Losing pregnancies, finding hope
For those of you who know my story, you know how difficult the last three years have been, both for me and for my husband. Getting married in June 2017, we had no idea of the difficulties we’d face in bringing a child into our family. The initial excitement of our first pregnancy was soon… Continue reading Forging a new path: moving forward childless
I’ll be starting IVF when my next period arrives. I’ve been impatient to get to this stage, so why aren’t I more excited now I’m here? Basically, I think it comes down to control – or a lack of it. I am someone who uses control to calm myself, to quiet the anxiety that… Continue reading Preparing for IVF: A control freak’s plan
When I was about 6 weeks into my first pregnancy, I leant over the kitchen worktop really hard to close a window that was just out of reach. When I was trying to conceive my second pregnancy, I started taking baby aspirin tablets and I carried on taking them after my positive pregnancy test.… Continue reading Why are women blamed for pregnancy loss?
The last few weeks have been pretty eventful in fertility terms. Less than a month ago, I was in hospital having surgical removal of our fourth miscarriage. Since then, we’ve had our genetic testing results and an IVF consultation – both things we were expecting a much longer wait for. Genetic testing of the ‘products… Continue reading Genetic testing results and returning to IVF
After four pregnancy losses, you’d think I’d know what to expect in the days and weeks after miscarriage. But I don't, because each time I’ve found myself in this unenviable position, the aftermath has been different. Miscarriage One After miscarriage #1 came devastation. Not only in an emotional sense, but also the physical changes as… Continue reading The aftermath of loss: what comes after the miscarriage?
Finding out about our fourth miscarriage - our third missed miscarriage - felt like reliving a particularly bad dream. I hoped we’d never hear the words ‘I’m sorry, there’s no heartbeat’ again, but there was the sonographer, going through the now-familiar routine of patting my knee while breaking the bad news. Me and my husband… Continue reading Miscarriage #4: time to stop trying?
You know when it’s time to buy a new sofa? You think about it for a while, make the decision, then you go out and buy it. Pretty simple. I also thought it would work like that with starting a family. Think about it for a while, make the decision, get pregnant. Boom. Except for… Continue reading Recurrent miscarriage -> Infertility -> IVF -> Baby?
There’s one thing that has happened to me since I’ve experienced pregnancy loss. Dread of other people’s pregnancy announcements. They come out of the blue. I can be scrolling through social media mindlessly when *wallop* I’ll see a 12 week ultrasound scan. Or *smack* I see a photo of the happy couple, man gently cupping… Continue reading Feeling the dread: pregnancy announcements after loss
After two miscarriages, at the age of 39 I was referred to the recurrent miscarriage clinic at my local hospital. 9 months, an array of blood tests, multiple scans and another miscarriage later, I finally got to meet with a clinic consultant. I was told that my blood test results had come back normal, so… Continue reading To IVF or not to IVF?
After learning our third pregnancy had failed and our already beloved baby had died at 9 weeks gestation, me and my husband had opted for surgical management of the miscarriage. After a natural first miscarriage and the second, an extended loss of a pregnancy of unknown location, this time I didn’t want to be aware… Continue reading Surgical management of miscarriage
Just another miscarriage 