Part 5: Two surprising discoveries

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My 3rd baby was born about 4 1/2 years ago.  I’ve told you all about the miscarriages before she was born – so to move on to a new subject I’ll just say that when she was about 2 years old I found out I was pregnant, and again miscarried.  Much like my first miscarriage.  The only difference this time was that it took us 6 months.  My o.b. had me do one month of progesterone to try and regulate my cycles – it had been almost non existent since the last birth.  The next month I was pregnant, and by the time I went in for my first appointment we could tell it wasn’t going to be a successful pregnancy.  Soon after that we moved to Pennsylvania for one school year while my husband did a masters degree at a medical school in preparation to get into med school.  Since we were only going to be there 9 months, I didn’t bother getting an appointment and following up with an o.b.  We continued to try for another baby, but no luck.  This was a first, since usually the getting pregnant part for me is pretty easy.

(Moving back west!  We missed our mountains…)

Once Chris got into medical school and we knew we would be staying put for a few years we started checking out OBGYNs.  Online reviews are awesome!  I had never really read or researched an ob before.  My father in law is a pediatrician and knew all the good ones and just told me who to see.  I found one who was known for helping women with hormonal imbalances and made an appointment.

On my first visit he pretty much said that with my medical history he didn’t see anything huge to start with and before we started doing any testing that he wanted to start with something very basic.  *PLEASE* remember this is what my doctor told me knowing my medical history – check with your obgyn before starting similar treatments!  He started me on 2 folic acid and a daily dose of baby aspirin.  What?!  I couldn’t believe how simple it seemed.  My cycles had been very dry since the birth of my last baby – since my last ob had done an ultrasound and found that the lining in my uterus was fine – the point of the baby aspirin was to slightly thin my blood to make it easier to attach to my uterus.  The folic acid is because everyone trying to get pregnant does better on folic acid – it helps reduce defects in the first trimester that would cause you to miscarry.  Within SIX WEEKS! I had a positive pregnancy test.  Another difference with my new ob was that he wanted me to call his office the day I knew I was expecting – they had me come in that morning for a blood test and checked my hormone levels.  I had been prescribed hormones before, but never had someone check my blood first.  Yes – I was too low and was started on a supplement that day.  They also checked my HGC level 3 days later to see if it was up or down – just for my peace of mind.  It was up.

So that was my first “treatment” for infertility / miscarriages.  Baby aspirin and folic acid.  I had hesitated for over a year to go in, thinking it was going to be a big deal.  If you have been hesitating to see an ob about fertility, just scheduling a consultation is so worth it – there is always the possibility it could be something that simple.

My husbands medical school is for Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine.  This is VERY different from a Nature-path and only slightly different from traditional M.D.’s  (often a patient won’t even know the difference – they are both qualified for the same jobs – as licensed physicians – in offices and hospitals).  They take all the same board certifications and same classes – D.O.’s also take an additional class called OMM (Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine) and get a little more emphasis on looking at the body as a whole, and how systems react from and to each other.  (This is not to say that MD’s do not look at things this way – just that DO’s are given a bit more emphasis on it.)

Chris’ school does a clinic for free once a week for pediatric and ob patients using OMM treatments.  They practice on each other in class, but don’t have a lot of pregnant women or children.  😉  (Although it looks similar to Chiropractics it is quite a bit different – much softer movement of the muscles, tissue and bones and very little if any “popping”.)  So I took my kids for my husband and his classmates to practice on.  While giving them my kids medical history, one of the things that came out were the # of miscarriages I had.  His professor asked what tests I had had done to find out    why.  When I gave her more history, she said there was a good possibility that STRUCTURALLY I had something going on that could be contributing.  What?!  This had never crossed my mind!  At this point I was 16 weeks pregnant.  Since I was out of my first trimester she was able to do a quick assessment.  She found one major problem in my sacral area…. She told me that from what she could feel she was amazed I had been able to get pregnant again and that if I planned on having any more after this one I would need several treatments to get all my structural issues back in place.  The last thing she found was that two of the plates in the back of my head were just slightly out of line (most likely from an accident when I was in high school) – which would mess with inner ear / balance and create nausea issues.  She fixed it.  My nausea completely disappeared within 24 hours!

Second amazing discovery – having all your body parts in just the right place can make for a healthier pregnancy.  *If you would like to find a local doctor that offers these treatments you will want to do a search for a D.O. that specializes in OMT (Osteopathic Manipulative Treatments) – that will be the name of their specialty – in place of “Family Practice” or “Pediatrician”.  As far as I know there are not a lot in Utah – they are much more common on the east coast, mid-western US and in Oregon/Washington.  Mine that I have seen is just south of Utah in Las Vegas / Henderson – there are a few here.

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

Part 7