Multiple Miscarriages - Dallas,TX

I'm so sorry to hear about everything you've gone through. Have you tried seeing a clinical nutritionist? My friend, Dr. Donna Smith, has helped so many couples who were having every conceivable type of problem getting pregnant. Her website is www.advancedclinicalnutrition.com. You can call her at ###-###-#### or email ____@____.com's been able to fix things that medical doctors couldn't. Good luck!!

I had 6 MCs (5 D&Cs) and 2 lapriscopsies before they figured out how to allow me to carry my daughter to full term. I have to take heparin (blood thinning shot) twice a day every day during the pregnancy and 6 weeks after. When tested for this condition, it showed negative, but my dr has seen that before and decided to try this therapy. I would suggest you ask your dr to put you on heparin the next time you get pregnant, especially since you did lose one to a blood clot.

I am back at trying for a second now. I had gone to two fertility clinics before I found my dr. If you want to see a fertility dr, I would highly suggest mine:

Dr. James Douglas - http://www.ivfplano.com/

have you been to a reproductive endocrinologist yet or is you OB trying to handle this? i would suggest getting in to see an RE as soon as you possibly can. do NOT get pregnant before you see one. if you lost one to a blood clot, i'm a little unclear on why they haven't done heparin/lovenox with your subsequent pregnancies. also, the vaginal progesterone suppositories may help - you start them the MINUTE you get a positive test and continue to about 13 weeks. i myself have had 3 miscarriages, each one was devastating in it's own way - and 2 of them were ON progesterone suppositories. i used dr. brian barnett as presby plano - i am now 38 weeks 1 day pregnant and being induced on friday! have they done genetic testing on you and your husband - checking chromosomes on both of you? we did that as well, if something had come back with that - then dr. barnett would have suggested PGD-IVF(preimplantation genetic diagnostics), which is basically what you wrote above - picking the embryos with no chromosomal anomalies - fortunately, neither of us had a chromosomal problem - so we chose to just "keep trying". not really sure why it worked this time and not the others, who knows. also, have they checked out the shape and structure of your uterus? i am really sorry for what you're going through and i hope you have some luck soon!

I'm so sorry to hear of your situation. Miscarriages are a difficult thing, regardless of how far along you are.

I too had 2 miscarriages before giving birth to my daughter. I was diagnosed with what was called "Sticky Platelet Syndrome" which basically meant that I was passing blood clots to the placenta. The treatment consisted of a daily shot in my stomach of a blood thinner by the name of Levonox. Ever since I started using that, I have had two successful pregnancies and am now expecting #3. I don't think all doctors are aware of this syndrome (and some don't seem to buy into it), but I know there are blood tests they can run for you to determine whether or not you are susceptible to passing clots. I would definitely look into it!! Hope this helps. Please feel free to email me if you have any other questions.

I'm sorry to hear of your losses. I too have experienced multiple miscarriages and now have a beautiful almost 2 year old! I had the most WONDERFUL fertility doctor (covered by insurance) and would be happy to pass on the info offline. She would most likely only see you for the first 12 weeks, then you would see a high-risk Ob Gyn. Prior testing with (many) other doctors showed nothing to be wrong with me. This doctor was able to find something absolutely obscure and borderline normal. Since you had a blood clot, I am wondering if you have a borderline blood clotting issue like I did. I took 12 weeks of progesterone and aspirin and after that gave myself shots to prevent clotting throughout the remainder of my pregnancy. Now I have the most amazing child, something I previously had begun to think impossible.

I was a gestational surrogate for a woman who had multiple miscarriages. All five of her losses occured around 6 weeks. Her OB recommended surrogacy using her own eggs, which is how we found each other. We did one cycle of IVF & 38 weeks later welcomed her daughter, who is now 5.

I don't know how active the community is now, but a few years ago this was a very informative site:
www.fertilityneighborhood.com

I wish you the best of luck!

Hello K.!

I had 2 miscarriages in between my two girls. I am now 40 and would like to try again (for my boy...hee hee). I am doing this wonderful "thing" that will take you a few months and some diligence but I think it is very worth it. Go to www.fertilityfriend.com and there you will be able to chart your temperatures. I have discovered that you can find out exactly by taking temps where you are at as far as estrogen, ovulation, and even your progesteron levels. I now know why I lost my other 2 babies, it is that I have very low progesteron levels. I'm waiting patiently to get pregnant this time, waiting on my levels to come up. If they do not then I will do things to help that along. I went off the pill 4 months ago and it takes awhile to get everything grooving again with your body (hormonally speaking). I'm hoping that it will come up naturally but if it doesn't then I will seek a doc for help. It is AMAZING to know exactly what's going on inside your body and exactly how this whole thing works. If you go to that website they will teach you everything you need to know and how to get started. It does take a couple of months to see how you operate....everyone is different! But taking your temperature every morning at the same time and charting that temp (you do it there online) gives you a world of insight as to what is going on "in there"! I wish every woman knew what I know now. It is 99% fool proof of birth control without taking any of those awful pills. The website is free....just check it out. If you want a more advanced method then you can pay for some of the "extras" they provide but I just do the freebie part. They also have a free tutorial for you to help you get started. Let me know if you have any questions. I think as "stubborn" as you are, this just might work :) Of course, if it is God's plan for you to have more children....you will. That's comforting to me that He is control and not me :) In the mean time, we can just enjoy what he has given us! Right?

