Q/ Dear Doctor,
My wife has had three miscarriages and we are soon losing hope of having a child. Is there any chance that she can still carry a baby? What is the cause and treatment for this? Gerald.
A/ Hello Gerald,
Thank you for such a wonderful question. Suffering a miscarriage can be heartbreaking but losing hope should not be a option.
With professional assessment and management, there is always a chance to have a baby, in fact babies. If one suffers two or more miscarriages, then it is known as recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL).
Miscarriages are caused by several reasons and depending on the gestational age of the pregnancy, there various factors that come into play.
Chromosomal abnormalities. 50-60 percent of miscarriages occurring in the first three months of pregnancy are due to an abnormality in the genetic makeup of the baby.
During fertilisation, the maternal egg contributes 23 chromosomes and the sperm contributes 23 Chromosomes towards the resultant embryo to form a total 0f 46 chromosome.
In cases of reduction or increase in the numbers, or abnormalities in the structure of the chromosomes then an abnormality within the fetus ensues.
Infections such as Malaria (Commonest), Urinary Tract infections (UTI), Toxoplasmosis, Rubella, Cytomegalovirus, Herpes simplex, Syphilis also cause miscarriages.
Hormonal Causes. In case of an insufficiency of any of the pregnancy hormones, then a miscarriage might happen.
Rhesus Incompatibility.
This happens when the mother’s blood group is Rhesus Negative, like you have heard of blood group O-negative, A-negative, B-negative, AB-negative and the father’s Blood group is Rhesus Positive like in the case of blood group A- positive, B-positive.
If the other is carrying another rhesus positive child, her rhesus antibodies will recognise the rhesus proteins on the surface of the baby’s blood cells as foreign. Her antibodies will pass into the baby’s bloodstream and attack those cells thereby causing a baby to die.
Cervical incompetence. This happens when your cervix is too weak to carry a pregnancy to term. So here we recommend a cervical stitch to re-enforce the cervix between 12-14 weeks of pregnancy.
Unexplainable factors. At times the causes of miscarriages are not known. Here we advise close monitoring under an obstetrician.
In case of any factors, keep hopes high and follow medical advice, there are other possible ways of having a baby like IVF or surrogacy.
Answered by
Dr Joseph Kafuuma.
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