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After Nine Miscarriages, Woman Welcomes Healthy Son
Filed under: In The News, Health
An experimental fertility treatment allowed a British woman to become a mom. Credit: Jupiterimages
Catherine Findlow never thought she would be a mother after losing 10 babies, including one set of twins, but thanks to her dedicated doctors at Liverpool Women's Hospital, the 41-year-old Runcorn, England woman finally gave birth to a son, Daniel Robert, Aug. 12.
According to the Daily Mail, Findlow, who began trying to conceive in her early 20s, suffered nine miscarriages before doctors finally discovered the cause of her heartache -- "killer" cells in her uterus.
Also called "natural killer" or NK cells, the cells protect the body from cancer and infection, but can also cause problems in early pregnancy -- too many NK cells in the womb create too much oxygen, making it impossible for a fetus to survive. The Daily Mail reports that Liverpool Women's Hospital is the only place in England that treats this rare condition with steroids.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' Practice Bulletin states that high numbers of NK cells have been found in women who experience multiple miscarriages.
However, the publication also states that there is "no proven treatment for women with recurrent pregnancy loss found to have increased percentages of circulating NK cells."
Findlow had just about given up on having children and was considering being sterilized. She told The Daily Mail that the "need and desire to be a parent enables you to cope over the years," but she and her second husband, Matt Findlow, were at their wit's end.
"But we both felt we were getting to the stage where we couldn't deal with it any more emotionally," she told the newspaper. "Dr. Quenby and Liverpool Women's Hospital have changed our lives completely."
Little Daniel Robert is a miracle in more ways than one: Findlow underwent a cesarean section at 37 weeks gestation, and it was discovered during her surgery that half of her placenta had died.
"It was folded in a way it could not be detected on the scans, so we feel doubly lucky Daniel is here," she told the Daily Mail. "All that disappointment and heartache fades into insignificance when you hold your baby in your arms."
Findlow and her husband are not alone in their difficult journey; according to the U.K. journal Human Reproduction, some patients suffering from this syndrome have experienced as many as 19 early-term miscarriages before having a live birth.
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ReaderComments (Page 3 of 3)
9-17-2009 @ 2:21PM
c said...Unfortunately, adoption is not always easy and is very expensive. It is not impossible and is a wonderful thing but it is important to remember that it is not a trivial process.
Reply
9-17-2009 @ 1:08PM
CHRISTINA said...What a great story that fuels hope. At 38 I just had a dnc for 2nd miscarriage, 3rd pregnancy none resulted in live a live birth. Since then I have been concenplating having a partial hysterectomy so I wouldn't have to go through it again. This story and many of the postings have made me rethink of my options.
Reply
9-17-2009 @ 3:52PM
Linda said...The 13 year girl who was told she needed to learn to spell appeared to be having a typing problem, not a spelling problem. I am an 88 year old female and sometimes my fingers don't always hit the correct keys. I thought people were invited to comment on the problem of miscarriages not to put down other writers.
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9-17-2009 @ 1:37PM
CHRISTINA said...I think that was either the c- section, or the fact that she decided not to get sterilized. While the story tugs at the emotional heart-strings, it was not written very well. It did not provide enough detail to explain exactly what they did to ensure she did not miscarry again. There was chunks of missing information,
Reply
9-17-2009 @ 3:21PM
Sharan said...Congratulations to the new mom and dad. Out of 11 pregnancies, 8 were miscarried. I understand the heartbreak she went through. I could not even go to a baby shower. My diagnosis was very similiar to hers. The doctors and the staff that I used actually had prayer every morning for their patients and their unborn babies. Serah developed problems during the delivery and it was discovered that her cord was wrapped around her neck. After the second time her heart rate dropped to below 23, Dr. Radbill began to pray and Serah was born 5 minutes later! We were all prepared for a C-section but God had other plans.
Don't give up. During those empty years, I received a lot of written support from a group called Compassionate Friends. This was 18 years ago. Today there are many more support groups available. It helps so much to talk about your baby and feelings. My prayers are with you.
Reply
9-17-2009 @ 3:41PM
cyreese said...okay: is it just me, or does the article say precious little about what the doctors actually did to help findlow carry this pregnancy to term (or near-term)? i saw no details whatsoever, so the teaser is awfully misleading. how can the reader know whether or not she would do it if the article never reveals what the experimental medical interventions are?
anyway, congrats to the new mom and dad. GOD bless you and your little one!
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9-17-2009 @ 3:46PM
Karen said...I am amazed by people's strength. I don't know if I could make it through a string of losses like that. Congratulations to all the parents who managed to make their babies, and to the parents who decided to adopt their babies.
Reply
2-27-2011 @ 12:44AM
Taras Kuzin said...There is an exciting news in the IVF community for fertility patients who have had multiple failed IVF cycles or numerous miscarriages. Ground breaking IVF technology Comprehensive Chromosome Screening dramatically improves implantation and live birth rates. For more details you can visit MedVacaton's website.
In order to increase the probability of achieving a pregnancy, most IVF clinics transfer more than one embryo per cycle. This approach increases patient’s likelihood of becoming pregnant, but also leads to an elevated risk of multiple gestation (e.g. twins). Moreover, studies show that nearly 60% of all early miscarriages are attributed to some sort of chromosomal abnormality, aneuploidy, in the fetus. Until recently, reproductive endocrinologists utilized PGD to identify aneuploid embryos. Although PGD is a very sophisticated test and improves pregnancy outcomes for properly selected patients, this test has major limitations. Recent advances in the field of fertility gave birth to a new type of embryo screening called Comprehensive Chromosome Screening or CCS. This ground-breaking IVF technique is utmost accurate method for the simultaneous analysis of all 24 types of chromosome. Although this technique is still experimental and undergoing clinical trials, the few IVF clinics which are running these trials are seeing major improvements in implantation success rates and live birth rates.
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