QuestionQUESTION: Dear Sarah
my husband and I have tried for a baby for the last 2 and 1/2 years exploring
first complementary therapy ( acupuncture, hypnoses, nutrintion etc) then at
the beginnig of the year, desperate and with a diagnosis of unexplained
infertility we embarked on IVF.I am needles phobic so it has been hard but all
worth it when we found our i was pregnant- the best joy of my life-
unfortunately i miscarried at 7 weeks- no heartbeat was detected and I went
thru a surgical procedure.I have a very painful period 2 weeks later and then I
stopped bleeding- my pregnancy hormone was about 44 but was
decreasing.After 2 weeks we had intercourse and now 30 days after my
period no sign n of another period yet.i am scared to do a pregnancy test also
because I may still have some hormone from my miscarriage.I also guess
periods are quite irregular after a miscarriage...
My main issue is how to find hope again- I have two little frozen embryos but
i am scared to do anything although my clinic has asked me to perform all
the test for miscarriage....Pls advice on possibly;e pregnancy and how to find
hope after infertility and miscarriage.Very gratefully, Ann
ANSWER: Hello Ann
I'm so sorry to hear of your battle. I admire your courage and strength to go through what you have been through, don't give up!
Your hCG should have returned to normal by now, so it's safe to take a pregnancy test. I take it that both yourself and your husband have had fertility tests? You mention unexplained infertility......on which side would this be?
Please could you answer these questions so I may answer your question more comprehensively.
Many Thanks
Sarah
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Hi Sarah
thanks so much for your promt reponse- we have done many tests: many sperm test: my husband sperm are ok, at times percentace of abnormal was on the verge of the high side but all the doctors said there are still million of normal sperm which are capaple to fertilise an egg.
We have done
hycosys to see if my tube were bloacked, many blood tests including anitmullerian and FSH which are really good.When we did IVF 12 eggs ferilised and we had 3 blastocist, we put one back, upon reccomandation of the fertility doctor and frozen two.
They say a part from my age (I am 38 now, turning 39 this summer, we started 3 years ago) there is no cause for this: my acupunturist used to say I did not need to do IVF but I could not bear not to fall pregnant after more than 2 years when everybody else was having 2 or 3 child so I embarked on this hard journey.The good news is I actually have fallen pregnant but miscarriage takes you so down and depressed.
I have some blood tests on Monday to do for the miscarriage, the analysys of the fetus was inconclusive so they could not tell whether it was cromosomical abnormalities.
My period came 10 days after the operation, and now 30 days later still no period.However I think this is unlakely to be a pregnancy as I read is quite normal to have irregular period after a miscarriage...
Thanks for your help Sarah
Annelise
AnswerHi Annelise
Everything sounds in order, as you said you have fallen pregnant before so that's most of the battle won. Falling pregnant takes impeccable timing - to give you an idea, once an egg leaves the ovary it needs to be fertilised within 12-24 hours maximum before it dies out. That's not a long time, even if you have sex every day.
If you have been having unprotected sex since your loss, then it's possible that you could be pregnant again. Women are very fertile soon after a miscarriage. I know you're nervous but you do need to do a pregnancy test, for your own sanity if nothing else.
Do you keep a note of your cycles? If you do then an ovulation calculator may work. This will help you work out when you are most fertile, when you are then I'll say one thing....LOTS of sex! Try for twice a day if you can, once in the morning (which apparently is a very good time of day to try as a mans sperm count is very high) and once in the evening. The more the better. You will read that lots of sex lowers the quality of sperm but it takes 1 sperm at the right time....lots of sperm at the wrong time is no use to anyone!
A good calculator is here:
http://parenthoodplace.com/planner/ovulation.html
It is normal for periods to be scant after a miscarriage, but you need to test for pregnancy as this is important for maternal health.
I hope this has helped. Please do come back if I can help with anything else.
Kindest Regards
Sarah
