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@Crystal: Hi friend, hope you're taking steps towards healing.
I had 2 back to back miscarriages and after the 2nd my doc suggested getting the tissue tested. That revealed the baby had a partial trisomy 18. The partial part is what made them push for my husband and I to get karyotyped.
That revealed that I have a balanced translocation between chromosomes 18 and 20. It doesn't present any issues in me, but since or eggs only have half of OUR chromosomes, more often than not I have a bad one.
The bad chromosomes caused my miscarriages and if I didn't miscarry I would likely have a stillbirth, a child who died shortly after birth, and the likelihood of surviving past a year is extremely low. The ones who do survive have severe disabilities and health issues.
Fast forward and I did end up carrying a healthy baby to term with the help of IVF w/PGD. He's 11 months now.
I'll never be able to get pregnant naturally, I'll always have to have IVF/PGD. PGD is an amazing thing if you're comfortable with it and are willing to pay the extra money for it (approx $5k, if I remember correctly).
I would also pressure them for karyotyping if they didn't test the fetal tissue. But I think if they did you would know. Pretty sure I had to sign something.
Let me know if I can be of anymore help.

My sister had two back to back miscarriages before getting pregnant with sticky baby #2 and my nephew is now 8 months old!

Hi crystal. I've shared a little but I also had two back to back miscarriages before becoming pregnant with my son.

For us, there was no tissue to test ad the RE we saw ruled out general issues (I'm guessing blood clotting disorders and others that you can do with a simple loos test??) I guess don't follow my advice bc we just nodded and did whatever our RE suggested. He saw we were young and generally healthy, and he also noticed I was quite thin and suggested I supplement with progesterone next pregnancy. We ended up taking a 6 month break or so to rest body and mind and though it took longest for us to conceive my lil guy (8 moths vs 1-3 months for other pregnancies) he was my sticky baby and is a very healthy 16 mo old.

I do have to say: we did put me on a partial bed rest during my dirt trimester. It was not per suggestion with any RE or western doctor but per suggestion of many Asian people (ha). But we did hear bed rest success stories of small Asian women with bed rest so we thought that was the wise way to go.

Idk if it was the progesterone or the bed rest or Mbe my most was just ready to carry a baby to term.

For *this* pregnancy (13.5 weeks) we also did progesterone and I took it very easy my first trimester. Taking care of my LO so not bedrest but no exercise, going out a lot, doing housework, etc.

By no means do I suggest you to randomly do these things but jut sharing my story in hopes that it will give you hope and to encourage you to do what you feel it takes!!

It will all be worth it for your precious baby(ies).

If I were to go back I might have wanted to see a more natural doctor (traditional Chinese medicine or natureopathic). They are definitely more "in tune" with our body's rhythm and consider many things western Drs don't and are not trained to do.

I've had two natural losses now (no tissue testing), and my midwives have me listed as RPL. When we are TTC, they will take my MTHFR mutations and two previous losses into consideration for prescriptions to maintain pregnancy. Between the two losses, I got pregnant and delivered a healthy baby.

My heart is with you. Loss is so hard. Navigating these waters feels isolating. We are all here for you ... to encourage you and share your joys!

I've had two early natural losses (4 and 6 weeks) and was diagnosed with RPL. We never found a reason why, but we did a couple of things that i think led to me eventually having success. 1) I had an HSG the cycle after my second loss. It found nothing abnormal, but I bled a TON afterwards. My doctor said that I probably needed a good clean out after 2 unsuccessful pegnancies. 2) My doc put me on baby aspirin and progesterone as soon as I got pregnant. I had to up the progesterone several times during the course of the pregnancy to prevent spotting. But I really think the baby aspirin had a big effect. 3) I started a GF diet and stayed away frOm foods that caused inflammation during the month after my HSG and during the early part of my pregnancy.

I don't know why my baby eventually stuck around, but I think it had to do with the aspirin and doing what we could to reduce inflammation . She gave us all sorts of scares throughout my pregnancy in the form of bleeding and lots of cramps, but she was always, always perfect. She's 16 months and a firecracker now.

Sending you hope and hugs

Just logging in to say I love you!

And a chemical pregnancy is before five weeks I think (before the gestational sac is identifiable). I'm pretty sure your first loss is still considered a clinical miscarriage.

If doctors do minimize your losses, maybe keep looking for a new doctor. You deserve to be listened to and taken seriously.

to you, the almost 2 years of TTC was some of the hardest I've ever gone through. I haven't shared my story here in a while...

After 9mo of trying, I went to see an acupuncturist and got pregnant the first full cycle. I miscarried 2 days after my missed period. Tried again for a few cycles, then started seeing a naturopath. She tested for a few things, and found I have MTHFR mutations and hashimoto's. On first full month of treatment with her, I got pregnant again (6mo after the first loss), and lost it at 5.5 weeks. I was devastated, and felt so broken. The naturopath then started RPL testing, found a few "gray area" autoimmune issues. I also had a consult at an RE (which sucked BTW). Eventually I found someone with a similar story to mine and she led me to a MFM in the area who reviewed my results and suggested Lovenox starting a few days after ovulation. I got pregnant right away again, and it stuck. My son just turned 1 a week ago.

It seems that my issue was implantation, not sperm meets egg. I'm pretty sure there was at least one more loss in there (I think I saw the tissue).

