Getting past 8 weeks in pregnancy

[MrsBB27]

I don’t know if anyone here has had similar experiences. I have just had my 3rd consecutive missed miscarriage. It’s devastating :( At 6 weeks we saw a heartbeat. The baby was 8 weeks 3 days and the heart had stopped beating probably a couple hours before my scan. They don’t know why and partner and I have had all the tests we can have that we know if anyway.

I had scarring from my last miscarriage which I then had to have surgery to clear.
I am scared of this happening again and setting me back.

I wondered if anyone else had this problem where unexpectedly the baby’s heart just stopped? This happened in my last pregnancy too. I would be grateful for any help or advice.

I'm so sorry, that must be heartbreaking

Thank you. It’s pretty shitty. I was going to tell everyone on New Years Day ☹️ I just hope I have a successful pregnancy soon

I had two MMC, they were a bit later than yours and found in the 12 weeks scan. When I got pregnant again I took a small dose of aspirin daily throughout pregnancy. Both my midwife and consultant thought this was a good idea even though they didn't suggest it.

I'm so sorry for your loss . I've had 3 miscarriages in a row after having my eldest prematurely.
For the middle one our babies heart just stopped beating at 10 weeks and we never had an explanation as to why.
I did however have success with my last pregnancy. Which is surprising as I was extremely ill when he was conceived and was facing complete liver failure at 26 years old.
I started taking high dose aspirin daily (consultant led) from 4 weeks and he was born at 36 weeks due to poor growth

I am so sorry for your loss. I had three losses that sound identical to yours and I was found to have endometrisis which is chronic inflammation of the womb lining (not endometriosis). This was as part of a medical trial called CERM at Tommy's Coventry with Professor Quenby.

I highly recommend her. I was also put on progesterone and seems to be working.

Again I'm so sorry for your losses, it's utterly shit, please look after yourself, thinking of you.

Thank you all so much. I really appreciate your advice and support and I’m sorry for all your losses too. Only someone that has been through it can really know how this feels. It’s devastating 😔 I have no children and I’m 39 with pcos. Time isn’t on my side.

I am under the miscarriage unit and I was on blood thinning injections (to prevent clotting), progesterone, folic acid and Vit D throughout my pregnancy. I am due to go into hospital on Sunday to have the dreaded procedure to have removed.

I will look into the advice shared. Thank you all again. I really appreciate it 💕

Hi OP,

I'm so sorry to hear about your losses. Mine were also around a similar time.

I am now 30 weeks pregnant and we paid privately to be treated through a miscarriage clinic. I appreciate this is not an option for everyone. I have friends who received treatment through the nhs and I would say that what is offered can vary from hospital to hospital. I was under Mr Shehata's private miscarriage clinic - his protocols are also in place at Epsom General Hospital, if by any chance you live near there.

Through the clinic, I was diagnosed with highly active natural killer cells, meaning implantation was affected each time.

I was prescribed immune moderating medication, aspirin and pregnancy vitamin/vitamin E/OMega 3. Also intralipid infusions at ovulation and during early pregnancy. Due to Covid, steroids weren't advised for a period of time, but after a chemical pregnancy I asked for them to be added to my plan and I believe they made a big difference.

I also read about the CERM trial. The treatment for Endometritis is a Chlamydia medication, taken for 2 weeks. I ordered this myself via Superdrug online. I took this after my chemical pregnancy and then added the steroids and the next month things were successful for us.

I also had acupuncture during this journey.

Sorry - this all sounds so factual but I just wanted to share my experience in case any of it might be useful to you.

I could talk for hours about the emotional pain that miscarriage brings and am sending you a huge virtual hug. It hurts so much but you can get through this xxx

Sorry - and also progesterone pessaries. I think these also played a huge role in sustaining the pregnancy in the early stages x

Currently 17 weeks pregnant in our 7th pregnancy - no living children yet but our current fetus is doing beautifully so far it’s the furthest we’ve ever got with aspirin, clexane jab and progesterone pessaries…. Go and see professor Quenby at the Coventry Tommys clinic. Absolute god send. No-one else helped us at all NHS wise.

