Post-mortem results coming up - what's your experience?

[dc100591]

Hi ladies.

I had a late missed miscarriage back in January (you might have read my post) and I have just received a letter for our appointment to go through the postmortem results on the 15th March.

I feel like I am coping well with my loss and this is the last hurdle to overcome. I guess I am scared they tell me something is wrong with my body and I won't be able to have a healthy pregnancy ever.

If anyone else has been through a similar experience, it would be great to hear your story and the kind of things that came out of your appointment...

sorry to hear. id imagine/hope that your consultant will be as sensitive as possible. Try not to worry too much, a miscarriage doesnt necessarily mean that there is something wrong with you.

I had twins, but one was a molar pregnancy which caused the other one to miscarry. Consultant explained to me with imagine an egg without a yolk. Well thats the molar pregnancy. Didnt know whether to laugh or cry tbh.

I'm so sorry to hear about this - I can understand just how terrified and sad you must be feeling.

I didn't have a post-mortem performed when my dd was stillborn (though I often wish I had done), but I did have a follow up appointment with a consultant. It was not what I had expected - the consultant was not anyone who had been involved in my antenatal care or my daughter's birth, and unfortunately she didn't have much information. The hospital were supposed to send the placenta and umbilical cord off for analysis but had lost them (!), and brushed me off saying 'they probably wouldn't have told us anything anyway'.

They let me know that my infection screens had been clear, so I knew it wasn't any illness I'd had I had that had caused my dd's death, and that was a great relief. It was only through requesting a copy of my maternity notes from the hospital that I eventually learned that the probable cause of death was a ruptured umbilical cord.

I found the wait for the follow-up a really nerve-wracking time - my heart goes out to you. I often felt that I was going to be told I had done something wrong, that it was my fault. It was very hard for me to go back into the hospital again. But even though I didn't find out much at the meeting, I did feel very relieved to have it over with. As you say, another hurdle overcome.

Remember that it's an opportunity for you to ask them questions and ask for follow-up investigations. It is their duty to explain everything to you to your satisfaction. Now that it has been a few months you should be able to have some other tests that might put your mind at ease - you might ask them to test you for blood clotting disorders and for auto-immune issues. They will not have been able to test you for these when you delivered your baby but now that you've had time for your body to return to normal after the pregnancy they will be able to get reliable results.

to you, and I really hope it goes well. Keep us updated if you feel up to it.

I'm so sorry you lost your baby

I've been through this twice and this is what happened to me:

Preg #1:
All going fine, went to 20 week scan and told no heartbeat and baby too small. A horrendous shock and utterly devastating. I had an induction & delivery over the next two days but we had no idea about what/why it had all happened. 6 weeks later we were called in for the postmortem/pathology and were told: baby was a girl & chromosonally perfectly normal. I had a slightly underactive thyroid and needed to see GP to do further tests. Placenta had been totally normal and as expected for 20 weeks. No thromobophilias (clotting disorders). Massive toxoplasmosis infection which was the likely cause of death.
We were given advice about length of time to wait before ttc in the light of the infection. We discussed a plan of care for future pregnancy (consultant led, extra scans etc)

Preg #3:
Unplanned, but all going fine, had 2 early scans at 6 weeks and 9 weeks, no problems detected. 12 week scan showed abnormalities so referred to fetal consultant who diagnosed acrania (severe and lethal neural tube defect). We elected to have a termination which happened a bit after 13 weeks. 6 weeks later we were again called in for the pathology results. This time we were told that baby was a boy but had chromosone abnormalities too and had trisomy 18 (Edwards syndrome) which was probably at the root of the structural problems. We discussed the chance of reoccurance (v small) and if any extra care/checks would be needed in a future pregnancy.

To be honest it's impossible to prepare yourself for these meetings, you just have no idea what you are going to find out, and it is worth bearing in mind that it is quite common for there to be no cause found. It's worth thinking about questions you have about what's happened to you and what you would want them to do to support you in a future pregnancy. Now is the time to get a consultant onside to agree to take you on/authorise extra checks/scans/tests etc. I know it may be incomprehensible now to plan another baby but if you do ttc in the future it is very reassuring to know what extra care you can expect, as it will be very hard mentally and emotionally with the legacy of loss.

I'm so sorry OP, and I do hope Tuesday brings you some answers.

Just testing this before I reply properly as it never seems to work...

Thanks to everyone so far for your advice and support.

We have our appointment tomorrow so hopefully be able to update you with my results then.

I also have an underactive thyroid so hopefully that wasn't the cause as that is something that I will have forever! As for the toxoplasmosis...I do have a cat so maybe that's something?

I am starting to get a bit anxious about it all now but no point in guessing, not long to go now :)

Thanks again and I will be back online soon x

Hey!

So I had my appointment today and was pleased to actually get some results!

They found that baby had a heart defect. One of the main arteries had a narrowing in it which was causing her heart to work too hard. This would have been undetectable at the 12 week scan but would have maybe been flagged up at the 20 week scan, in which we might have had to make a choice to continue with the pregnancy or not....so very thankful that I was never faced with this choice.

Neither myself or my partner have heart problems in our family so the doc said it is unlikely that this will happen again but I will get extra scans at 16wks and 28wks just to keep an eye on it.

I am so grateful to hear that it was nothing I, or anyone else did that caused this - she was just a sick baby all along and fought for as long as she could.

I feel like I can draw a line under this chapter in my life now and look to the future. Wishing the same for all you other mummies