Placenta problems in future pregnancies

[Seriousjockin]

I recently had a late miscarriage at 16 weeks, which doctors now think was due to early (and unavoidable) placenta failure. I just wondered, does anyone know if this is something that is likely to recur and affect all future pregnancies, or can it be a one-off occurrence? We are trying to start a family so still new to all this, and pretty clueless when it comes to pregnancy-related matters.

Any advice/positive stories would be gratefully received.

I'm so sorry Did they give you more information on what seemed to go wrong with the placenta? For example did it come away from the uterus or had it not properly formed to start with?

So sorry for your loss

Did you have a post mortem done?

I don't know if my experience will help but I lost my dd at 32 weeks, after a post mortem they said it was due to placental failure. They couldn't say whether it was likely to happen again or not.

I got pregnant a month after having my dd. They kept a very close eye on me. It was an extremely anxious pregnancy. They prescribed daily aspirin and I was offered 2 weekly growth/reassurance scans along with weekly ctg monitoring. I was induced at 37 weeks and now have a very healthy almost 2 year old.

I am now pregnant with my 3rd, I am on aspirin again and am having regular scans & consultant appointments.

My dd was very very small due to the placenta failing, my ds was a very healthy weight so there were no signs that anything was wrong with my placenta the second time, or this time.

Good luck op

Ladies thank you so much for replying. Ducky I'm so so sorry for your loss.

We are still waiting for the results of the post mortem, but the blood results from my combined screening at 12 weeks suggest the placenta probably failed early (we had an NIPT which ruled out any chromosome conditions). I have had to really push to get a consultant to glance over my notes, as even up until this awful end I have only ever dealt with midwives (who said my bloods were out of kilter but that I would not need further monitoring until 23 weeks. Sadly we never got that far.)

It is the consultant who has now suggested early placental insufficiency. I'm seeing my GP tomorrow so I will ask him what he makes of it all.

Ducky I'm so pleased you have gone on to have healthy pregnancies, that is fantastic and just reading this has given us a bit of hope! I have read a lot about aspirin being very helpful, so I'll ask my GP about that. I really appreciate the replies, thanks again.

Might be worth asking about testing for MTHR mutations.
Actually, for about £100 you can do 23andme testing. We have family history (multiple people) relevant to this, multiple mc, later losses, stillbirth (placenta issues), midline defects. It's useful to know because certain forms folic acid (synthetic) is a problem for people with certain methylation defects, folate (natural forms) is needed instead.

*MTHFR

Hi there sj, I'm really sorry to hear about your loss.

I had placenta failure with my DD, but at full term, so in very different circumstances. Luckily I live in Germany where my local hospital insists on checkups every 2 days if you go overdue. As a result they saw on my due date that the placenta was deteriorating and the amniotic fluid was very low. I was induced at EDD+5 as it was too risky to wait any longer. The baby got into trouble before the contractions even started but luckily as I was in hospital they saw it happening and delivered her safely by EMCS. She was quite small - 5llb4 but otherwise healthy. At the time I was told that it should not necessarily mean that future pregnancies would be affected.

I am now 29w with DD2. When I had my 20 week scan I discussed the matter with another Dr who also had the same view. She did say that the biggest risk factor for placenta failure was stress which was definitely true in my case as I was facing the end of my work contract at the time and had to go through a huge selection procedure at 36w.

If I were you I would definitely press for regular scans and CTGs in any future pregnancy to be on the safe side, but try to bear in mind that it will hopefully be a one-off.

Hope that you managed to get done more answers from the GP?

Thanks Foggy and chloe, really interesting and helpful to hear these different stories. My GP was really good - his own personal opinion is that we have probably just been very unlucky, and that there is nothing to say this will happen again. However he admitted this isn't his area of expertise whatsoever, so he has referred us to our local hospital's miscarriage clinic to talk through the post mortem results when we get them, and to have some tests.

I mentioned that when our NIPT came back clear I'd asked the screening midwife if there was anything I needed to do, given the crazy hormones, and she said no, just wait til 23 weeks. My GP said starting on a small aspirin a day would have been good advice, but sadly I do believe in our circumstances it was already too late, and he agreed that's probably the case.

Thanks again for the replies, definitely some good food for thought here.

Glad to hear that you got some useful feedback from the GP and a referral. Sounds like history doesn't need to repeat itself, but it's good to see what steps you can take next time to minimise any risks. I wish you all the best!