Due April/May after MC 🌈

[BellaBella38]

Hi everyone, I know this is might be a bit early to start a thread but after more than 2 1/2 years of trying the overwhelming excitement is real!

Me and my husband lost out first at 10 weeks back in December 2020 and to be honest had kind of given up. I only peed on a stick at 16DPO because a banana repulsed me to the point of spitting it out! Trying not to be too excited or paranoid, but we'll see how that goes. 🤣

I've ordered the Pregnancy after Loss book by Zoe Coates Clark in an attempt to keep my sanity, but the going to the loo fear of seeing blood is real. And I've booked an apt to talk to my GP on Thursday at 5+3 to talk about whether or not progesterone would be appropriate.

Thankfully my husband is level headed and reminds me not to get too ahead of myself yet, but it would be great to meet others in the same boat for a hand hold.

I had a GP appointment on Tuesday and she was saying that normally referrals for progesterone, etc would go back and forth through a recurrent miscarriage unit. We never went down that path as after our third miscarriage we had a second successful pregnancy with our 11 year old. I thought that may be relevant for others here though.

I have a scan next Thursday when I will be 8 weeks, so I'm starting to relax a bit now as I feel like I'm out of what is my usual danger zone. My progesterone was on the low end of the first trimester range, but I'm taking more vitamins (B6, zinc, magnesium and vit c) along with my pregnancy multivitamin to help with that and will test progesterone levels privately again at the start of September. I don't know how they do dating when I ovulated so late at cycle day 26. With my previous pregnancies I went 10 days over and they both were 9lbs 15 oz!

I don't really have any symptoms other than sore boobs, bloating and tiredness in the evenings.

I've woken up feeling really nauseous this morning! I'm only 4+5, I don't think I've ever had sickness this early before. Happy to be getting symptoms but wow this is going to be a long road if it's starting already!!

@calipoppy I know what you mean! Mine started earlier then ever before aswell. Although it's not pleasant its so good to be getting symptoms.

I've become obsessed with poas again. I've bought 20 of the premom hcg tests, I'm doing one a day and sticking them down in order to check line progression. Now I'm slightly panicking because they aren't getting darker! My dp has pointed out that they're not getting lighter either and they are the cheapest of the cheap tests.

It's going to be a long stressful road 😞

This year this is how I'm beer festivalling. Not going to lie, it's just not the same 🤣

I've gone FRER official - so definitely pregnant (for now). No real symptoms - upset stomach, bad gut, fatigue, sore breasts - but these are very much just pre-AF symptoms for me so obviously the HCG hasn't got high enough to cause anything new and 'wonderful' yet... (I'm literally 3+6 so not surprising).

@Zincoop the obsession to do line progression is real, isn't it? 😩 I'm going to try and resist if I can, but I've got a bunch of cheapies ( bought because I took aaaaages to go negative after last MC), which will deffo make resisting harder.

@BellaBella38 Oh a beer festival!! Haha that is unfortunate..is it tasty though? I quite like the nosecco when I feel like I'm missing out.

@Melusina123 Great news on the FRER! And yes it is an obsession. I was having an in depth discussion with dp about the darkness of today's line compared to my line at this point last pregnancy and I could see in his face that he thinks I'm just a bit nuts.

@Zincoop It was a beer festival on an old heritage train line and we'd got friends coming up who we hadn't seen since pre Covid. It was great fun all round. I highly rate the AF Ghost Ship, we drink it pretty regularly anyway. Had the AF Birra Moretti the other day which was nice too.

Hey everyone, hope I can join you? I have been trying to find the most appropriate forum for me to connect with, and reading through your posts I can relate so much.
I am currently 5w 1d, third pregnancy with precious two pregnancies ending in missed miscarriage. First mmc was Mar 2020 when I went for 12w scan (baby measured 7w) which I chose medical management to deal with. The bleeding lasted about 3/4 weeks and then pregnancy tests remained positive for about 12 weeks post mc which was torture.
Second mmc was on Christmas Eve 2021 when I just had a feeling the pregnancy wasn’t progressing after loss of symptoms. Again chose medical management and it Was a very sad time however the recover was much quicker that time.

I am sure you can all relate but the anxiety through this current pregnancy is off the scale. I feel like I have symptoms (exhaustion, sore boobs) but feel I’m just desperate to experience nausea to know that things are progressing :-( it’s so hard! Holding out to have a scan at 7w and pray that I have a positive result this time.

I wish you all love, luck and best wishes as what we are going through is so very difficult. ☀️

Hi @Sierraleona we're here for a hand hold whenever you need it ❤️ I hate how much the excitement of a new pregnancy is tainted, but at least here is a group of women who totally get it. Already I feel just that little bit less alone.

Micheal Rosen wrote a poem about how the longest journey is from "the light switch to my bed". I love him, but he's wrong. The longest journey is from your BFP to your milestones.

@Charl881 I hope you're all packed! And I really hope you have a chilled, fun and uneventful holiday. I've got everything crossed for you 🤞

Welcome @Sierraleona and congratulations 😊

@Charl881 have a great holiday! I saw on the other thread you've got nausea - I hope it doesn't spoil the holiday too much but what a great sign that you have strong symptoms!

