Looking for Fertility/Conception Advice After Multiple Miscarriages

Hi
I, like you, had a first child and then trouble getting pregnant my second time. We went to a fertility specialist in RI and it was a waste of time. After 4 miscarriages, we changed to Fertility Center of New England and went to see DR's Hill and Hardy. They were awesome! I got pregnant on our first invitro at age 41 with was a 10% chance statistically. They give thorough exams and really work for their patients. if you live anywhere near Boston..go to them. We traveled far but it was worth it. BTW..I teach high school special ed too;)

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Sorry to hear about your difficulties. I would definitely seek out a fertility specialist sooner rather than later. I have a great recommendation. Her name is Rachel Ashby and she is out of Brigham and Women's and Newton Wellesley. She is so wonderful - she answers all your questions, she's compassionate. We saw her at Newton Wellesley and the nursing staff there is so wonderful also.

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S.- I just wanted to let you know that I had two miscarriages, had a son, had two ectopic pregnancies and then had another son. Prior to getting successfully pregnant with my second son we tried for almost two years, I had a intrauterine insemination scheduled in a month (but my husband and I were still trying naturally...and found out I was pregnant right before my scheduled IUI!) Anyway, long story short, see the fertility specialist because you can try clomid medication that will increase your fertility, but KEEP trying naturally and you will most likely conceive again when you least expect it! Good luck!

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Hi S.,
Sorry to hear about your miscarriages. I can relate. I have been pregnant 9 times. I too decided to have an abortion when I was younger and not in a stable relationship. After my husband were married we got pregnant but unfortunately she was still born at 32 weeks. A few years later I had a beautiful girl, a month prematurely. She had a congenital heart defect and needed open heart surgery at 5, but is now 17 and going into her senior year of high school. 22 months later I had a son. He has Aspergers Syndrome but is going to a small charter school, making friends and entering 10th grade. About a year later I miscarried and required a D&C. Another year later I was pregnant again and had another son. He is now 12 and going into 7th grade. Then, I had two more miscarriages and finally had my last son.

After my second son a freind told me about Natural Family Planning, now called NaproTechnology. It is a service offered at the Catholic hospitals. Through monitoring your natural body fluids and making decisions based on what you see you can avoid or achieve pregnancy. After the second mis I was referred to a Dr who ordered daily blood draws. These showed that after ovulation, the progesterone level that should increase to support the egg, dropped and would cause the mis. When I became pregnant again I went to the Dr and he gave me a shot of progesterone and a script for a local compounding pharmacy to make me more. I had blood draws 2x/week and he would call and tell me how much to inject each day. Around 7 months my levels finally stabilized and was able to discontinue the shots. I had a healthy baby a few months later. He is now 9 and going into 4th grade.

Napro is a natural way to tell your fertility. I tended to have a lot of mucus which indicates fertility but after a while of observations some of the same can be disregarded, but your teacher will help you determine that. My husband did refer to it as the No Fun Plan to go with the letters from Natural Family Planing.

I am 49 years old and a one year breast cancer survivor. I work at the elementary school as a behavioral paraprofessional and I'm going to grad school to become certified in elementary education. I wish you luck in achieving all your dreams.

D. C

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Hi. I am sorry to hear about your losses and delighted to hear about your son! I am a "survivor" of pregnancy loss and infertility, the mother of two beautiful children and a Social Worker - I am actually going to be starting up a support group for women with pregnancy loss.

My suggestion would be that you go to a fertility endocrinologist - Dr. Fox at Brigham and Woman's Hospital in the Maternal Fetal Medicine department is excellent. I was also told that everything was fine after two misses and I went for a second opinion with Dr. Fox and discovered that I would require help in order to maintain a pregnancy. What you have is called Secondary Infertility - inability to carry a pregnancy to term after having a full term child. Sometimes it is just a matter of taking some medicine during pregnancy to support the placenta and it could require other intervention.

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The first step is to see a fertility specialist. You are not obligated to treatment by having the consult. Fertility Centers of New England (Reading MA) are fabulous. I know there are many in the area so find the one that is right for you. After 3 miscarriages and 2 rounds of IVF they were able to help us have our angel - now 2.5 and I can still call her an angel :-). It's a long road but take it one step at a time and you will reach you goal. Best of luck.

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I have a friend who after many many years of trying to conceive, and after they finally manages to conceive had repeated miscarriages, have great success after trying acupuncture.

If you're going to go the western medicine route as well (and these are not mutually exclusive) I would recommend someone who specializes in miscarriage, as it does not seem that conception is your issue.

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Acupuncture and dietary changes work wonders! Get checked out to see if you have any food sensitivities. Also a product called femmessence sold at Whole foods works wonders for women. also there are a few products at Whole Foods specifically for fertility and conception that both you and your husband can take. Look into an acupuncturist in your area that specializes in fertility, a tried and true method for fertility!

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Sorry about your losses. It can be so tough. I miscarried my first pregnancy and then could not conceive again. I know medically they don't consider it an issue until you have three miscarriages, but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't pursue it with a specialist after two, especially at 35.

I started with an RE, but ended up taking a break because it was all too one-size for me as we did not have any issues diagnosed. I did acupuncture, herbs, supplements, yoga and diet changes. A great book that helped me a lot was Randine Lewis' Infertility Cure. She goes into how Chinese medicine works. You can sort of "self-diagnose" your issues from a Chinese Traditional Medicine perspective and make the appropriate dietary changes. After over a year of the above I went back to a different RE and opted to do IUI without drugs. That worked for me. I have an almost 3 yo.

