HOW I got my Recurrent Miscarriages diagnosed

I am doing my best to share my story because now more than ever I know how common these issues can be & I don't think it's fair for anyone to suffer in silence or to feel alone.

Since posting about my diagnosis (APS) many women have asked me how we were able to figure it out & if I had any "signs" that led me to testing for APS.

The short answer is yes.

Unfortunately, my 1st miscarriage was extremely traumatic on my body.

I had no symptoms that indicated that I would be miscarrying, but we found out in an ultrasound that the baby had stopped developing  so I got a D&C at 10 wks & ended up having complications from it.

After my D&C (and an initial ultrasound to confirm that everything was removed) about 3 weeks went by and I got my period. (I have a 21 day cycle.) After my period, I began to bleed heavily on/off for several months. Eventually, I fainted at home while cooking breakfast and could not stay awake. The ambulance was called & we realized that I over the period of time since my D&C I had lost 2 liters of blood & needing 2 blood transfusions.

Even though complications from D&C (like what I had - due to coagulation issues) are not common the Dr. still thought maybe it was a fluke.

We did some tests, but at that point APS was not 1 of them.

(I didn't even know what that was at the time.)

It was scary and probably why I waited almost a year before I felt ready to "try" again.

We were blessed to get pregnant again very quickly once we started trying, but this time I started spotting shortly after confirming the pregnancy.

Because of my history, we were monitoring my HCG levels & found that they had begun to drop at 6 wks.

Fortunately, I didn't need a D&C and was able to "pass" at home.

At this point, the combination of issues w/ both my miscarriages alerted us that something didn't seem right so my Dr. tested me for everything she could think of & that's how we discovered that I have APS.

For my next pregnancy, I will be on a combo of baby Aspirin & Lovenox to help thin my blood & hopefully get me to full term.

I am not an MC expert or a Dr. but this experience has taught me to do my own research & be my own advocate.

I asked to be tested for blood issues after my 1st mc & was told that I was ok, but at that point I didn't know much & didn't realize that considering what I had went through we should've tested for APS specifically.

I encourage you to educate yourself & don't be afraid to ask questions & demand what you want.

For more information on this experience, please see this video.