4th miscarriage in a row :( and Lesley Regan's miscarriage clinic?

[milkyway2007]

Hi everyone. On Monday at a 9 week scan at the early pregnancy clinic of my hospital I was told that my baby had no heart beat and there was no amniotic sac and that I had had another missed miscarriage. It is so heartbreaking for me, as we saw the heart beating 2 weeks earlier. This will be my fourth miscarriage in 15 months of trying for a baby. Right now I am waiting to start bleeding, but if it doesnt happen by next monday then they will give me an ERPC.

I had my daughter in 2007, in a very healthy pregnancy, so the doctors dont want to believe there is anything wrong with me, but I feel there is.
I have not had any morning sickness, nausea or tiredness with my 4 miscarriages, which makes me think there is a hormone problem, as I had all these symptoms when I was pregnant with my daughter.

Today I made an emergency appointment with my GP and asked to be referred to Lesley Regan's recurrent miscarriage clinic in St Mary's hospital - has anyone had any experience there? I have read they have a 80% success rate, as they do alot of tests and take care of their patients.

Does anyone think there is any hope for me? I dont understand how I have miscarried 4 times in a row - I am only 27 years old and am healthy and active with no health problems. I dont drink or smoke either.

I just feel so frustrated and numb.

milkyway I'm so sorry you are having to go through this again, please be kind to yourself and try not to beat yourself up too much about it.

I too have had 4 mc, all early and like you one of those I found out at a scan at 11 weeks to be told baby had stopped developing at 6 + 3 weeks.

Have you had any tests done at all by your GP? I believe this should be normal protocol after 3 mc regardless of whether you already have children or not. This should involve testing your progesterone levels, blood tests to check your thyroid, lh and fsh levels (forgive me for not being more specific but there will be someone along shortly I'm sure with more accurate info as I can't recall what I had done) if this hasnt been done then I suggest you insist on getting it done asap. I was also referred on to a consultant at my local hospital for more tests, I then unfortunately mc again so was referred to St Mary's.

As far as I am aware St Mary's only accept referrals from a Consultant unless you are within their catchment area in London.

I hope some of this helps. Feel free to message me if you need more x

I also meant to say come and join us on the recurrent buns thread, there's a load of lovely ladies all at different stages of testing etc and those who have come through it and now have newborns. I'd post a link but I'm on my phone and I don't know how to on here!!

Hi I had 4 mc and was referred to St Marys. They are absolutely amazing and as a result of the tests they did I now have a little girl who is 2 and a half. My own hospital had told me my chances of having a baby were slim and didn't want to refer me. Its so difficult going through what you have but be positive I have every faith in St Marys and yes they have an 80% success rate, hang on in there!!

Milky i have had 2 MC and one 3 year old dd. With the two MC i did not feel sick, but with dd i felt both sick and tired. Could be onto a thing there.

I was referred to St Mary's (and I live outside London). I actually got pg before my appointment so I cancelled it, though I did all the preliminary tests through my GP. What little contact I had was wonderful - and I found their literature really helpful. For starters, they found that a lot of women are successful without treatment - which they put down to the weekly appointment. All the very best of luck to you.

hi, i was referred to St Mary's after four MCs in a row. Like you i'd had a problem free pregnancy before all the MCs started, so it was a real shock. beware that it can take a long time to get your first appointment at St Mary's but it is worth the wait. they do slightly different, and more thorough tests, than other clinics. however, they do not test for NK cells - you would have to go private for that. After four MCs we were desperate to leave no stone unturned in our search for the cause or a solution to the problem, so we went private for NK cell testing; and with the NHS to St Mary's. i though this might not go down too well at St Mary's but they seem to be fairly used to patients who are seeing a variety of specialists at the same time. The tests at st mary's didn't result in any firm diagnosis for me but did contain some clues, which we treated experimentally. I also had treatment for possible K cell issues. Something worked, because the pregnancy stuck, and my daughter was born on new year's day. hang in there.

