Prevent Miscarriage?

I had a lot of trouble with my second and kept going into pre-term labor. I ended up taking progesterone shots for the second half of my pregnacy. I also know people that have done this from the start. It calms the uterus. My doctor was in the west valley. Dr. Ray Suarez. He was wonderful!

I am not sure what to tell you to do to prevent a miscarriage. I just wanted to let you know you are not alone.
I have had a total of 4 miscarriages all before the 10th week. (2 of which died at conception but my body continued to proceed until the 8th week) We never really know why a miscarriage happens.

I pray that you are able to carry this little angel.

Sometimes miscarriages just happen and there isn't anything that can be done to prevent them. I am considered high risk for early miscarriage (3 - all at around 6-8 weeks). Because of this, my doctor puts me on a hormone/baby aspirin therapy as soon as I get a positive pregnancy test. Once a heart beat is detected, your chances for miscarriage decrease and I stop taking the hormones/aspirin. I did the therapy last time I was pregnant, but still ended up having an ectopic pregnancy - so the therapy can't prevent everything.

I was also told that if you are high risk for early term miscarriage, to not exercise much (or at all) your first trimester.

Talk to your medical professional to see if they would recommend trying either or both of those things. All the best for a healthy, happy, pregnancy. :)

Jaimee,

I had 2 miscarriages before I had my daughter and then 2 sons subsequent to that. It wasn't until my 2nd miscarriage that the doctor mentioned putting me on progesterone. He said to call him as soon as I knew I was pregnant and he would write me a prescription. I believe I started taking them at about 5 or 6 weeks. I don't know if it helped but I'm assuming it did because I carried 3 babies to full term while using progesterone until the end of the first trimester. The doctor said it doesn't hurt anything to take it and it can help. I have had friends who have also had a history of miscarriage who have taken progesterone in the first trimester who also had healthy full-term babies. Ask your doctor to see what he/she tells you.

I hope this helps. Relax and enjoy your pregnancy!

Pamela

P.S. I just had a little baby boy 3 months ago and I'm 38 years old! You should be fine. :)

I had a miscarriage at 7 weeks before following up with two consecutive successful pregnancies (now 2 & 4 yrs old) so I can assure you that your previous tragedies are not a death sentence for your future pregnancies. In fact, the miscarriage you had at 5 weeks was most likely a "false alarm" so to speak, in which no embryo develops and the sac that forms (and is discharged during the miscarriage) is actually empty. This happens in as many as 1/3 of all miscarriages before 8 weeks.

Really, it's not what you can do to prevent miscarriage so much as it is what you can NOT do. In other words, there's no magic trick out there for making this pregnancy any more viable than your other ones, but there ARE some known causes of miscarriage out there that can easlily be avoided to reduce your overall risk.

Smoking, for example, and alcohol or drug use (of course). Also, caffeine intake in the first trimester has been connnected with miscarriage. There is some speculation that high levels of stress can be a risk-factor as well but that is not really something that can be measured or proven. Having an amniocentesis done will increase your chances of miscarriage so please say no to that if your O/B offers (and they might, especially since you're over 35).

Your age does put you in a slightly higher risk category, but there's hardly anything you can do about that. And anyway it's not as if you're wearing polyester pants and joining bingo clubs, so I wouldn't be too worried. ;-)

I would say just take it easy and count each day of your first trimester as a victory. Because your risk of miscarriage drops significantly every time the sun rises. And it's practically non-existent once you've heard the baby's heartbeat.

Hi Jaimee, I just came across this and thought I would respond. My suggestion is a little extreme but think about it...what is the first question they ask when you have a miscarriage? When was the last time you had sex? But then they say it's ok to have sex when you are pregnant, so go figure. I did not have miscarriages and I did not have sex during my pregnancies...my husband did not suffer! :o) Just something to think about...good luck to you!!!

Jaimee,

I just saw your post and I must say that we're in the same boat. I had 3 children (13,10,& 2) and 2 miscarriages, and now I'm 9 weeks pregnant. The doctor put me on progesterone right away, but just a warning to you...it can cause some tough side effects. For me, my nausea increased tenfold and I also got diarrhea, dizzy spells, migraines, difficulty sleeping, etc. Make sure your doctor monitors the amount of progesterone in your body, because mine ended up 4 times higher than it should have been, so I finally convinced the dr to take me off it.

I feel like this baby's going to make it now. My dr ran a slew of tests (they call them "repeat aborter" tests) to see if there was an underlying reason why I lost the other pregnancies. They can do them while you're pregnant, too. If you're interested, ask your dr about them. It sure put my mind at ease knowing I did all I could to avoid another miscarriage. My dr also did an ultrasound at 6 weeks to determine if there was a viable pregnancy, and that was reassuring to see the little heart beating away.

Try to think positive thoughts. Remember that if God wants this child in your family, he/she will come. After all, He's really the one in charge.

As for the nausea, my dr gave me a list or remedies to try...eat small amounts of food frequently, keep something in your stomach, eat crackers before getting out of bed (low blood sugar can trigger nausea). Drink plenty of liquids like watered down gatorade, ginger ale, popsicles, etc. Try a cold wash cloth over your eyes when you feel nauseous. Ginger capsules, ginger tea, and ginger ale are safe in small amounts. Try seabands (available for motion sickness in pharmacies) to use the accupressure to counteract nausea (these work for me!). Prepare foods that do not have strong odors, and choose simple foods that do not have to be cooked for long (sometimes smells make people nauseous). Avoid greasy or fried foods. Try drinking peppermint or raspberry leaf tea. Eat a high protein diet. If this doesn't work, try a high carbohydrate diet. Try taking Zantac 150 twice a day (or the generic). Sometimes you have increased stomach acid when you're pregnant. (This helps me a ton!) Last, try taking 1/2 Unisom with 50-100 mg of vitamin B6 at night. This will make you sleepy, so don't drive! (My friend swears by this method!)

Best of luck to you! Try not to let worry load you down but find things to occupy your time and it will pass quickly.

My doc had me on progesterone (vaginally) for the first trimester. :o) Hope it helps, and good luck!

Caffeine is shown to raise miscarriage rates so stay far away from it :)

Hi Jaimee,
When miscarriages happen that early in the pregnancy, it's more than likely due to a genetic abnormality in the embryo, and there's nothing that you could have done differently to prevent it. Miscarriages in the 12th week and before are pretty common, and do not usually affect the future pregnancies. Definitely do your best to avoid excess stress in addition to all the normal things to avoid during pregnancy. Hope this helps to calm your nerves a little, I hope everything turns out perfectly! Good luck :)

My daughter-in-law and a friend both were able to carry their babies to full term after several miscarriages. All they did was take a baby aspirin each day. Check with your doctor. May be this makes the blood thinner and easier to go through the placenta?
Hope you ask your doctor and try it. Let us know if it works.
Hugs,
S. Fatovich
www.CareerMomsatHome.biz

Ditto to the Progesterone therapy. That's what helped me. I have also known women who had hormone imbalances (often Thyroid related) and could get pregnant but not stay pregnant. Have your doctor do blood tests and treat accordingly. Blessings on a healthy pregnancy!