Hi Lenore,

I do not even know how to begin to thank you for taking the time to reply to my post -- you have know idea how much this means to me, I think it is the first time I have truely smiled since my miscarriage last month. There is hope that I will have another baby. Now I have to wonder if my son is even more of a miracle then we already know. Brennan, now six, has had his share of medical problems, including brain surgery at one because he has an arachnoid cyst that is so big had it not been discovered he would have been gone within six months, or, would have had irriversible brain damage if left untouched much longer. He now has a shunt that he will have for the rest of his life, and fortunately there was no brain damage at all! We are already very blessed. His story is at www.geocities.com/outside26. I can't wait to talk to my Dr. today to see what she wants to do next. I am hoping that we can try again in April, this time I am sure things will be ok. I was never totally at ease this last pregnancy, I just had a feeling something wasn't right. I was also excited to see that Dr. Bick, from the article you listed, is the Dr. I went to see, I am in Dallas and my hospital is Presby., what a coincidence! I am thinking the only other test my Dr. will do is the progesteron test, my levels have been very low -- my last pregnancy they were 9, so I think that will probably be my final test (hopefully, I was kind of hoping to avoid the HSG test, I have not heard fun things about that....)

Anyway, I want to thank you again, your response really means alot to me. I will definitely keep you posted on my progress.

Take care,

Barbi

Hi Barbi,

Thank you for you kind response. Wow! You've really been through the mill haven't you? I'm so relieved to hear that your son will be ok.

So you've met Dr. Bick!!! You are a VERY lucky woman.

As for the progesterone issue, this is very common. All you do is take progesterone support in the form of either vaginal suppositories or injections for the first 12 weeks of pregnancy at which time the placenta should be well established and can take over the job of producing progesterone to maintain the pregnancy.

I know it seems like a lot of medications but believe me, when you see that little face you won't give a darn about everything you have to do to get there.

I'm keeping you in my thoughts and prayers.

Fondly,

Hi Lenore,

Well, I talked to my Dr. today and she does want me to go see Dr. Bick. Apparently Dr. Bick is not on any insurance plans and his fee is high. I have to pay $450 up front, plus pay the percentage not covered by my insurance if they need to run any tests, which could be up to $1000! Yikes. Dr. Bick is apparently on vacation so I won't be seeing him for another week or two, I will let you know when the appointment is made. I have already called my insurance company and am having them send me the forms so I can send them out right after I walk out of his office. It's amazing to me, this kid isn't even conceived yet and it's already costing me a fortune! :0) Also, I am having the HSG test done Monday afternoon. I am not looking particularly forward to this, I have heard some horror stories, but I know I have to do it. Most of the horror stories I have heard have been due to blocked tubes, which I doubt I have, so maybe I will stress out all weekend for nothing.....

Take care,

Barbi

Barbi,
A little advice from someone who has had 3 HSG's,,,take pain meds BEFORE the test! I took motrin ahead of time and it made all the difference. After they shoot the dye in, my uterus went into one continuous contraction for 20 minutes and I could not even sit up. That was my first experience. No pain meds up front etc...only after. Different doctor 2nd and 3rd, took meds before, still bad but not nearly as bad as the first one. I really don't think you have a tubal problem, since you have had uterine pregnancies, but they are probably looking at your uterus etc also. I went through 13 years of trying to conceive and we are now on our second adoption. The worst part was I have lost 7 pregnancies, including getting pregnant on my own in between the IVF cycles! Let us know how it goes for you, take care, Cathy

Here here!! I agree. Medicate BEFORE. Been there too. Good luck with Dr. Bick. I'm sure he's worth every penny. Please tell him I said hi and that I'm a big fan of his work.

Fondly,

Hi Cathy,

Well, I had my HSG test yesterday. I have to tell you, I was a major mess by the time they called me in to have the test done. Several of my friends have had this test and all of them said it was horrible. I also searched the net and read a bunch more horror stories (that was dumb). The horror stories greatly outweigh the not so bad stories. Plus, I forgot to take any advil or medicine before I left. By the time the nurse called me in for my test, I was so nervous I just wanted to cry (which I did). The nurse started asking me some questions for some paperwork she needed, including how many times i have been pregnant, how many live children i have... Well, my last miscarriage was just five weeks ago, so I am still very emotional about it, and when she asked I just lost it (pathetic). The nurse was so sweet, she totally understood and really helped me through it. Anyway, after that the dr came in, now I have a female ob and the dr was a man, I am very uncomfortable with men, but he was really nice and I think the nurse told him I was really nervous about the entire thing. He told me everything he was doing so nothing was a surprise. Now, I was most nervous about the dye going in, since I have heard that is when it hurts the most, well I had to ask when he was going to do it -- and he already had! I didn't feel anything. Apparently my tubes are ok and everything else is too.

I have an appointment with Dr. Bick (for the sticky platelet syndrome) on Thursday, so hopefully that will go well. All of the tests, besides the SPS, have come back negative, so hopefully this will be the answer I am looking for. We would like to try to get pregnant again in April, but I won't do anything unless I can at least get some idea as to why I have been miscarrying. My ob told me she wasn't an expert in this area (obviously why she is sending me to Dr. Bick), so maybe after Thursday I will have a better idea on where things stand.

I'll keep you posted after my Dr. appointment.

Barbi

Barbi,
I am so glad the HSG went ok for you and that everything looked great. Let us know what Dr. Bick has to say,,,wish you the best, Cathy

Hi Lenore,

I wanted to update you on my visit with Dr. Bick this morning. First, I have to say he is a pretty amazing man. I know I am very lucky to get to see him, and am very hopeful that he can help me. I did mention to him that he has quite a few fans on the internet, which pleasantly surprised him, and he did mention that there are only three labs in the country that do the testing they do, so if anyone has had clotting disorders related to pregnancy, chances are they have passed through his doors.

Anyway, on with the results. He is not convinced that I have sticky platelet syndrome. My results came back with low numbers, so I appear to be borderline. Also, there are apparently three types of SPS, Type I, Type II, and Type III. Type III being the rarest. My results showed that I have Type III (of course, should I expect anything less???). Anyway, he is running the SPS test again just to be sure. He did say, however, that I probably (very high chance) do have a clotting disorder, but that there are several, so we are testing for all of the most common ones first. If I do have a clotting disorder, he will put me on heparin after I get pregnant and has already advised aspirin daily. I did ask why I could have such an easy pregnancy/birth with Brennan (8 hours start to finish / he was 9lbs1oz, and I wanted to do it again right away). He explained to me that when we are younger (I was 31 when I had Brennan), your veins are better at handling blood and blood clots then as you get older. Most of the women he sees are an average age of 34.5 (I am 37), as you get older and your blood clots, apparently the veins just can't handle it as well. (I hope I am explaining that right). When you are pregnant, the veins in the placenta are so small, if there is a clot, the vein probably can't handle it as well in the first three months until the veins get bigger as the placenta grows. I lost my last one at around 10-11 weeks, up until that point everything was great (strong heartbeat, etc.), so quite possibly there was a clot that cut off all oxygen and essential things that need to get to the baby.

Anyway, I go back on April 1 to get the results of all the tests they did today (11 or 12 viles of blood later....), hopefully we will be able to determine what happened and my husband and I can start trying again a few weeks later :O)

Barbi