Best wishes to you and your family!
M.

my heart is heavy for you and for your losses. what a blessing to be a strong, stubborn lady - some would have given up by now. i have not ever miscarried, but i have many friends who have. one in particular miscarried multiple times, and she was not able to keep a baby until she got on a blood thinner. she had to give herself a shot every day, maybe twice a day now that i'm thinking about it. is this something that you could do? you said that you had a blood clot that caused one loss.

This is a question that ultimately only you and your husband can deceide, but in your decision making, I think you need to think about being strong and healthy for the child you have and enjoying your little family, as if you concentrate too much on getting pregnant, you are missing out on the daily joys of the one you have, and also you don't want to ruin your health with too many miscarriages. It does take a toll. Sometimes we just need t o be so happy and thankful for what we have, and not dwell so much on what we don't .

Progestrone was the key for me also. I only have one loss that can not be explained by the low level and the was the twin of my 3 year old. While trying to get pregnant I had 2 miscarriges. Then to make things happen agian I started around of progestrone so that I would get my period (you take it for x amount of days and then stop and the drop in the level causes the period)and then do a round of clomid. I never took the clomid because I never got a period. So then the next miscarriage I pointed out to the doctor that maybe it had something to do with my progestrone level. To this day I rember his words with some amount of discust. "A miscarrige is not caused by an abnormal hormone level." He ate his words after my next misscarrige (all of them right at 6 weeks). He then said a low progestrone level was likely to blame because of a luteal pahse defect. At the slightest inkling that I was pregnant after that I was given progestrone for the first 12 weeks. With our 6th pregnacy we had twins but one did not make it past 8 weeks and that is the only one we can't explain by the progetrone, but it could be explained by so many other things. If you know when you ovulate you can take a pregnacy test as early as 10 days from the date of ovulation although you might not get a positive until day 11 or 12 (I have gotten one twice at day 10) and can get a script for the progestrone generally withing 12 hours. I understand where you are at I had given up when we got pregnant for the 6th time and had been looking in to adoption. To just move on when you don't see your family complete is hard. Had I known all of that time a simple pill would have fixed it. I look back now and wonder what if a lot, but I can't trade the ones I have for the ones that couldn't be.

Hi K.,

i am so sorry that you have had to suffer so many losses. I, too have had multiple miscarriages, but mine were all early (between 8-9 weeks). Have they monitored your progesterone levels in the early weeks to make sure it is correct or did you miscarry before you were seen by the OB? I did keep on tryin after my fourth miscarriage (I was 34 at that time) and was able to have another healthy child without meds or other intervention. If you keep trying for a baby the natural way just be prepared that the child may have Down SYndrome or other issues. Some people are not willing to take on that kind of commitment so that is why I'm playing Devil's Advocate. Having a baby at this stage in life gives you a better chance of that outcome, unfortunately. As far as IVF goes that is something that you will have to decide with your hubby. You know your financial situation and with this economy not many jobs are 100% safe and secure. Have you considered adoption??? Not sure of the financials of that versus IVF. I wish you the best of luck in your decision.

K.~

I am so sorry for your losses. I can identify with you completely. I had at least 5 confirmed miscarriages. They couldn't ever determine a reason. My high risk doctor (Ali Toofanian at Presbyterian, Dallas) determined I had a blood clot issue. Sure enough when I was about 6 weeks pregnant with my daughter, I developed a blood clot in the uterus. He thought that's what was happening all along. He was able to confirm it and I had to take heparin shots twice a day and a baby aspirin every day. I was also in bed for my ENTIRE pregnancy. My miracle baby is now 9.5 and a joy I can't express on paper. I had her when I was 36. I was praying for God to help me raise her well as an only child because with all my problems it didn't occur to me to try again. (By the way when I found out I was pregnant I thought she was a bladder infection, I had given up on getting pregnant). I have siblings and to raise one as an only child especially with older parents was something I needed peace about. Well, God answered me in a way I never thought possible. His name is Nathan. I named him Nathan because that means gift from God. I didn't have to stay in bed with him the whole time. I did take heparin shots and stayed on my aspirin and he was born healthy and is another light in my life.

