Aged 43 - 2 MC's in 4 months - try again or stop now??

[hippychick66]

Hi,

I'm 43 (actually fast approaching 44) with 2 DS's aged 7 & 10. Both those pregnancies were fine.

Had a MMC in February this year (discovered at 11.5 weeks that baby had only made it to 8 weeks)and got pregnant again 3 months later.

This pregnancy also isn't working out. I'm bleeding and hormone levels are dropping. They could only see a very small sac at just over 6 weeks so it looks like this one probably never really got started.

Is mother nature trying to tell me that my eggs are all crap now and I should just stop or is it just bad luck?

I know the risks are greater at my age and I simply don't know whether to try once more (especially as i don't seem to have much trouble actually getting preg).

Anyone else been in this position? What did you do? What do you think?

hippychick - I've just had 2 m/cs in a row as well so you have my sympathy.

At the moment I'm thinking I'll try once more but might stop after that. Although I might well feel differently were the worst to happen.

I'm 39 but age has less to do with it than, like yourself, wondering if I want to keep putting myself through the trauma or not.

I think the idea of having a wee short break from worrying about it is a good one it's what I'm trying to do.

Good luck whatever you decide!

Thanks besom. It is so disappointing and crap isn't it.

Good luck to you as well. xx

hippychick, after my 2 MCs, my bloods came back as "normal" ie I didnt have the sticky blood thing. I asked my mw if I should try taking aspirin, and she said it is NOT something they would recommend if you do not have the antibody disorder. There IS evidence that it can do harm in pg (altho I know a lot of people who have tried it, and had no adverse effects). But I took her advice.

BUT I self-prescribed natural progesterone cream. I have NO idea if that had anything to do with the fact that this one worked or whether it would have worked out this time anyway.
Note - you really should speak to your gp if you plan to do this, but I took it upon myself to order some and give it a go.

vmcd28 I did try progesterone cream (serenity) when i was ttc. Someone at work kept going on about how fab it was and i wanted to try to lengthen my luteal phase. I used it every day after ovulation and i don't know if it was a co-incidence or not but I was totally loopy that month - like a mad hormonal thing!!! So I didtched it and got preg the next month without any additional hormones.

With both my MC's it seems that the foetus or embryo stopped and my body carried on with the pregnancy for a while which suggests to me that my body can do the pregnancy thing it just needs a decent embryo that has no chromosone probs - IYSWIM.

So i probably wont try anything other than trying to be positive (haha).

Thanks for the advise about the asprin - I had heard it is not a good idea to just self prescribe it. Will they check me for sticky blood after only 2 MC's???

I know what you mean re yr body knowing what to do - my first mc was natural., but I had to have a d&c with my second cos my body was still trying to hang on to it a week after it had been confirmed that there was no hb. That's why I'm not convinced that the cream is what made the difference, altho I was too scared to start weaning off it, just in case.

I think all health boards vary with when they'll gv u blood tests and if they'll give you early scans. Ours will gv you early scans and blood tests after 2, but only if at least one of them was after sthg like 7 weeks. It's worth phoning your epu for advice. They were so incredibly helpful and supportive to me. If you can't get the tests, find out how much getting them done privately would cost? At that stage they test for sticky blood, thyroid and hormone levels. Let me know how you get on

I will let you know. Thanks hon. x

Re asprin,

Talk to your consultant, rather than MW about this, you will be given a different opinion!

It's true Asprin in the normal dose (as you would take for a headache), is a very bad idea in pregnancy, and may cause m/c in a variety of different ways.
Also, the use of Asprin as a painkiller is associated with something called unruptured luetenised folical syndrome, which means, if you take Asprin at the time you are about to ovulate, it shuts down the proccess and the
folical does not rupture and expel the egg - so you can't get pregnant that month. Most women TTC are unaware of this.
M/W are taught that Asprin should be avoided, and that is what they will advise you.

However, mini dose Asprin (75mg) is a different kettle of fish, and can be used to increase the chances of conception, implantation and throughout pregnancy. Speak to a consultant for advice, as the MW doesn't have the authority to recomend it to you. They can't diagnose and prescribe drugs, they won't be able to check to see if you have a condition that means you shouldn't be on asprin long term.

Different consultants use Asprin in different ways, some only recomend it if they have tested you and found a clotting issue, but others prescribe it for a wider range of possible issues you can't test for - asprin works as an anti-inflamatory and thinning the blood is only one of the things it does. Most consultants say take it from ovulation or from positive preg test some say take it all the time (others say no, don't take it all the time as they think even at low dose it may interfere with ovulation, though there is no evidence to prove this).

My consultant said take it from the day I get a positive test. He didn't test me for clotting issues as he said he'd recommend that I take it anyway, due to immune issues that can develop as you get older, which the Asprin can also help with, and placenta problems (more common as you get older), which can lead to pre-eclampsia, blood pressure problems and growth retardation in the fetus.
I got pregnant within 3 cycles of starting high dose folic acid (5mg) which he also recomended, started taking the Asprin the day I tested positve, and am now 22 weeks, and still taking the Asprin. That was after multiple m/c over about 2 1/2 years - though I will never know for sure if it was the asprin/folic acid that did it, my consultant said he get "good results" from older women on them.
A workmate of my husband just had a baby girl after 3 m/c - she was put on daily fragmin injections (despite testing negative for clotting issues). Fragmin is like Asprin, but is used if you are allergic to asprin.

But no, don't self prescribe the asprin - at least not until you are sure there's no reason you can't take it yourself - it's not safe for everybody.

Thanks oldmum. I will make a list of questions for my lovely GP.

You must be so pleased it's working after all that time.

One of my friends on the over 40 thread had a mmc and then a cp and is now 12 weeks preg - she just got a low risk result at her 12 week scan and that has made me feel better.

I'll update you next week. We have a scan on Monday to see if I have indeed MC'd or if there is still anything left in there and then GP on Tuesday to discuss moving forward (that's when I will ask about junior asprin and 5mg folic.)

I'm even thinking about doing a flippin' Mia's spell just for the protection bit - so you can see I am a bit loopy already!

Keep in touch. I'll report back to you and vmcd next week.

Best wishes.

Hi. Scan had the best outcome we could have hoped for (apart from the miracle baby option).

Everything has gone by itself and there is now a thin lining so go back to the start (do not collect bloody anything ).

Anyway, she said all looks fine, ovaries both fine etc. Good to go again if we want to.

Was very relieved to hear no need for medical intervention.

I do feel that we got off rather lightly (IYSWIM). The bleeding lasted about 9 days but it never got too bad. I needed a hottie twice and paracetamol twice. Thanks to my endo I have had far worse periods in my youth. There were times when I literally did not know what to do with myself cos of the pain and i had feared that would befall me last week but thank God - it was nothing like that.

GP today. Bless her, she is already planning what we will do next time. "We'll check your levels every few days, we'll get you an early scan (even if we have to tell a white lie and say your spotting)." She said she is confident that I will get preg again and that she sees no reason why it shouldn't go right next time (has she not been paying attention to my MC history )

Anyway, she said it's obvious that fetilization is taking place as is implantation - it's just that the last 2 embryos have not taken off and she hopes the next one will. So do I love, so do I!!

She doesn't think I have the sticky blood thing cos I had 2 successful pregs before, she says it really isn't a fault with my body more a chromosone problem.

So here we go again. I do feel that as I have dealt with this early loss fine I am happy to go again. But if I were to lose again I may well stop then.

Thanks for everything .