Does this ever get better?

For the past 9 months I have been spending every ounce of energy trying to find out why I keep losing my babies. There has to be a reason and I can not settle for not having one. I have lost 3 babies in less than 2 years. My 1st pregnancy was normal up until 20 weeks when I went into labor. I was hospitalized and on my second day in L&D my water broke. My son was born and he couldn't even cry. Doctors told my husband and i there was nothing they could do for him and we held him until he died. I never got a reason why this happened. My pathology report showed I had an infection called chorioamnionitis, there was also a bleed around the placenta and i hemorrhaged after I had my son. The doctors said the infection was probably caused from being dilated for 2 days but they would never really know if the infection was caused by long labor or the labor was caused by the infection. 8 months later i got pregnant again. I found out when i was 4 weeks and at 5 weeks I miscarried. My husband and I decided to try one more time. I got pregnant for the third time in August of 2009. I was followed very closely by a maternal fetal specialist with ultrasounds once a week starting at week 7 and a high risk ob who saw me every 2 weeks to check our daughters heart beat and my weight, etc. Everything seemed to be going perfectly. When I was 16 weeks and some days I went into labor. Everything that happened was pretty much identical to what happened with my son. I was 1 cm dilated and my bag of water was bulging when I got to the ER. I was brought to L&D once again with contractions only 1-2 minutes apart. The doctors could not stop my contractions. I was in labor for 9 hours. My water never even broke so when it was time to push I not only had to push out the baby that I would never even get to see take a breath I had to push out the sac that was holding her followed by the placenta. She was perfect. Her brain hemorrhaged during delivery but doctors said it was because she was so small and it was too stressful on her. I had no infections and the only thing they found in the pathology was the umbilical cord only had 2 vessels. I have always done everything naturally while having my kids. I did not have pain medication, I delivered them both vaginally and also delivered the placenta on my own. This has been so traumatic for me emotionally and physically. To give birth twice and both times walk out of the hospital with no baby is so heart breaking.

Since my 3rd loss my maternal fetal specialist decided it was time to start looking for a cause. I had a bunch of blood work done for the first time in January. 6 weeks later we got back the results and the only thing that came back positive was my ANA(antinuclear antibodies) and my SSB. My doctor thought i had either lupus or sjorgrens syndrome. I went to see my primary care doctor who did some more blood test, my inflamation (inflammation) levels were elevated so i was put on prednisone and then sent to an internal medicine doctor. He too said he thought i had lupus, sjorgens or scleradoma. he then sent me to my first rheumatoligist. He did 23 blood test, 6 xrays and 1 ultrasound in one visit. When we got the results he told me everything came back normal. He thought i may have bechets disease but there was no blood test and until i had more symptoms he could not help me. My pcm then found me a better rheumatologist. She did some more blood test and called me today with the results. My ANA is now negative and my SSB isn't high enough to be considered a disease. Everything else was normal as well. She told me at this point, they don't think my pregnancy complications are caused by a disease and the best place to turn now it start looking at genetics. My husband and i have had a chromosome analysis done and both came back normal. She said i need to go back to my maternal fetal specialist for further testing as this is not her area.

I called them today and they might as well have told me they did not want to help. The lady on the phone told me the doctor had already tested me for everything he can. I explained to her he only did the one test involving genetics and there had to be something else. She then informed the tests are very expensive and my health insurance will not cover them unless there is a cause for testing. Hello... my pregnancy complications have been very serious and should be a cause! she did not think so and said she would have the doctor called me. He hasn't yet. I researched online and it says there is a cause for genetic testing when a woman has had two or more miscarriages.

I feel so defeated and i can't settle for not having an answer. There has to be a reason that this would happen to me, 3 times. I remember when i lost my son, my doctor told me, this probably won't happen again. It'd be like lightening striking twice in the same spot. 2 more pregnancies later.. look what happened. I don't know where to go next. I have had so many ultrasounds done and had my uterus, cervix, ovaries everything checked. Tons of blood test, xrays and we are still at square one with nothing.

Has anyone been through anything like this? has anyone found a reason?

[iris986]

When a baby boy is born alive or not, there is a chance that you will miscarry the next child. The other cause that might be Folic acid.

Have they tried to sew your uterus closed?

[megancannon]

i know there is always a chance to miscarry whether my children were born alive or not. but to have such late losses is not normal. i have had my folic acid checked and it is always find but i always take my supplements anyway.

i think you are talking about a cerclage which is where they stitch your cervix closed, not the uterus. i am not a candidate for this because i do not have an incompetent cervix, which is painless dilation. i keep going into very early labor and doctors can never stop my contractions. so, even if i had a cerclage i would have to have it removed when doctors could not stop the contractions. i am also considered high risk for infections so a cerclage would actually hurt me more than help. we explored all these options with doctors during my third pregnancy.