I don't know what to tell you. Pray for your answers and follow your heart.

I will tell you when I was going through the infertility treatments it was very stressful. I decided that God must have meant for me not to have children and made my peace with that. Course, that goes to show you what I know... :)

My prayers and heart goes out for you! Have a blessed day and celebrate your girl everyday!

Blessings!
L.

My sister has a similar situation. Nothing was wrong, she has two kids and has normaly conceived easily. But was miscarring every time she became pregnant. Later they started testing her for different things. The results came back as Lupus.
I would start checking other things because it seems to me that getting pregnant is not your problem. It is staying pregnant.
Good Luck.

i have only had one miscarriage out of three kids, and that one was extremely difficult. you are obviously very strong. i just wanted to let you know that i am praying for you.

I am sorry for your loss. You feel the grief no matter what stage but I say God has a plan for you and allow Him to be trusted with all things. Go for it!!! I have a friend who had 11 but has 2 beautiful children and was successful with normal pregnancies and delivery.
I'll be praying for you. Stay strong and "In everything give thanks. For this is the will of Christ Jesus for you".
V.

I had three, very traumatic misscarriages, all at 8 weeks, all requiring a D&C because I was hemoragging, before the docs finally figured out that all I needed was hormone therapy in the first trimester. I don't produce enough progesterone to sustain a pregnancy until the placenta takes over, so they put me on progesterone, and I carry to term. Note, one of these was before my first child and the other two after, I got pregnant with my oldest and carried her no problems, and I had FIVE more babies, so don't give up hope. I don't think that your docs have tried everything yet, have they checked your hormone levels? It's such an easy fix for miscarriage. I also had another miscarriage after my 2nd was born, because I couldn't get a doc to give me the hormones, imagine that. Believe me there is hope, don't give up yet. Have them check your thyroid too, that can also be a contributor to miscarriage, and in my case it was a contributor to having twins.

First of all, I am so very sorry that you have gone through all this. I have only one suggestions beyond prayer. Has your doctor put you on progesterone right when you find out you are pregnant? That has worked for pretty much every woman I know.

I was pregnant in the 70's. We didn't know we were pregnant until we were at least 30 days late and went to the doctor for a blood test. We didn't do home pregnancy tests and find out when we were a week pregnant. I think the huge upswings in miscarriages is caused by the ability to know when you are a "little bit pregnant". I probably had several miscarriages which were brushed off as "irregular periods". I just never knew about it.

I would try to stop stressing and let nature take it's course. Stress is really bad for pregnancies.

Good luck and hope you have a healthy baby.

D. Kimbriel
Grandma to 2 beautiful boys

Wow - you have received some awesome responses - I am so sorry for your loss - I have been there too! -

I would highly recommend the endocrinologist - they are SO better equipped with dealing with these issues that an OB (or atleast that is my experience) -

I also had EVERY test possible to try to figure out why I kept miscarrying after having a successful pregnancy -

turns out my progesterone was low - but even more important was that my blood was too thick - did not need heprin but took 1 baby asprin a day for the first 30 weeks or so - and today I have a beautiful 7 year old daughter.!! -

I have not ready all the posts below so I'm not sure if anyone specifically mentioned this but google Antiphospholipid Antibodies (APA) and recurrent pregnancy loss - !!

best of luck,
A.

Sorry to hear about your losses. You mentioned that you've had many tests. Have you been tested for Antiphospholipid Antibody Syndrome (APS)? It's when your blood clots more than it's supposed to. My second pregnancy after losing my first baby, I took heparin and a daily aspirin to prevent any clotting. APS can be determined through a blood test your ob/gyn can give you.

Hi K., I was saddened to hear about your plight. I had a similar situation when I was younger. I gave birth to my first daughter at the age of 19. Over the next couple of years, I miscarried at least twice and possibly 3 times. Once I had to go to the doctor's office for a DNC. The other two times were natural miscarries. So, when I came up pregnant again (in college, after my divorce), I immediately went to the doctor. I was barely 4 weeks pregnant at that time and I talked to the doctor about the previous miscarriages. He took blood work that day and had it processed quickly and told me that my PROGESTERONE levels were too low and if we didn't get them up, I would probably miscarry again. For the first week, I had to go to his office every day for a progesterone shot, and then my doctor's office worked with Medicaid to get the pills approved. I took them every day for the first trimester. Everything turned out great. I delivered by c-section without complications for me or the baby. Today, I have four children, so the pregnancies after that were normal, happy pregnancies. My gut feeling is that becuase you've had many miscarries in a short period of time, your body's progesterone levels are probably not high enough to care for a pregnancy. I'm not a doctor, and I'm not entirely sure how everything works with the body. It may be that you could talk to a doctor about increasing your progesterone levels now so that when you get pregnant again, you will have less of a chance of miscarry. I really hope that this is your problem becuase it's easy to fix and then you can have as many little lovelies as your heart desires. I don't know where you live, but my doctor was in sulphur springs, which is about an hour and 20 min from McKinney. I also don't know anything about IVF, only that progesteron treatments will be much less expensive! :) I wish you well and will ask the Lord for joyful blessings for you and yours.

