Try Salvation Army on Little River turnpike, kinda close to I-95. I dont remember if they have maternity clothes per se but they do have a lot of clothes. Lots of baby clothes too

I'm currently at CFA with Dr. Abassi. I have no problems with them at all. Whenever I call it feels like they know exactly who I am and what my situation is. I also like Andy and Sabrina. Haven't had any problems at all.

I Agree with everyone that says not to put your life on hold. I'm actually going on a cruise to Europe for 2 weeks and then 2 weeks more around Europe and I was trying to figure out how to coordinate fixing my thyroid after my 2nd mc and all the battery of tests from last month and a half. I decided I was just going to go ahead and plan my vacation/honeymoon and just hope everything works out by itself. And it did. Now I'm leaving for my vacation with my meds, my new prenatals and ready and hoping that when I come back my new round of tests show improvement so we can try to TTC again after that.

It's important to maintain our relationships with our hubs while TTC. All these takes such a tremendous toll on us and them and both as a couple, we need to take care of it too, IMHO.

Thanks everyone. I actually don't really "blame" MTHFR for my miscarriages. I actually think my Hashimoto's and Hypothryroid are more to blame. I also have no problem getting pregnant, I just have problems going over 6/8 weeks. If anything I agree with pp 12:15 and switching to folate instead of just extra Folic Acid (Folgard) seems a no-brainer IMO.

Anonymous wrote:I am in NYC. I am cycling at Cornell. I am also heterozygous for MTHFR and my RE prescribed Folgard. I then saw a hematologist- top hematologist in NYC for thrombophilia stuff, and she agreed with the Folgard prescription. I hadn't heard it wasn't a good idea. What did the research say about WHY?

Basically, from what I understand, is that our body cannot properly process folic acid (a synthetic form of folate), and as heterozygous we only get about 60% of our intake. So yeah the logic would be to up our intake with more folic acid, so that we reach the 100%, right? But this is wrong because what we should be doing is getting the right form, an already processed from called Methylfolate or Folinic acid, which skips the processing part (which we can't do properly bcos we have MTHFR) and be successfully used by our body. An excess of folic acid is actually for us MTHFR a BAD thing because it stays in our body, unprocessed, and this levels build up. Elevated folic acid has potential to stimulate pre-existing cancer cells.

Then we are not properly packed with folate, then we ttc, and if we are successful we are not really giving our bodies and our babies the necessary amount of folate to be healthy. Then even more, lets say we do have our babies which have at least 50% chance of getting out MTHFR gene and already a propensity to all the ailments related to MTHFR, like Autism.

I think the big thing here for me is not only to be able to carry to term, but to really give my body what it needs to grow a healthy baby in the future... I'm scared when I go to the parenting section of this and other forums and read so many stories of mamas realizing they never took the right version of folate and now are realizing that maybe that has to do with their babies/kids showing signs of autism and other diseases/disorders.

Here are some links I found useful and that made me question the Folgard prescription. Let me know what you think.


http://mthfr.net/ (this website is soooo full of info, it actually gives me a headache but its worth reading)

http://mthfr.net/is-mthfr-affecting-your-pregnancy/2013/05/24/

This one is a blog and it gives a nice summary of MTHFR and pregnancy
http://mthfrliving.com/health-conditions/preparing-pregnancy-mthfr-mutations/#comment-1047

Hi OP. I just had my 2nd miscarriage too on March 5th. Dr. Abbasi was highly recommended to me in this forum, more so since I suffered from mild endometriosis and hypothyroidism...I had my first app yesterday. I came in to the app so worried and sad and left happy and hopeful. A week ago I had gone to Physicians and Midwives and was pretty much told to get pregnant again and "hope" not to miscarry. Since at that point I had already made my app with Dr Abbasi I didnt even bother fighting my case with the OB. She actually said endometriosis would only affect my ability to conceive and not my ability to keep them. Since I seem to have zero problem getting pregnant the doctor there just said to try again. I was pretty mad at that... who would want to go blindly into another miscarriage without any testing done before?

Good luck to you!

Dr. Abbasi was wonderful and talked to me very straight forward about her plan to find out what's causing my miscarriages.

Like one of the PPs I wonder why you say it is over... But in any case I think giving yourself time to be just you and feel just how you feel is very important. We focus so much on our struggles, our health or lack of it and our dreams for a baby that we probably forget to take care of ourselves and go through all the emotions of this difficult process. I've miscarried twice and while all I can think about is babies I know that in order to be strong and keep going I need time to heal everytime I lose a baby. I like to look around me and gather strength from all the other sources of joy I have in my life. I really hope the best for you and for you heart to heal very soon.

Thank you so much for all the info!

Anonymous wrote:For my first successful pregnancy we spent around 15K, none of which included ART at all since we could get pregnant on our own. That included IVIG, Humira, intralipids, lovenox, Neupogen, testing costs, repeat labs, phone consultant fees and anything not covered by my insurance.

