After my second miscarriage I was determined to seek help and not wait for another miscarriage to happen. A lot of times in the medical community they tell you they do not do anything/begin testing until you have 3 consecutive miscarriages. Thats just crazy to me! I've got to go through 3 loses until they run a reoccurent loss panel...for which I am paying for? I wasn't okay with that. I asked my doctor to refer me to a fertility specialist. She stated she could run the reoccurent loss panel after the pregnancy hormones were out of my system and she would put a referral in but she didn't know if they would do anything since I've ONLY had two losses. My loses happened back to back with no cycle in between. We were 2 for 2. We tried 2 months and got pregnant immediately both times. Sure it could be a genetic abnormality with the embryo but I wasn't willing for that to be my only answer without further testing.
I called around in Huntsville to the two fertility clinics but they did not accept our insurance so it would have been all out of pocket. I would have been fine paying out of pocket if I had to, we would have figured out a way to make it work but our insurance has infertility coverage so we just had to find where to go. Calling around and getting the run around we found out that UAB Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility was where we needed to be. I called our insurance and surprisingly we actually have pretty good fertility coverage we just have to go to UAB which is about an hour and a half from our house. When I called to schedule my appointment I was asked if I preferred a male or female provider which I preferred female but if it was going to get me in sooner I would go with a male. My appointment was scheduled for March 22 which was about 6 weeks away. At the time I thought that was so long and it was going to delay me getting pregnant again, as I didn't want to get pregnant before we got the testing done. In reality it came at a PERFECT time, which was a God thing...teaching me patience and helping me to heal not only physically but mentally as well. I literally, FINALLY, got a negative pregnancy test the weekend before my appointment and started my first period post miscarriage and first one since October, due to back to back pregnancies.
Daniel had gotten the day off and we were headed up to Birmingham hopeful for some answers. It's pretty intimidating walking into a fertility clinic, its definitely not a place anyone chooses to go to. I always had a fear I wouldn't be able to get pregnant but the fear of miscarriage never crossed my mind. I had filled out all the paperwork prior to coming and made sure I was as accurate as possible and Daniel of course adding his little comments haha part of being married to a doctor. Everyone was super nice at the clinic. I felt very comfortable and in good hands.
The doctor was great and very thorough. We went over my history and were able to ask as many questions as we wanted. I never felt rushed or "just a number". It was great! We went over the plan and were given the okay to track ovulation and try for a pregnancy again. We got all the labs ordered including:
Hemoglobin A1C - assess for diabetes
PRL - checks prolactin levels in blood
TSH/T4 - thyroid labs
TPO Ab - thyroid antibodies
APLS - antiphospholipid syndrome (clotting issues)
Parental karotyping - checks for balanced translocations for both Daniel and I
Urine test for mycoplasma and ureaplasma (Due to Daniel requesting...no signs I had this)
We were warned that everything could come back normal. I wasn't hopefully something would come back abnormal but at the same time I was so we would have an answer for our loses.
We also scheduled a SIS - Saline Infusion Sonohysterography, which is where they do a transvaginal ultrasound and inject saline to look at the uterus for structural abnormalities. This was scheduled for a week later as I was currently on my cycle and it needed to be done at a specific time in my cycle.
Our plan was to have timed intercourse and start baby aspirin as well as use vaginal progesterone suppositories in luteal phase.
I felt confident in the plan and was eager to get some answers and try again. My doctor was awesome and as soon as my results came back she communicated in the portal with me the results. Can I just say I LOVE patient portals in the medical community. They are so great and I love having access to my medical records with the click of a button! Really helps with the anxiety and having a super responsive doctor is AMAZING! Definitely feel like we made the right choice, guided by God. God placed us in the right hands! As much as it sucks to travel to Birmingham for every visit, it is completely worth it!
One thing that came back abnormal was the APLS. It was slightly elevated and the plan is to get tested again in 12 weeks from original test to confirm it and if I get pregnant before then to start lovenox injections and aspirin.
Another thing that came back abnormal was the ureaplasma and I was given an antibiotics for it. Doctor did not think this contributed to my loses at all but since they found it they treated it.
Everything else came back normal, well besides my thyroid but we already knew that and were working on that. Even our parental karyotyping came back normal which took FOREVER to come back and I was a ball of anxiety the entire time. I was asking for prayers from all my friends and small groups every week.
Throughout this whole process God is teaching me patience and to let go and let God.
Luke 12:25-26 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
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