[iris986]

I was 23 when i had to have a complete hysterectomy after i had my one and only child, it was devastating, I understand how you feel. The frustration sometimes must be unbearable.

Have they tried giving you a D & C to rid your uterus of the old lining and give it a fresh start.

[megancannon]

no, i have always delivered vaginally but i have had many ultrasounds done and they always say my uterus looks perfect. we are just running out of places to look.

[iris986]

http://www.2womenshealth.com/12-Early-Pregnancy-Problems/12-11-Recurrent-Miscarriage.htm

Try this site for many more reasons for miscarriage.

[iris986]

If you were put on meds before they tested you for lupus or other Autoimmune diseases the test will come out negative. I have UCTD borderline lupus and all my test show negative when on meds.

Autoimmune diseases can cause you to miscarry.

[iris986]

Have them check your thyroid levels and thyroid function as well as do a Ultrasound on your thyroid to see if you have nodules on it.  

* systemic lupus erythematosus,
    * Sjogren syndrome,
    * Hashimoto thyroiditis,
    * rheumatoid arthritis,
    * juvenile (type 1) diabetes,
    * polymyositis,
    * scleroderma,
    * Addison disease,
    * vitiligo,
    * pernicious anemia,
    * glomerulonephritis, and
    * pulmonary fibrosis.

[megancannon]

all lupus related tests have been done several times since 2009 and they are always negative.

my ssb and ana were postive at one time but the ana is negative now and my ssb is only at 14 and my rheumatologist said that is too low to be considered a disease.

i am working on my thyroid now. my tsh was 0.31 my doctor said thats a little low so i have an appointment on the 23rd to have more blood work and tests done.

rheumatoid arthritis and sceroderma have both been checked.

but i will look into the other things, thank you.

[iris986]

All my test were negative except for one and I was still diagnosed with Undifferentiated connective tissue disease. And you can have what they call negative Lupus which means all test will come up negative but you still have the symptoms.

My MRI was negative and I have severe muscle spasms, so they are looking into MS. You can have a negative MRI and spinal tap and still have MS.

Do you have pain in your muscles or joints?

Do you have eye problems?

Many people with Lupus and UCTD have negative test for years until the disease progresses.

[megancannon]

i do have muscle and joint pain. the joint pain is mainly in my hands, wrists and knees and my muscle pain is the worst in my back but i also experience it my legs and arms. my rheumatologist was concerned that my leg muscles are so weak and she did a test to check my muscle enzymes about 2 weeks ago and she said it was completely normal.  all of my 'symptoms' have kind of gotten worse with each pregnancy. before i ever got pregnant, i felt perfectly fine. one of my doctors did suggest that there is a possibility that my pregnancies have sort of unmasked the lupus but it is so early in the disease and that may be why it's not showing up on tests. However, i spoke to my rheumatologist yesterday and she told me at this time they have no evidence of me having any diseases, autoimmune or other and as of right now, there really isn't any other testing she can do, which is why she suggested we start trying to look at genetics as a cause.

i do have eye problems but i was born with a condition in my left eye that caused me to essentially be half blind in that eye. i have had surgery on it and after my surgery my vision in that eye with glasses was 20/20. compared to the 20/180 it used to be. but at my last appointment they said my vision has actually gotten a little worse, which i have noticed. at night, my vision gets so blurry it is hard for me to look at a computer or tv. i am also extremely far sighted.

[iris986]

Ask her to treat you with steroids for undifferentiated connective tissue disease so your body can right itself. UCTD just means that they can't come to a decision about it being Lupus and will treat it as that until your test start showing positive which could take years. The methyl/prednisone stops all the pain and will right your system.

My Rheumatologist said there a lot of people in this world that test negative for years and as many as 8 years before a Lupus diagnosis is confirmed.

The minute I started on the steroids, I felt so much better.

[megancannon]

i was put on prednisone for a while because i was having chest pains and my inflammation levels were elevated. the medicine made me feel so sick and the chest pains got worse. my heart rate would be close to 200bpm my doctor quickly instructed me to stop taking it and said it was doing me more harm than good.

they told me there is no need for me to take any medications because there is no evidence of a disease. i take a low dose anti-depressant to help ease my muscle pain so i can sleep at night though and she said that is fine.

hopefully when i go see my primary care doctor on the 23rd she will be able to help me.