Thank You for these lovely and informative replies.
notsobarrenmorebrokenbrook I have had blood clotting, genetic karyotyping and hormone tests done but everything came back clear. My GP mentioned a lupus test today, which I haven't had, so I am thinking there are loads more things that they havent tested me for. I had a high prolactin level aswell, but my consultant wasnt worried about that.

Helibelly you have made me feel more optimistic about St Marys. Thanks for the information :)

Greeninkmama yes I have read about the "love and care" factor that has helped women feel like they are looked after and they have healthy babies at the end. TBH, I would like my doctors to see me every week to feel cared for during a pregnancy - and if that's all it takes to give birth to a healthy baby, then I will be willing to travel to London everyday or week in morning rush hour to get that baby!!!

sotough Thank you for the information - I am so happy that things worked out for you after your 4 MC's. Even small clues and hints through tests will be at least something I could work on to help reach my goal! I have to go and research NK cells now! I have only been on this site for a few hours and have already found so many other tests that I havent had.

Could I ask you lovely ladies how long it took to get your appointments at St Marys? I've been getting appointments at the recurrent miscarriage clinic and early pregnancy clinic here in oxford within 2 weeks - but I guess it is going to be much longer for St Marys - are we talking 6 months or more?

I am trying to remember. I think it was a few months (maybe four? just possibly six.), but I did the tests well before that.

Milky, I do wish you so much luck in this. I think some of us just are really really unlucky. But it does make you appreciate the children you end up with. xxxxxxxx

hi there, it was a good few months to get the appointment, but not six. we had actually given up ever hearing from them and had gone through all the tests that we could get privately, when i got the letter with the first appointment out of the blue.i think it was about four months after the GP first referred us.
Re. NK cells, it's worth buying Alan Beer's book: 'Is your Body Baby Friendly?' on Amazon. although it's a text book it's highly readable and i enjoyed skimming through it as Beer really seemed to understand how it felt to go through recurrent miscarriage. He's dead now, but he 'poineered' the NK cell/miscarriage link theory and treatment. you can get the book on Amazon and you only need to skim through it to get a flavour of what it's all about. If you do go down this route in terms of testing and treatment, i recommend my specialist, who was Yau Thum at the Lister in London.

Thank You everyone - It's so frustrating - I dont really want to wait a long time to start trying again, but I guess I will have to if I want to get tested. You really can't plan your life out can you? All my siblings were 5, 10 and 13 years older than me and I have nothing in common with them - and I didnt want a big age gap between my children, but it looks like there will be :(

I went to the St Marys clinic privately because my age means I just dont have the time to hang around. Lovely lovely people. My apt was originally about 6 wk wait with Mr Rai but was brought forward several times as I asked to be informed if any last minute cancellations came up. After testing I got pg within a week of treatment starting - prob appeared to be an unfortunate combo of blood issues but easily treated. All the testing, consultation and follow up came to just over £1200 I think - alot of money but so worth it. My NHS apt (at the JR) came through about half way through testing period and I told the consultant about being at St Marys - he was lovely and said that if it showed an ongoing prob that was going to be expensive then to bring the results back to the JR for continuing treatment if I wanted to save some £.
Good luck, you are young, you have plenty of time to sort out whatever probs there are xx

Hi I am so sorry for your losses. I lost 4 as well but they were in between my live born babies, I was given a 50% risk of miscarriage with each one. My losses were 2 early trimester before 12 weeks and 2 mid trimester after 20 weeks. Blood tests after one of my late losses showed a blood clotting problem. I was told the antibodies come and go which is maybe why I managed to have 4 normal pregnancies. Anyway just wanted to give some hope. I have read alot of miscarriage studies etc and you have every chance of having a healthy baby, don't give up hope. 4 in a row is quite unusual so they should be testing. Just wanted to add there is a 6 year gap between my youngests, it took us a long time ttc to get the last DS, but they are so close and play all the time. Good luck at you appointment, hope you get seen soon.