I highly recommend acupuncture and herbs (with a knowledgable practitioner). I really didn't want to mess with all those drugs when I didn't have a diagnosis. Chinese medicine addresses the cause of the issues. If you are open to it, try that. But do get a workup with a reproductive endocrinologist as well. I personally wouldn't waste a lot of time with a GYN who doesn't specialize. Even the semen analysis can be inaccurate with the regular hospital lab. They won't tell you it's all well if it isn't but they can tell you have issues when you don't as they don't necessarily handle it appropriately. This happened with us, but that was a good thing in our case because it got me right to the RE rather than wasting my time just taking clomid with my OB. So go for the specialist so you are not wasting time. Good luck.

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Wow -- interesting to hear of so many other couples going thru the same thing...

My story is that we conceived our first daughter -- now 6 years old -- very easily, and when she was about 2-1/2 yrs, decided to try for #2... and we conceived on the first try! ...but it ended in miscarriage. Over the next 2 years or so, I went thru 2 more pregnancies both ending in m/c, and also a failed IVF in there somewhere (I never thought I would forget the details, but somehow I have...).

After the IVF, I became a patient of Dr. Rachel Ashby at Newton Wellesley -- she was recommended here by another poster. I also cannot speak highly enough of her and her staff.

Also after the IVF, I began acupunture treatments (and accompanying herbals). I really feel this was the major reason for our success...

So yes, seek the evaluation of an Endocrinologist to see if they can find anything definitive... but simultaneously use Eastern medicine, as well. And especially use acupunture if you enter into any ART procedures (Assisted Reproductive Technology) or fertility drugs (Clomid, etc), as there is documented proof of its success when they are used in conjunction.

Finally -- tho it sounds like you've already done this, as you mentioned "Taking Control of your Fertility" -- get to know your physical indicators of the exact days of your fertility... I think we may have been just plain missing ours when I was just going by ovulation kits.

At one point, I had been prescribed Progesterone suppositories as a precaution (all the blood/etc. tests revealed no cause of our infertility) to help maintain any pregnancies that would occur, but it completely messed up my cycle. The acupuncture brought back my trusty old predictable cycle within one or two cycles.

Do make sure you find a practitioner that has a special interest (that's what Eastern practitioners call a specialty) in Women's/Fertility issues. I'm happy to recommend mine! Just send me an email at ____@____.com if you'd like to find out more about her -- she's in Walpole.

OH -- the end of my story is that we now have sweet daughter #2... I delivered her at age 42!

Best wishes to you, S.!

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Hi-
I would absolutely go see a fertility specialist. They will do a work up on you to make sure everything is normal. I had my daughter and then suffered 2 misscarriages. I went to the fertility dr just to make sure everything was ok and found out that I have a blood clotting condition (anti- phospholipid syndrome) that was not allowing the placenta to get enough blood. All I had to do is take baby aspirin and I am now due with my 3rd child this thursday. I just think it is always good to get things checked out...good luck to you!!!!

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hi, i have been trying to concieve my second child for 3 years now, i have been seeing a fertility specialist for 2 years now, i havent concieved at all in the last 3 years so i have no experience dealing with miscarige but i have done so much research the last few years and i have learned that most miscariges happen as a result of progesterone problems, if i were you i would see a specialist and they can time everything out for you and you can get progesterone supplements if that is the problem, i wish you the best of luck!

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Hi, We used the Boston IVF clinic in Waltham. We were so happy with them. Good luck!

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S.,

Have your thyroid checked, specifically for Hoshimoto's disease. It's a blood test so it's quick. I have Hoshimoto's disease and for now at least I don't have to be on medication while I'm not pregnant but if I'm trying or am pregnant I need to be on med's.
With Hoshimoto's disease you are 4x more likely to miscarry even if all your thyroid levels are in the normal range if you are not on medication than if you are on medication. This is why I have to be on medication.
I would ask your PCP or OB to have you tested specially for Hoshimoto's disease and if it comes back that you have it - you should get an endocrynologist to monitor you thru the next pregnancy.
If you have trouble finding an endocrynologist that knows this about Hoshimoto's disease let me know and I can give you my doctor's name and number so you can at least speak to her and get help.

Good luck,
L. M

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Have you worked with alternative treatments yet? I have several friends who conceived using acupuncture (for both husband and wife) - you want to make sure you get someone experienced with infertility.

Also, consider whether you may have dietary issues...some people, like me, are gluten intolerant. When I went gluten-free, I conceived within a few months (prior to that, my cycles ranged from 19-65 days with a very short luteal phase that made conception impossible). Gluten intolerance affects every major body system because it causes you to not absorb nutrients from the food you eat.
A good basic book on this is Elizabeth Hasselbeck's new book, something like "The G Free Book" I think it's called. We're moving and I packed up all my books already. =)

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I'm sorry to hear about your losses. See a fertility specialist! There's little risk/downside, and you may find that between the Mirena and the D&C that there's something physically awry with your uterus that's causing conception issues/miscarriage. I don't know what sort of tests you've already had done, but in my experience, a fertility specialist can really help, whereas your regular doc and midwife probably don't have the tools and training to dig in and find out what the underlying issue is unless it's very basic. My husband and I conceived both our daughter and a new baby due next month with the help of Boston IVF, and recommend them highly. Best of luck, I hope you find yourself pregnant with one that sticks very soon.

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Many people I know have had great luck with BostonIVF. I would recommend giving them a call. They are very specialized and can generally pinpoint the problem quickly.
http://www.bostonivf.com/

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