fbpx

ask a question

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
product
Filter by Categories
Fun For Kids
IVF
Life
Marriage
Miscarriage
Parenting
Planning
Pregnancy
Recipes
Uncategorized

When You Know Your Risk of Miscarriage is High, How Long Do You Keep “Rolling the Dice”?

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
product
Filter by Categories
Fun For Kids
IVF
Life
Marriage
Miscarriage
Parenting
Planning
Pregnancy
Recipes
Uncategorized

Categories

keep in touch

sign up for our newsletter

When You Know Your Risk of Miscarriage Is High, How Long Do You Keep “Rolling the Dice”?

A while back I mentioned we were waiting on some test results of the tissue taken from the D&C I had after our second miscarriage (known as “products of conception” or “POC” testing).

We had a phone call from our OB last weekend confirming what we had already suspected – that this pregnancy loss was also due to a chromosomal abnormality.

But what was interesting, and what we weren’t excepting, was that this test showed exactly the same result as the testing of our first fetus – part of Chromosome 1 was missing again.

So, this is where it gets interesting.

It’s difficult to assume at this stage that both miscarriages were simply “chance events”.

Our OB has explained to us that he now has a suspicion that one of us may have a tiny piece missing from one of our chromosomes (specifically, chromosome 1) that we have been passing on to our fetus’ (as a quick rundown, when an embryo develops it has 23 pairs of chromosomes, with 1 part of each pair taken from each parent, to make up 46 chromosomes in total).

So, if he is right, it means that for chromosome 1, there are potentially 4 combinations of pairs that could be made each time we conceive (two where the embryo does not inherit the dodgy gene and two where the embryo does inherit it).

Which basically means there could be a 50% chance of miscarriage each time (or, based on our assumptions, if we are super unlucky and both of us has a dodgy chromosome, we have a 1 in 4 chance of a successful full-term pregnancy each time).

Given this suspicion, we have both been sent off for more testing to confirm whether this is actually the case (we have both had 2 lots of chromosome screens already and they have both been clear each time, so we are now having a more in-depth analysis done on this specific chromosome).

Our OB gave us a quick overview of potential options – essentially, we can keep “rolling the dice” and hoping not to pass on that specific chromosome each time, or we can explore the option of IVF (where each embryo can be screened for defects) and hopefully reduce the likelihood of miscarriage in each case.

Since it’s still fairly early days for us, we’re both happy (well, as happy as you can be in such a situation) to keep “rolling the dice” for the time being – we both feel as though we’re prepared to keep going through this process with the knowledge that there is half a chance we could have a miscarriage on each occasion (on the bright side, there is also half a chance that we could have a successful full-term pregnancy each time!)

We’re assuming that, since it’s only a matter of chance, the gamble should pay off eventually, right!?

But in saying that, we will still take the next lot of chromosomal screening tests just for confirmation (or at the very least, further information about what we’re in for).

Until next time…

share this post

4 Replies to “When Your Know Your Risk of Miscarriage is High, How Long Do You Keep Rolling the Dice?”

  1. I give you guys so much credit for dusting yourselves off and trying again and again, because I know it’s never easy. And no one can tell you what to do in your situation; you and your spouse know best. I have a friend who went through something similar after the DNA testing but her situation sounded even more rare and there wasn’t much of a chance (certainly not 1/2) of a healthy pregnancy. I’m sending so much fertility stardust to you both <3 XOXO

  2. Wow I had no idea that you could pinpoint the causes of miscarriages. For the missing chromosome, does it cause miscarriage early on, or could you still miscarry past the first trimester?

    1. Hi Sharon, I’m not entirely sure. I asked our OB about whether it was possible to go full term with a baby who has a disability due to partial deletion of this chromosome and he said no but I did a quick google on it anyway and found that there is a condition known as 1p36 deletion syndrome (apparently quite rare at about 1 in 5000). So I’m not sure if that could happen in our case but I would like to get some more information on the possibilities. I’m hoping we will know more when the next lot of test results find back.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *