Is anyone pregnant at 43? are all eggs bad now? Post Reply

[Savannah]

I have just had my fourth miscarriage at 42. Three natural miscarriages and the last one was with help from a doctor who gave a little support with blood thinning drugs and a few other basic drugs, folic acid et al. He is now advising IVF. But i can get pregnant, i just cant sustain the pregnancy. Is all hope lost?

[KatherineHepburn]

I don't think so no.
Bad luck on the miscarriages. They are heartbreaking, I totally understand.
It sounds now that you need some really good advice though.
Have you considered a consultation with the Zita West clinic? I have heard great things about the services they offer.
Best of luck x

[pigeonairre]

Sorry for your losses, that's awful to have to deal with. Re bad eggs post 40, my mum had me at 42 way back in the 70's and There were no issues at all. Now, 35 years later, it's much more common and no one bats an eyelid. Best wishes to you. X

[sarahcj]

You certainly can, but you might need some help. It could be as simple as having progesterone to help sustain the pregnancy or could be more serious and down to immune issues or just egg quality simply because of your age. I had 3 children naturally at 38, 41 and 43 without any probs but had a m/c at 44 which was 99% down to an abnormal embryo (I was surprised to learn how common m/c's are even with younger women, never having had previous probs). Good news that I'm now very close to giving birth to 4th child and a year older...so it can def happen. I'd certainly spend some money though seeing a really good Gynacologist/Ob to try and have some testing done and when you get pg again, have the pregnancy monitored privately from day day 1 - bloods etc to ensure that you have any additional drugs that you need to keep everything on track. Good luck xx

[Happy Valley]

Hi Savannah. I'm so sorry to hear about your miscarriages, I really feel for you and understand what you're going through.
When trying for our second child I had three miscarriages between the ages of 38 and 40. The first one was particularly traumatic and I was in hospital overnight. The subsequent ones were easier physically (ERPCs) but of course took their toll emotionally.
At one point a doctor thought I had a forth (but we no longer believe this was the case) and I was referred to a consultant at Chelsea and Westminster. I had plenty of tests and nothing showed up as abnormal. I asked him the very same question as you asked: is it the case that all my eggs are now poor quality, meaning that miscarriage is inevitable? The answer was apparently not - the eggs are released randomly and one can be good, the next bad and unfortunately you can't tell which is which. But of course the ratio of good to bad changes with time.
Anyway, I had a successful pregnancy eventually and gave birth to our lovely girl at the age of 41. As far as the miscarriages were concerned I was just very, very unlucky.
I have friends who've had an 'ovarian reserve' test, have you looked into this? I don't know much about it myself. But the friend who was told she had a good ovarian reserve has not managed to get pregnant, whilst the one who was told she had a poor ovarian reserve did - so not sure what that says about it!
I wish you all the best and hope things turn out well for you.

[zaza107]

I'd recommend Colin Davis at the Portland. He's incredibly reassuring and might have some thoughts/ideas. As the others say, it's a bit random and everyone's different. All the best.

[BatterseaSquareMum]

Hi Savannah, I have never posted a message in my life, but was compelled to write to you. Please don't give up, no, your eggs are not 'bad' because you are 42. We were trying for 5 years.. so many tests... 3 unsuccessful (and expensive!) IVF's... natural conception miscarriage and as a result of being monitored 24/7, I knew that I had 4 early miscarriages in 11 months, so I also could get pregnant but not sustain it.
I am now sitting here at "42 & three quarters" with a healthy newborn baby.
I had a very high count of Natural Killer Cells (awful name), an immune system issue so I was getting pregnant, but my body identified the foetus as an infection and attacked it. I had my uterus scraped so they could take a biopsy and this is what identified my high count. The procedure is basically a Hysteroscopy, under a general anaesthetic so uncomfortable but not painful or risky.
Please note - some will tell you this can be diagnosed with a blood test, this is not true, you need to have the lining of your uterus scraped for the biopsy to be accurate.
I simply went on a course of £8 steroids (tablets) and our perfect daughter was born 9 months later.
This may not be your issue, everyone is different, but it's worth investigating (particularly if you are rarely unwell) but at the very least I hope it encourages you to continue to try. It's heartbreaking I know, but your turn will come. x

[SLOTH]

hi Savannah

This has happened to a few people I know - they all went to see Dr Shehata and all went on to carry to full term.

He also tested for Natural Killer Cells.

You can see him privately but if you have suffered numerous miscarriages you can ask your GP to refer you.

Best of luck!

[AbbevilleMummy]

How horrible for you, and awful that you're worrying that all your eggs are bad! I'm sure that's not the case!

Anyway I just wanted to say that multiple miscarriages are surprisingly common. I am 10 years younger than you yet nearly all my friends who are my age and are currently trying for a baby have had at least one miscarriage whilst trying and most have had multiple.

Doesn't make it any easier for you I know, just wanted to let you know that it is very common and not necessarily age related.

Take care xx

[Lansgrim]

This is heart-breaking to read, but do look into it, ask for the tests. I have a friend who found out her miscarriages were due to thyroid problems, whilst she is still at risk she now knows how to reduce the risk. Good luck!

[JDMummy]

Good luck! Wish to hear your good news soon! It will happen! Xxx

[RainbowDream]

Savannah, hang in there, be strong.

Thx all, in a weird way this has been encouraging for me to read. I will be 43 in a month and we've been trying to concieve for over a year and it's just not happening, 'though I think I've had 2 early miscarriages in that time. It happened on first attempt with our other children, so I'm of course convinced it's age and it's just never going to happen again and just the last few days have been thinking to finally give up and not bother even trying on this cycle, but reading this, I think I'll keep going a bit longer.

I did talk to my gp about this, but she said the NHS won't even give me a consultation/investigation into it as I'm too old! Kind of heartbreaking.

[KalyanaSpa]

Thank you everyone for your kind replies

[Juggling mum]

I am so very sorry for your losses.

I was in a similar situation at 42 with everyone telling me that the reason for my 7 miscarriages was my age.

At the end of my tether and thinking all hope was lost, I too went to see Mr Shehata, like one of the previous posts:

http://www.miscarriageclinic.co.uk/

I can't recommend him highly enough and my gorgeous daughter is testament to his brilliant work.

Wishing you all the very best. Please keep us posted.

[Joyce]

Hi Savannah,

I am so sorry to read about your losses. I had four miscarriages. The two embryos that were tested had chromosomal defects, so quite likely all due to "stale eggs".

After three years of trying and five unsuccessful (and expensive!) IVFs I had given up on my own eggs and was ready to try with donor eggs. That is when I fell pregnant naturally (by accident!). I gave birth to my gorgeous son at 44.

Don't give up. It only takes one good egg. Literally. Keep trying; every month could be the right one.

Wishing you all the best.