Hey OP,

I have been wondering the same. I have had two previous MC's at around the 6 week mark and so it does make me wonder if I will ever get past that point.
Am currently 4 days late with AF and fu of pregnancy symptoms. Am starting to freak out now as am concerned that history might repeat itself. I spoke to my doctors today and they have said that if I get another confirmed MC then they will refer me to the MC clinic that they have to try and figure out what is going on.
I have suffered with what they thought was endometriosis ever since AF started. However, on a recent ultrasound, they found evidence to suggest that I might actually have Adenomyosis. So it's been a bit of a rollercoaster lately

Thank you all individually for your words of reassurance as well as your advice and tips. I’ve made notes on all and I have started to look into private care as well as the recommendations you all have shared. Thank you for your help and advice. It’s such a horrid experience this. I hope and pray 2022 is a better year 🙏🏽💕

Hi. I’m so sorry for your losses. I have just had surgical management for my second mmc. I’m 39 also. Should have been 10 weeks pregnant this weekend
If you feel that you need to talk to someone going through the same then dm me x

So sorry for your losses xxx

I had two mmc, first one around 7 weeks and bleeding started 3 weeks later (so technically not a missed, but I consider it one anyway as it took so long for my body to start the process) and another at 8+ something similar to your experience, where we went for an early reassurance scan and found a foetus measuring exactly right but without a heartbeat. With the first we'd seen a heartbeat just a week before it stopped developing, and the second one probably had one until it didn't anymore.

I also worried about time as I'm 35 now with no children yet, we started trying over 1.5 years ago. I was able to get pregnant within a couple of cycles, but the problem has been staying pregnant!

I'm now 17 weeks with my third pregnancy and so far all is well! I had progesterone pessaries in first trimester and have been taking low dose aspiring since first positive test. I personally think it's the aspirin that's helped. Even though I had basic blood tests done through my GP, including clotting screen and APS antibodies and nothing was found, I still just have a feeling that blood flow to the placenta had something to do with it and aspirin has sorted it. I think I've seen somewhere that there are so many factors that can affect blood clotting that they can't even test them all, and with pregnancy being a hypercoagulable state it's possible that a test wouldn't show it when done pre-pregnancy.

Although since you've also had blood thinning and aspirin, that's unlikely to help :(

@MrsBB27

Professor Quenby at Coventry is Tommys funded but NHS based. You can ask your GP for a referral there after 2 or 3 miscarriages (not sure how many to be exact as was well over the threshold before we realised she was there!).

Here’s her details to give to your GP - www.uhcw.nhs.uk/our-services-and-people/our-people/ms-siobhan-quenby/

Some more info on Tommys - www.tommysbiobank.org/meet-the-team-participants/

www.tommys.org/about-us/our-people/tommys-research-experts/clinicians

Coventry was a totally new page for us.
Best of luck!!

-ah from what I can see it’s after 2 recurrent losses.

Xxx

So sorry, OP. That is heartbreaking for you both!

I am on my fourth pregnancy, with three unsuccessful ones and no living children either, also late thirties. I have been in your shoes with having seen a heartbeat and then losing it again. I am now on clexane, aspirin, and progesterone (as well as prenatal vits). Almost at the end of first trimester now, but I will not feel safe, until I hold a baby in my arms!

Sadly, my experience has also been that I am the one needing to come with suggestions for further research and medication to the NHS staff (not just NHS, btw, my SIL struggling with fertility in continental Europe has the same experience there). The staff usually then seem happy enough to go along with it, but won't initiate/suggest things themselves.

Have you tried giving Tommy's a call, to discuss your situation? They gave me some good advice, including informing me of a research center of relevance to my specific issues, and offering to make the connection. So hope things will work out for you!!

If I were you, I would start looking into the rarer explanations, as your medication already seem to cover a considerable number of the usual suspects. I think some of the suggestions above on killer cells and uterine issues sound promising as venues to look into. (Very much not a HC professional, so this is just a random's opinion.)

Hello, it's so tough and especially if there isn't an obvious reason. I lost two babies at about the 8/9 week mark.

For us it was 3rd time lucky.

I am very sorry for what you are going through and hope that the next time is a happy ending