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 You’ll hear from Dr. Ingrid Gran, Senior Research Fellow in Reproductive Medicine and a Consultant at The John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford talking about the reasons why miscarriages happen, explaining in more detail about chromosomal abnormalities and it’s linked to female age. Listen in full here

Zara Dawson shared her heartbreaking experience of having to have a medical termination which you can hear in full.

We also heard from Jen Coates, the Director of Bereavement Care at Sands, the Stillbirth and neonatal death charity  explaining just how challenging dealing with Baby loss is for everyone involved and the peer to peer support they have created with bereaved parents who become ‘Befrienders’ and that they also have an app you can get instant access to get the much-needed support you need. Listen in full here.

We also talked Dr. Adrian Lower talking about Asherman’s Syndrome which is caused by the surgical procedures women have to go through when they have a miscarriage,  it was part of a conversation was part of an earlier one with Guest host Katy Lindermann Emilie Jones-Ransley listen in full here

And we also asked Kelly Da Silva, who has founded the Dovecote Childless Support Organisation about the immune tests she had ahead of further fertility treatment and how she then went ahead with treatment with immune therapy as well as intralipid infusions yet still miscarried and decided to stop treatment. Listen in full here

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Welcome to our final episode of the miscarriage series. Thank you for listening over the last few weeks. From your feedback, we know that you’ve found this series informative and importantly, it’s made you realize that you’re not alone.

In this final episode, we want to find out why miscarriage happens and so we chat to Dr. Ingrid Granne – Senior Research Fellow in Reproductive Medicine and a Consultant at The John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, where Kate also worked a few years ago.

The common causes of miscarriage

Ingrid tells us that the most common cause of miscarriage is due to genetic mistakes in the early stages of cell division, meaning that the pregnancy is unable to develop past the first few weeks.

The age of the woman has a significant effect on the risk of miscarriage. By the time a woman is 45yrs 1 in 2 pregnancies will end in miscarriage. Diabetes and thyroid are also associated with a miscarriage along with increasing weight. Hormonal and immune factors may also cause miscarriage.

The research

Ingrid has been involved with genetic research into miscarriage that will be published soon. There appear to be genetic factors that predispose some women to miscarriage more than others.

Investigating miscarriage

Ingrid says that there is a move to start investigations after 2 miscarriages rather than 3. This will be welcomed by so many women. Looking at the chromosomes of a pregnancy can be very helpful, especially in helping women understand that there is nothing that they did that would have caused the miscarriage.

For recurrent miscarriage, the most useful test is for Antiphospholipid syndrome – a blood test that looks for antibodies in the blood to identify this autoimmune disorder. Other investigations are looking for inherited tendencies for blood clots by a thrombophilia screen. Testing Thyroid function, chromosomes, and the anatomy of the womb are also important tests.

Baby Aspirin and Progesterone

Interestingly, Ingrid doesn’t recommend baby aspirin as there is evidence that it might have the opposite benefit.

A recent study looking at bleeding in early pregnancy showed there might be a benefit in taking progesterone, especially in women who have experienced recurrent miscarriages who are bleeding in early pregnancy. Ingrid believes that in the coming years it may be routine for these women to be prescribed progesterone.

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Welcome to another ‘Meet the Makers’ episode where we chat to Louise Zeniou from Cradle. When we spoke to Louise, she had been having a busy few days with various media interviews, and in-between her busy schedule she managed to sneak in an interview with us whilst sat on the floor outside the toilets in Pret!

Louise has a personal experience of what it feels like to go through early pregnancy loss when she became ill and diagnosed with an ectopic pregnancy. As she was so ill, she was rushed into hospital and had surgery immediately. She talks about the amazing care she received, but after surgery she missed the most basic of items such as a toothbrush and a hairbrush.

The Comfort Bag

From her own experience, Louise started the Comfort Bag Project with the aim to support hospitals, so that in those early moments of pregnancy loss women and men can be provided with toiletries and other products to give them a little comfort and importantly dignity. In the bag, Louise also includes a personal message to give immediate words of comfort following a loss and the ways bereaved parents can connect for support once they have been discharged from the hospital.

How Cradle Supports the NHS

Cradle provides Comfort Bags to various hospitals across the country and it’s growing! From just starting out as one, Louise now has 73 volunteer ambassadors. Cradle also works with Hospital Trusts as the patient voice to help in the development of services and projects for bereaved parents.

Signposting

The role of Cradle is also to signpost to various support and counseling services to offer parents much-needed professional support.

Want to get involved?

Contact Louise for information on how you can become an ambassador for Cradle.

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