Has anyone called the gp yet? I know I need to but I don't want to jinx anything!

@calipoppy where I am you just self-refer to the EPAU. Haven't done it yet - probably will do sometime this week. I spoke to the GP last time round but it wasn't very useful; she just gave me a bunch of advice I already knew from the NHS website.

FWIW the way I think of it is that you want to refer asap because you want the NHS to know you're pg so they can refer for any relevant investigations if you do have a MC, even if it's very early. So it's not jinxing, it's covering all bases. (Also they might assign scans based on when you refer? In which case your 12wk scan might be closer to 12wks vs 13/14 if you refer earlier...)

I reached a milestone today! This time (ish) last pregnancy I was 6+3 and my digi stick only read 2-3 weeks and I started to get really stressed out. (Even though logically I know they're not a diagnostic tool, but with no other medical input what have we got?!)

Today at 6+1 my digi stick is at 3+ weeks where I would hope it would be. So far so calm.

Tried to phone the midwives last week as advised by my GP, but they were having none of it. Not letting it stress me out though, will try them again this week.

Anyone else reached any positive milestones yet?

Hi @Sierraleona looking forward to chatting with you x

@BellaBella38 That's good news on the 3+ 🤞🤞 it's such a relief to see it.

It's disappointing that the midwives weren't very helpful, if your GP has advised it, then surely they should understand that you need a bit more support.

No milestones here, I promised myself I wouldn't obsessively test, try not to over think things with this pregnancy but I've failed miserably. I have made a chart of my premom tests so I can see line progression and I keep it in a draw in the dining room. I've worn a hole in the carpet walking backwards and forwards to that draw to keep checking it 🤪

@Zincoop How's your secret drawer of sticks looking today?

I've got a booking apt for 13th September when I'll be 8 weeks. Unfortunately it turns out all my apts will be across town which is a bit of a pain when I don't drive, but I've found a walk/bus/walk way of getting there. Still keeping calm.
Can't see it being likely that I'll get any early pregnancy/recurrent miscarriage support in time (8 weeks booking then referral time to obs) so I've been looking at ways to naturally boost my progesterone.

Keep calm and drink lemon juice!

@BellaBella38 if it helps, there's no evidence that progesterone supplementation reduces miscarriages (even in cases of recurrent miscarriage), unless there is abnormal bleeding in which case it seems like it definitely does (especially if 3+ MCs).

Obviously it doesn't hurt, and I like the idea of naturally boosting! But fwiw I wouldn't stress too much if you can't get it prescribed ASAP (at least this is what I'm telling myself as I also doubt I'll be able to get it...).

See Tommy's: www.tommys.org/our-research/our-research-projects/miscarriage-research/can-progesterone-really-prevent-miscarriage

Cheers @Melusina123 I just feel like by the time I get abnormal bleeding it'll be too late. In all fairness this pregnancy already feels a lot different to previous ones, got cravings for a start 😁

How are you getting on?

@BellaBella38 🤣 my little draw of sticks is doing good thank you. I've attached a pic of my stick artwork.

Sounds positive that you're getting cravings. Not too long before booking apt too. But if you're anything like me at the moment, time is moving really slowly.

I decided to give the weeks indicator a go and it's only showing 2-3. Ofcourse I did absolutely the silliest thing and took the whole test to bits so I could look at the test line. (Pic attached) it looks quite dark so I'm trying not to worry. The test came in a 2 pack so I will leave it a few days and try again.

@BellaBella38 I get it! And we feel like we want to do anything that could possibly help. I'm doing ok. Not many symptoms - a bit of acid reflux, tired, some very small nausea wobbles, etc - but difficult to distinguish those from everyday life, tbh. I am generally a very tired person with an irritable stomach. 😂

Still feeling quite pessimistic, but I read today that the odds of miscarriage are much lower if you get pregnant within 3 months of a previous MC and for us it was cycle 3 after the MC so trying to hold onto that bit of positivity...

@Zincoop how many weeks are you now?

I've just had some light brown discharge 😞 keeping my fingers crossed but it's not a good sign is it. I'm just trying to think if it's not going to work out then earlier is better. But still horrible to just have a waiting game now!

Oh no @calipoppy how many weeks are you? Is it too early to phone EPAU?

@calipoppy fwiw my GP told me she had had 3 MCs and 2 babies and had spotting with both her successful pregnancies and none of her MCs. Pregnancy symptoms are just so difficult to interpret. They could be bad or they could be nothing. Fx the spotting stops soon tho as if nothing else it's super stressful. 💗

Thanks @Melusina123 and @BellaBella38 it honestly means so much to have this group who all understand for support 💛

I'm 5+3 so too early to call really. I think the earliest they scan here is 6 weeks and tbh I'm reluctant to have loads of early scans as I personally find it harder if it goes wrong later having seen the baby. I've just googled and found loads of examples of similar situations that turned out ok so just hoping for the best x

🤞