The four weeks after my D&C rolled around pretty quickly and the day finally arrived to find out the cause of our most recent miscarriage (pregnancy number 9, and miscarriage number 8 for anyone counting out there).

It felt strange to find myself really hoping it was the balanced translocation. It probably seems like a weird thing to say, but I just really wanted to let go of the niggling feeling I had that there was something “other” than the translocation that was causing problems.

So, I was surprised and (I’m not even sure what the word for it is, because “disappointed” doesn’t really seem to cut it) when the OB told me that, once again, our miscarriage was due to “unknown causes”.

The reality of it for us, is that with the balanced translocation, we have a 1 in 8 chance (or 2 in 16 if you want to get
technical) of achieving a pregnancy that has “balanced” (or normal) chromosomes.

So to find out that we’ve been “unlucky” twice in a row – from the point of view of having a “normal” pregnancy that has miscarried not due to (un)balanced translocation, but due to “unknown reasons” feels more than just “unlucky”, and makes me think there has got to be some other problem we’re missing.

My OB immediately started going over my previous blood test results, saying that there were some minor abnormalities on the blood clotting tests, but that the results after often skewed during pregnancy so he didn’t think there really was an issue at the time.

His initial advice was to repeat the blood clotting tests now that I’m not pregnant any more.

…. Which led to the next issue, which was that I had taken a home pregnancy test that morning, which, you guessed it, was positive.

I didn’t think I was pregnant (I’m fairly used to getting some very specific symptoms when pregnant, so I usually know without having to take a test) so I was surprised it was positive, and immediately began worrying that I still had retained tissue from the last pregnancy.

My OB did a quick scan in his office and wasn’t 100% sure if he could see retained tissue or evidence of a new pregnancy, so we agreed to take an “urgent” blood test that afternoon to test hcg (pregnancy hormone) levels.

Our back-up plan was then, if there was a new pregnancy, to start taking blood thinners (as a precaution in case of an undetected blood clotting problem) or if there was not a new pregnancy, to return to the lab in two weeks to repeat the blood clotting tests.

Luckily, the results came through that afternoon to show a hcg level of 3 (apparently, the cut-off for confirmed pregnancy is 5) so the result was considered negative.

Which means, the next step is to re-do the blood clotting tests.

I also asked about having a test to check for Ashermans (scarring of the uterus), which my OB seemed a little reluctant to agree to (I think mainly because it’s an unpleasant test that you have to be awake for) but my plan is still to push for it, because I would like to rule that out as a possible cause of miscarriage.

So we’re back in the “let’s wait and see” what the next set of results show window for now…

On the one hand I really want to find out what the problem is so we can deal with it, and on the other hand I’m also just hoping that there really isn’t a new problem and that we were just really, really, really unlucky twice in a row (I’m an optimist but I also think the odds of that are unlikely).

Anyway, until next time, if you have any thoughts or experiences to share, I would love to hear them in the comments below…