Tommy's gave us hope for a way forward

Jenene had 4 miscarriages in total before giving birth to baby London. Referred to the Tommy’s recurrent miscarriage clinic after her first 2 losses, she praises the team for their compassion as well as their reassurance.

Experiencing loss after loss

In total, I have had 4 miscarriages over a period of just 3 years.

When I first discovered I was pregnant, we booked a private scan early on so we could see our baby’s heartbeat. Sadly 3 weeks later I started to bleed heavily, and went to my local EPU the same day. They confirmed the sac was empty and I’d had a miscarriage. Due how much blood I’d lost, I was kept in Birmingham Women’s Hospital overnight.

We managed to get pregnant again, only to have a missed miscarriage in the first trimester. My body retained the pregnancy so I needed surgical management. As with my first miscarriage, I was treated at the Women’s in Birmingham and straight after my surgery a doctor promised she would refer me to Tommy’s, who have their recurrent miscarriage clinic in the same hospital.

I felt fortunate to be referred after 2 miscarriages – so many others don’t get any support until they’ve had 3 losses.

Referral to the Tommy's clinic

After being referred, I met the team, had some investigations and had some initial blood work done. I was promised progesterone as soon as I fell pregnant.

I fell pregnant again but unfortunately a huge cyst grew alongside my pregnancy. Despite taking progesterone I had another miscarriage, and due to the size of the cyst I needed surgical management. This time, they retrieved the embryo and sent it for analysis.

When Oonagh called with the results, saying the embryo had an extra chromosome, for the first time we felt we had some sort of answer.

It was such a relief so have an understanding of why I’d miscarried, and a relief to stop blaming myself.

When I found out I was pregnant again I began taking progesterone at once but unfortunately this ended in another miscarriage which was very traumatic. Due to the amount of surgery I’d had treating my other miscarriages, it was decided that I would give my body time to pass the pregnancy naturally.

A few months later I had to go to my GP for routine blood tests ahead of my menstrual cycle and we unexpectedly found out I was pregnant – we hadn’t been trying at this point.

I contact Oonagh at the Tommy’s clinic straight away. Due to the trauma of my previous experiences, I really didn’t want to come in for a scan. I was so scared. Some persuasion later, I went in and started again on progesterone.

I continued taking progesterone until 16 weeks and the Tommy’s clinic gave me weekly scans up until this point. They told me my pregnancy was healthy and our baby girl was doing really well. I saw the same faces for almost every appointment I had, Oonagh and Rachel, and they were always so friendly and reassuring. Every phone call we made to the Tommy’s clinic felt the same.

Our beautiful baby girl London arrived at 33 weeks – due to my waters breaking early (PPROM) – via emergency C section. While she spent some time in neonatal and transitional care, she came home and is now a happy, healthy 7.5 month old.

What Tommy's means to us

I believe London is here as a result of the help from Tommy’s – they worked so hard for us.

The Tommy’s team were always trying to help us find an answer and give us hope for a way forward.

I remember the compassion the showed after miscarriage – we were never rushed out, instead they gave us a private room to gather our thoughts and shared information on bereavement support. It made such a difference to be treated like this.