After my second miscarriage in February of this year, my doctor suggested that we do genetic testing.  He said he didn’t really suspect to find anything, but that it’s the smart thing to do just in case.  We found out that insurance pre-authorized it, so we were ecstatic because this will be the first thing that they have paid anything on.

All we had to do was get our orders and go have blood drawn.  Well, they ended up checking me for lots of things other than just the genetic karyotyping, so they had to take 13 vials of blood from me and just one from Erick.   It wasn’t fun, but I didn’t pass out, so overall it was pretty good.  Then we just had to wait for two weeks.

We just got the results and everything was fine with the genetic testing for both of us.  However, they discovered that I have what’s called a Factor V Leiden mutation, which is a clotting disorder. I also tested low for Protein S.  This disorder can cause you to have problems conceiving and can cause miscarriage. It also puts me at a slightly higher risk for things like Deep Vein Thrombosis and Pulmonary Embolism.

Thank goodness we did the testing.  Information is power with infertility and hopefully this information will make the difference for us.  However, while knowing about it is good, it’s still a little scary.  It becomes drastically more problematic when on fertility drugs and when pregnant, with the possibility of preeclampsia and placental abruption in the third trimester.  However, it is treatable by taking a daily injection of an anticoagulant.

My doctor is sending me to see a hematologist next week who specializes in pregnancy and miscarriage.  He said depending on her findings, I would most likely add another injection to my regimen called Lovenox.  Of course, I was thrilled to hear this.  I’ll do what I have to do, but I really hate these injections.

This is one of those good news, bad news kind of things.  I think it’s mostly good news, because it’s treatable and now we know what to do.  But, I hope this concludes my list of known problems and we have smooth sailing from here.   I just imagine what if we had known these things 4 years ago, when we started down this road?  But, what-ifs aren’t going to help us.