After marrying in 2016, Bridget and Scott were excited to start a family straight away. Over the next six months, Bridget would fall pregnant three times only to ʟᴏsᴇ all three babies within weeks.
Bridget shares “There was nothing in my family history to suggest we’d have problems. So when my obstetrician ordered a slew of ᴛᴇsᴛs, I remember him saying that the odds would have the ᴛᴇsᴛs come back inconclusive, and my three ᴍɪsᴄᴀʀʀɪᴀɢᴇs were put down to just bad luck.”
She found out she had several factors that weren’t allowing the pregnancy to progress. she wasn’t absorbing folate, possibly causing ɴᴇᴜʀᴀʟ ᴛᴜʙᴇ ᴅᴇFᴇᴄᴛs. She had ᴜᴛᴇʀɪɴᴇ ᴘᴏʟʏᴘs, increasing her risk of misᴄᴀʀrying.
She had low progesterone – the hormone that sustains pregnancies. She had a ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ ᴄʟᴏᴛᴛɪɴɢ ᴅɪsᴏʀᴅᴇʀ ʀᴇʟᴀᴛɪɴɢ to the MTHFR gene mutation, which may have been causing tiny ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ vessels in the placenta and cord to become ʙʟᴏᴄᴋᴇᴅ. And on top of that, Her AMH hormone levels indicated a very low egg reserve.
A month later she had sᴜʀɢᴇʀʏ to remove the polyps and was taking folate, progesterone, and ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ thinners. She recovered from sᴜʀɢᴇʀʏ and kept plodding along, she didn’t give up. The miracle came with her. On her birthday she took a test and saw those two magical lines. She had gotten pregnant.
“As you can imagine, my mind was full of worry that this pregnancy would too end in ʜᴇᴀʀᴛᴀᴄʜᴇ, but as each week edged cʟᴏsᴇr to viability I began to relax.” She said
Her pregnancy journey was fine until 38 weeks 5 days. Her waters ʙʀᴇᴀᴋɪɴɢ. Cᴏɴᴛʀᴀᴄᴛɪᴏɴs ramped up her labor progressed quickly, with never more than three minutes between the start of one Cᴏɴᴛʀᴀᴄᴛɪᴏɴ and the start of the next. She was promptly taken straight to a birthing suite, she pushed for more than three hours, and then her baby’s heart rate plummeted.
An ᴇᴘɪsɪᴏᴛᴏᴍʏ and ᴠᴇɴᴛᴏᴜsᴇ later, and I finally had my little boy in my arms. This was the first moment I really let myself believe I was finally a mum. Henry Arthur was born at 8:55 pm weighing 4kg, measuring 53cm, with a whopping 38cm head – No wonder he’d been sᴛᴜᴄᴋ!
Recovery was rough. The ᴇᴘɪsɪᴏᴛᴏᴍʏ sᴄᴀʀ thickened and ᴀᴄʜᴇᴅ for months, but eventually, that too subsided.
