lupus anticoagulant screen + baby aspirin

[Ally_C]

Hello ladies, I've had 2 back-to-back miscarriages (1 missed miscarriage, 1 chemical pregnancy) since my husband and I first started trying. We're career professionals in our early 30's and are pretty healthy with no bad habits, and have delayed childrearing years I hope not by too much. My general dr ordered bloodwork; the first test with basic levels (glucose, RBC's, platelets, etc) and liver function came back normal, fortunately. No hormone levels were tested. It's NHS (and free), what can I say. We're still waiting on the results from the lupus anticoagulant test...it seems to be taking a while to do. My last pregnancy was a chemical pregnancy so I would really like to start trying ASAP (I don't think I need to wait another cycle like you do for more progressed pregnancies). My dr thinks that I ought to wait until I get the test results back before we start trying, in case it's positive for the anticoagulant (er, or coagulant?). Anyway, I'm not getting any younger and "baby fever" is hitting my and my hub (mostly because it seems to be a bigger challenge than we thought!!!)- does anyone think it would be a bad idea to start taking baby aspirin *now*, to cover my bases? Or do you think it's best to wait another grueling ~2 weeks to find out if it's necessary (and to see if more tests are required? I hate to waste a perfectly good egg, but I also don't want to be selfish and put another fetus at risk, in case it hasn't been chance all along.

By the way, I'm not sure the dr's will do any further tests until I have a 3rd miscarriage...so that is something to consider. I could give it a go and hope for the best, and if it doesn't work out, then we'll be able to get proper tests done.

Your thoughts and comments are appreciated!

[Ally_C]

Even though I'd been calling every week about the results and been told they hadn't come in yet, apparently they had- the lab hadn't bothered to do the test. So while this month's egg was wasted, I made up for it by drinking wine and eating unpasteurized cheese on my vacation. I'm to proceed as usual now, so much for waiting around  :P

[Ally_C]

I'm so sorry you've had such trauma with keeping your pregnancies! I'm glad the drs were able to solve it, it's a shame it took so long. But best of luck with future pregnancies  :)  I'll take your advice and wait. My first miscarriage was hard because it was the first and the most developed, but the 2nd was almost worse because I knew it meant the first wasn't as coincidental as I'd like to believe. The more time that goes by, the more I'm afraid of having a 3rd, so I suppose it's best to wait for the test results. Thanks for getting back to me!

[the_other_half]

I have one son but I've had a lot of miscarriages  most of them being chemical pregnancies the rest growth just stopped around 5 weeks. I was getting tested for everything you can imagine by the time the miscarriages got up to 10. I continued to try after finding no cause for them and continued to miscarry. I have absolutely no problems getting pregnant but staying that way was a challenge. May of last year I finally saw a maternal fetal specialist who ran the same basic tests as had been done before. Turned out I have Factor V Leiden. I had to take baby asprin before trying again and while pregnant I take a blood thinner(lovenox or heparin shots). I suggest not trying again til you know the cause because after awhile the hope fades and it becomes more difficult to deal with. Although starting the baby asprin now wouldn't hurt. I know a lot of women that take baby asprin and have no clotting problems. I wish you the best of luck!