

grumpyfish that's what I want to hear! More stories like that please. How did you cope with the break? I'm only two weeks into it and I'm really struggling with wait for answers. I suppose it'll get easier the longer I leave it. It's just I got over all my previous mc's by throwing myself into ttc.

Hi, I have not experienced this but my very close friend had a wee boy, 2 years later had mc, then ectopic, then another mc. No rhyme or reason for them all. She then went on to have a beautiful wee girl now aged 1 an 1/2 and is now 15 weeks pg with dc3 and all going well.
A wee bit of hope and ispiration for you. I hope you have success and your dreams come true

The break did me so much good (eventually, it was hard to get out of the TTC mindset at first, though). My obsession with finding a cause for the MCs slowly faded and I was able to get on with normal life for a while. It was good to be able to focus on DS, and I used the time to get lots of jobs done that I probably wouldn't do in early pregnancy (painting in the house, gardening etc). When we started TTC again it was almost as if the slate had been wiped clean (although I was still very nervous for a while). I went for some accupuncture too and that may have made a difference.

Out of interest, did you breastfeed your DS? I have a theory (dismissed by all doctors I've mentioned it to, though!) that my hormone levels weren't right because of breastfeeding and that may be why I miscarried (and actually although I've said that my blood tests were normal, the day 21 progesterone test did come back low on 2 consecutive months, I'd forgotten that). The first MC was while I was still feeding, the second two were after I'd stopped but only 2 and 4 months after. Also just keeping on getting pregnant maybe wasn't doing me much good (MCs were October, January and March) - although the evidence is that there's no need to wait, when I did I notice that it took about 3 cycles for a regular cycle pattern to return (my luteal phase was quite short before that, less than 10 days).

digitalgirl - i am in same boat - had mc, then ds1 2mcs and now 5 weeks pg with no symptoms, faint lines and whole load of worry. just got results from last mc which said genetic chromosome disorder and now going for genetic counselling, blood tests will take months and i'm nearly 40 so wondering whether to go private

Kalo sorry to hear you are so worried about this pg. After my second mc the epu said I could ring them directly for an early scan. Is that something you could do? Were the chromosome results from you or from the pregnancy? If it was the pregnancy then it was one of those bad luck ones. See how this pg goes before deciding anything. But yes, I understand wanting immediate answers and being willing to throw money (that we don't have) for some peace of mind.

grumpyfish yes my first mc (nov 09) was while I was still breastfeeding ds. We were also at the end of our tether in a failed controlled crying episode. Part of me wonders if that first mc was hormone related (body couldn't cope with still bf-ing and no sleep). I gave up bf after that, had a dodgy cycle (v short), then one decent one, then got pg after that (march). Had no symptoms at all for that pg and wasn't surprised when I started bleeding. Third pg/mc was a good 6 months after (oct/nov), i'd had 3 good length cycles (for me) with long luteal phase - had been having acupuncture and my acupuncturist was v pleased with my cycles and temping. He was as perplexed as I was that I miscarried again. So I do wonder if the last two were bad luck and the first one hormonal. But to support that theory I really should rule out everything that can be ruled out.

My other more worrying theory is that it's nk cells. I'm rarely sick.

hi again digital - yes, I took steroids with this pregnancy for the first 12 weeks, for possible NK cells. But i also took clexane for possible blood clotting (the evidence in my case was very slim - i had one test come back 'strongly positive' but when it was repeated it was negative; altogether I think i had that same test about four times, with only one positive result. However, i figured that even one 'strongly positive' clotting result could well be significant, so persuaded drs to give me clexane just in case.
i don't know whether it was the steroids, the clexane, or something else, that made the difference this time, but i was willing to try anything.

digital Sorry I should have said. I was diagnosed after 5mc's altogether. Treatment I had with DS2 was Fragmin injections and 75mg Aspirin. I then went on to have two more mc's, but i honestly believe this is down to my GP surgery refusing to give me injections as soon as I got a positive.

With this pregnancy I started Clexane injections at 3+2 weeks, same with aspirin. Then at 6.5 weeks I started on 2x400mg progesterone a day (yucky stuff!) Until I was 14 weeks. IT was hard to come of it then, it was like a security blanket. But, I am now 27 weeks, still on clexane and aspirin. Aspirin will stop at 36 weeks and Clexane will stop at 37 weeks, then I will go back on it for 6 weeks after the birth as well :)

I hope this helps

Thanks julez 'interesting' that they didn't diagnose it sooner given the circumstances surrounding your pregnancy with ds1.
I had no probs in my pregnancy with ds - he was born at 36+5 but a healthy 7lbs. Makes me wonder how likely it is that a clotting disorder would show up now.

sotough who diagnosed you with possible nk cells? And have you had any side effects from the steroids? Someone who took part in an nk cells trial told me that if I had a normal pg with ds then it's unlikely I'd have an issue - was this something you'd heard?

Hi,

I'm new here, from another forum but there seems to be more people "in the same boat" here.
My question is about Steroids to prevent m/c?
I have mentioned it to my Endo this week, for autoimmune thyroid prob I have. He doesn't think the antibodies I have cause m/c??
I
He said he hadn't heard of the treatment but would happily research it for me.
I think its Prednisone or Predisolone?
Anyone taking it and why?
Thanks in advance
xxx

Hi Crystal5. I would get a referral to a recurrent mc clinic like Lesley Regan's at St. Marys.

Hi Banana 87,

I went to a recurrent m/c chap last year and he basically said I will get pregnant! Ran a few bloods but all ok.

Lesley Regans is well respected. I may just give it a go once the latest set of bloods are back in from the Reproductive Endo Man.

How about Acupuncture? Herbalists? Chinese Meds? Anyone here done this?

So many of us in the same boat = sad + frustrating xx

crystal how many mc's have you had? Lesley Regan won't test for nk cells as far as I've heard. You have to either go to Liverpool for I think her name is Siobhan Quenby (will look it up) she is running nhs research into nk cells, or Mr Shehata at the Miscarriage Clinic in London he also consults down in Surrey look him up on www.miscarriageclinic.co.uk
They both prescribe prednisone for auto-immune probs.

Also, I have been having acupuncture treatment to regulate my cycles. It worked for me. I continued to have acupuncture after I got pregnant but unfortunately it couldn't stop me from miscarrying. I think it's really good for balancing your hormones, but it can't treat an auto-immune or clotting issue, that needs steroids or heparin (respectively).

digitalgirl. I have had 6 m/c.
It was Prednisone I mentioned to the Endo. He hadn't heard of it for auto immune probs but has promised he will look into it for me.
I What auto immune condition do you have?
Have you been advised low dose aspirin?
I'm 38 and have to consider my age may be a factor too