I am so sorry for your loss. I have a friend that went through miscarriages and was later determined to have Factor V Leiden. It's a blood issue and after she got pregnant with her second child, she had to have nightly shots in her tummy to keep her body from aborting the pregnancy. She's got a healthy little girl that just turned two. I don't think this is normally checked for until a woman has gone through several miscarriages. You might want to talk to your doctor and see what test determines if you've got that same condition and if he/she would recommend the testing for you.
Good luck!

Hey K. -
I can't really answer your question from the miscarriage point of view, I am a single mother by choice. I had my son when I was 32 by artificial insemination and then I had my daughter when I was 37 by the same method. I was lucky because I got pregnant on my first try each time. BUT, the point of this is to tell you that I had to see a fertility specialist to get pregnant in this manner. They offer so much information and advice and really do a thorough check of your situation. For my first pregnancy, because I was young, they did not do anything "extra". But because I was 37 the 2nd time and I only had two vials of the same father as my son, they got more serious and did sonograms and watched the progress of the growth of my eggs. Further, they did put me on the progesterone as other women have mentioned. The specialists are all about pregnancy and getting pregnant and could surely help you. I think it is at least worth going to talk to them - especially considering your age.

Also, as a single mom, it certainly would have been easier for me to just stop at one child. But, I felt this deep down urge to have another child. I did not want my son to be an only child. If you are having those feelings, I don't think they will go away. I think you will regret not trying again.

I saw Dr. Le in Irving. He was AWESOME. He was so nice and gentle and caring and his whole staff was very professional. The office was calm/quiet and clean. I loved it there.

-L.

I have had 4 miscarriages and just got done with my last test...which ruled everything out. Nothing is wrong! I also have a 2 year old(a breeze to conceive pregnancy text book) the only possibility is low progesterone levels...which are very difficult to measure because they vary throughout your cycle. I cannot make it past 10 weeks implantation is poor. My endocrinologist wants me to use the progesterone cream once I know I'm pregnant. I'm terrified as well with no answers... But if the motivation to have another child is so great that we have put ourselves through this as many times as we have then clearly having another child is really important to us. I never imagined a life with an only child coming from a big family. So I must try again and if it doesn't work out then I will call it quits. I will not do fertility treatments because I have seen friends have to reduce and I could never make decisions like that given my history of loss. Good luck and follow your heart.

I have not read the other 25 responses .. but since you can conceive easily I say that you should give your body a good break like 3 cycles at least and then try again. I also suffered M/C's but I also had a difficult time conceiving.
I did IVF as well but M/C'd that baby as well... I finally conceived on my own and have a 20 month old today.

My Sunday School teachers.. had no problem conceiving their first child either.. they had 5 miscarriages.. then finally had a little boy and then two years later conceived again a little girl.

There are some things that you can do that can not hurt anything but yet could help sustain a pregnancy... taking progesterone as soon as you learn that you have conceived.. sometimes the corpeus luteum (sp) does not make enough progesterone until the placenta takes over.. you could also take baby aspirin daily ... I also had a friend who had to take blood thinners.. they learned that she had a clotting disorder that caused her to m/c...

I understand the feeling that your family is not "complete".. I would be like you and stay with it.

Praying for your miracle.
J.

Have you been checked for anticardiolipen antibodies? it causes blood clots and miscarriages (its a form of LUPUS disorder)

you would need Heprin during pregnancy to keep from miscarriage

I would go see an reproductive endocrinologist Dr. Chantillis is supposed to be one of the best.

Good Luck
A. J

What does your husband do? Would he be exposed to any chemicals? Has he been tested? I am so sorry for your loss. I have had many friends over the years in the same boat and my heart ached for them too.
I know a couple that took losing a baby very hard and now have two beautiful children. They lost three times before she was able to carry full term. Turned out that she worked as a seamstress for a dry cleaners and the chemicals there caused her to miscarry. She tried to complain to the GOVT but no one would listen.
Don't forget external factors including your husband and his environment. Does he get his clothes cleaned at the dry cleaners? Does he work where chemicals are used?

Keep the faith. C.