Recurrent Early Pregnancy Loss

Question: Is there any hope for this pregnancy? I wanted to see if anyone thought there was any hope for me. A little about my history: I am 30 years old and my husband is 32. I have been pregnant 6 times including this time. I had one natural early miscarriage in 2000 followed by three healthy beautiful babies (born in 2001, 2005, and 2006), followed by one missed miscarriage/blighted ovum in which I had a D&C in 2008. My LMP was approx. 5/14/09. The thought of another miscarriage didn't cross my mind because I have had healthy babies and after having a blighted ovum last time I thought the chances were good this time to have a healthy baby. Well I never spotted in any of my other pregnancies so when I saw a little brownish discharge during a wipe this time around I scheduled an appointment with the doctor right away. I wasn't too concerned though because I had read that spotting is normal in some pregnancies and that every pregnancy is different. So anyway, the doctor did an ultrasound and said that she could see a sac in the uterus but this was when I was about 5 weeks along and that it was still early and it was blurry so she ordered blood work to ease my mind. She also had me go in a few days later for an ultrasound with the tech who had better equipment and more experience reading sonograms. The tech told me that she could see only a gestational sac with no yolk or fetal pole and that it looked like I was only 4 weeks along. I got my first positive BFP on June 10. Well since this pregnancy I had seemed to have a lot more symptoms than the others, ie: nausea, bloating, gas, sore nipples, etc etc, I was sure the HCG would come back normal and that I was possibly not as far along as I thought. To my surprise my levels came out so low and hardly rising at all. The first 6/22-HCG 747, 6/24-HCG 853, 6/26-HCG 903. I had cried for two days and I have already resolved myself to the fact that I will miscarry. I have had no further spotting and I haven't had any cramping except for the normal cramping that I felt during my other good pregnancies. The doctor called yesterday and wants to do another ultrasound Thursday, July 2nd. After reading the stories online I haven't heard of many women with HCG levels like mine who had happy endings. Do you ladies think there is any hope for this to turn out good? Also, any ideas on what can cause recurrent pregnancy loss or blighted ovums AFTER having had healthy pregnancies? What kinds of tests can be done to find out why this is happening to me all of a sudden?

Answer: To begin, with, I must state that I do not think this pregnancy looks good-however, anything is possible and I've heard weirder things than someone with slow/low rising hcg having a healthy pregnancy. That said, to answer your other question about recurrent pregnancy loss after healthy babies... I'm no doctor, but I have a very, very strong feeling that it is hormone inssuffiency. It's not anything else structural, and you aren't too old, so it has to be something of this nature. I think, from my own experience, that sometimes if your periods don't return to absolute normal after each pregnancy, there is risk that your hormones are all out of whack and that you have a greater chance of miscarrying since you need a good hormonal balance to sustain healthy pregnancies. To correct this, I'd suggest taking the pill for six months or even less to get everything regular and back on schedule. Many obgyn's sugges this as a first resort to infertility issues (I know you arent' infertile, but to get everything going on a normal schedule, this will help). So, my next thought is the following: miscarriages disperesed between healthy pregnancies is not unheard of or uncommon. Humans are notoriously bad at procreation-we have the highest rate of miscarriage of any species! Many doctors argue that it isn't just a 25% miscarriage rate, but at least 50%! So, you are NORMAL! Think about it: the more you get pregnant, the more these miscarriage statistics apply! So, you are normal. Don't fret! The loss of a fetus and the loss of the excitment and hopefullness for that baby is hard. But it's much easier if you remember that miscarriage is a very normal part of being human, especially if you have been pregnant as much as you have. Besides, there's a higher power (God, or whatever) and when/if it's meant to be, there's not much power we have over anything :). Good luck with your future pregnancies and be thankful for the healthy children you already have. Many women aren't as lucky as you.