I'd really encourage you to get testing. I don't think 2 in a row happens as a coincidence, but unfortunately most people don't find the cause of their losses. Because you've also been dealing with IF, there is likely something going on. Here's a great link that helped me understand MC causes:
http://www.acfs2000.com/basic_services/repeated-pregnancy-loss-habitual-abortion.html

Let me know if you want any more info on where to go next. And as someone else said, if your doctor isn't willing to help or take it seriously, find another one who will! Feel free to reach out to me anytime. Seems that the IF boards have died down around here...

So sorry for your losses.

I had an early natural mc in jan 2014, a chemical in feb 2014, mc @8weeks with twins in April 2014. D/c in April 2014. Started on progesterone and baby aspirin in June 2014 found out I was pregnant in August 2014 due in April 2015. Everything went great with that pregnancy and I just fed my DD .
they tried for tissue testing from the d/c but they couldn't get a good sample to test with but the progesterone and aspirin worked for me. It felt long and frustrating at the time but oh so worth it now.

@Crystal: yep it was covered!

Sending good thoughts!! I hope you have a healthy baby soon.
I've been off birth control since January of 2012. Miscarried at 10 week the following December, lost another March of 2013 and didn't get pregnant again until March of 2015 (unexplained infertility) 25 weeks along and baby is still alive in there!
Being pregnant again is scary and we worry a lot about her making it full term. I just do my best to keep her healthy and to be greatful for this pregnancy.

@Crystal: Lovenox is an injection blood thinner. A doctor won't prescribe it until you show a need for it (clotting disorder, etc.) I was on it throughout my whole pregnancy, and 4-5 weeks afterwards.

And yes, I knew abut having a thyroid issue for many years before being diagnosed with Hashimoto's. Something like 90% of hypothyroidism is Hashi's, and it does cause miscarriages. My antibodies have always been pretty low, but I have several different things that all stack up on eachother. Unfortunately, before even TTC again, I'll have to head back to the MFM for more testing and likely start Lovenox again.

@Crystal: *Hugs* I always said it feels like I'm part of a club I never wanted to join. I was prescribed crinone, which is a gel with an applicator. Feels almost like I was just lucky it worked. My doctor just told me it should make me more fertile but to see how it goes when he prescribed it. It definitely is hard to have it happen multiple times and we took multiple breaks between ttc, so overall it was a long journey for us. I hope your journey is not so long.

Ok my story:
#1 - 12 cycles of ttc, no bfp. We ran all kinda of tests - all normal but progesterone was borderline and I always spotted by 12dpo indicating a low progesterone problem but progesterone after ovulation never helped me get pregnant. We did a round of clomid to strengthen the whole process and then did an IUI which failed. The next cycle, I took clomid but had the opportunity to meet DH in Paris after a work trip during the time I would have to go for IUI 2. I skipped the IUI for the trip and ended up getting pregnant in Paris! I also skipped progesterone that month bc I was so burnt out. DD is now almost 3!
#2 - got pregnant on first cycle NTNP. We were shocked because it took us sooo long to get pregnant with DD. That ended in a blighted ovum, diagnosed at 7 weeks and I had to have a D&c because my body was showing no sign of realizing there was no embryo growing.
#3 we took one cycle off after the D&c and then for pregnant the next time. At 6 weeks, doc confirmed I didn't have doubling hcg but there was a fetus growing with a strong heartbeat. At 10 weeks, we went for another ultrasound and the heart had stopped beating around the 8-9 week mark. I had another D&c for that because I wanted it out and over.
#4- we didn't wait for AF to return after the D&c and got pregnant again immediately. My hcg came back at 6 and I started bleeding a few days later, ruled a chemical pregnancy.
At this point, we saw an RE. We did some genetic testing and bloodwork and all kinds of tests for what could be causing the losses. My ob and re both thought it was all bad luck because of the different nature of the losses. All of my testing came back normal. My ob recommended taking a few months to let my
Body heal. I had deceloped shingles shortly after the chemical pregnancy so clearly my body was stressed.
We had a trip to Naples planned for our wedding anniversary. We decided to not try to get pregnant before that so we could relax and
Enjoy some drinks on the beach and not be worried about first trimester crap. I ended up ovulating on that trip. I got a bfp at 11dpo, rushed to the doc for hcg and progesterone. My progesterone was 13, the highest it had ever been but still borderline for pregnancy. I started on the suppositories that day. A week later, my hcg had almost tripled and progesterone was in the 30s. I had my second baby girl, my darling rainbow baby, 5 weeks ago.

@runnerd: Hope that works for you! In the end the testing was completely useless for us. I don't remember the stats but I the doctor told me the testing more often then not finds nothing wrong. It was definitely discouraging. FX that things work out for you soon!

@Tidybee: your story made me tear up and so hopeful simultaneously. congrats on your rainbow baby!

I have been lurking here for over a year and just registered to respond to this post. After a six-year journey that included 5 miscarriages as well as long stretches of complete inability to conceive, I am now holding a healthy, energetic three month old. What finally worked for us was IVF with PGD -- on the first try. We did a few rounds of IUI, plus several months trying "naturally" with a really intense protocal meant to address a variety of supposed immunological and blood clotting issues. I was doing lovonox shots, infusions, prednisone -- all of it very stressful, and no pregnancy. Ultimately, the RE that got me pregnant told us that the immunogical red flags were a result of the miscarriages, not the cause. By the time I saw her, those issues were gone. She said most early losses like mine are genetic, and she recommended pre-implantation genetic screening to implant a healthy embryo. Out of 18 follicles, only 7 fertilized, only 2 made it to day 5, and only one was genetically normal. It only takes one... That was my baby girl!