For my second it's been less, around 10K because I didn't waste any money on stuff that didn't work. 80% of the cost this time has been lab fees using the safeguard program with Reprosource, consult fees (Dr. Braverman is not cheap) and Neupogen, which I paid out of pocket for both times. The Neupogen alone was about 5K.

How much you spend on treatment will depend on what (if any) issues you have. I did not have success with AEB but they are a good place to start for testing. There are some things they won't test though that Dr. Braverman will. Goodluck!

We were able to write off some of the medically related expenses so keep your receipts.

Wow, I guess i'm so new at this I had no idea what the cost would be. If you dont mind me asking why did you have to take Humira? And also, what is the Safeguard program? I looked through Reprosource and didn't find anything.

Thanks for the info!

Hi ladies,

I have my first appointment with Dr. Abbasi at Columbia tomorrow afternoon. I've been told that while my insurance (CareFirst) will cover 80% of blood tests and ultrasounds it will not cover any fertility treatments.

Of course I've been thinking about all the things, drugs, procedures that I might have to go through. I even wonder if I will have to go through IUI or IVF since I have no problem getting pregnant but a lot of problems to keep it after implantation.

For you ladies that have gone through immune-related infertility, how much did you spend trying to have a baby?

Thank you to everyone that has posted their experience with immune related infertility.. I was wondering what are the risks of suppressing the immune system? One I've heard is gestational diabetes.. but was wondering if there's anything else... I know I will get this info from the doc when I go see her but just curious...

Anonymous wrote:My immune problems are sufficiently severe that I had what would probably be classified as infertility rather than recurrent miscarriage, so this may not apply to everyone but here's my experience.

Back when we were trying naturally I always had the feeling we were conceiving but that something was going wrong. At the time, I was charting and would see the characteristic temperature spikes. In addition, I had strong early pregnancy symptoms (very different from PMS symptoms for me). Then, at some point between 7 and 14dpo, I would have an episode of horrible stabbing cramps that lasted an hour or more. To be clear these were NOTHING like period cramps. The first time it happened, I was home by myself and was on the verge of calling 911 when it went away. After the cramping episode, my pregnancy symptoms always disappeared. Several days later, my period would arrive (always late).

I didn't learn until later than the stabbing cramps were the result of my immune system launching an attack on the fertilized egg as it tried to implant. When I finally had my NK cells tested the doctor said they were some of the highest levels she'd ever seen. FYI, I also have endometriosis, which is considered a strong risk factor for pregnancy-related immune problems.

Sorry for bumping this article after years... but I've had 2 miscarriages and wondering if you ever conceived despite the immune problems you had. I've had 2 early miscarriages and had that same pain you describe... I have endometriosis and I have a strong hunch that my problem is immune related... I have no problem getting pregnant, my problem is staying pregnant.. never been beyond 5 weeks. And also which doctor did you see? Thank so much for any info you may provide. And I hope I'm not opening any wounds with this post.

No, I haven't had any testing done after my miscarriages. Not of myself or the tissue from the miscarriage. This might be TMI, but my father, who's a pathologist in Mexico, asked me to put all the tissue from my miscarriages in pure alcohol for future testing. I never took it anywhere after my first miscarriage, trusting that it had been just a fluke, but after this second one, I just feel this urge to test anything that can be tested and find out why this is happening.

HI Everyone,

I'm 31 and have had 2 early miscarriages in the last 2 years, one at 8 weeks another one at 6. I don't have a OB/GYN doc of my preference, only seen a few and never continued the relationship, first because I didn't have insurance and this second time because I miscarried early, so I've had no chance to actually build a trusting relationship.

I was diagnosed with endometriosis at 18 and had laparoscopic surgery back then to laser all endo. I was on birth control pills most of the time since then and quit them on April 2012. Then I got pregnant the first time (without even trying!), lost it ,and then discovered i was hypothyroid. Since at that point I had no health insurance I attacked hypothyroid on my own, trying different things and got me to pretty good levels, yet not the levels docs had told me they would like for me since I wanted to conceive.

A few months ago my hubs and I decided to try again, thinking it would take us some months to get pregnant, but I did on my second cycle. We had just bought insurance and started shopping for OBGYNs, midwives, etc. However 2 weeks ago I started bleeding and the whole miscarriage thing started happening all over again.

At this point I feel like I need to see a specialist... I need to fix my thyroid problem or even find out if that's what's causing the miscarriages, and also an endometriosis specialist to see if that's what's causing it. So the question is who to see first? Do i trust whomever at Physicians and midwives to treat me or refer me? Do i have to see a fertility specialist? and Endometriosis specialist? an endocrinologist? Is there one that would attack my fertility problem from all angles?

I would like to see someone that wants to get me healthy in order to conceive. Not someone that will poke me with a thousand drugs to force a pregnancy on my body.

I've heard that there are no endometriosis specialist in this area DC/MD/VA but seen highly recommended docs at Duke or doctor Yeung who's now at St Luis.

Any input would be so appreciated... I just feel so lost and helpless. If we need to we will travel to see the best of the best. I just can;t continue losing babies... everytime I feel like part of my dies and all I want is to get me healthy and be able to conceive.

Thanks!