Solihull couple, Amy and Daren Reynolds have even more reason to celebrate as they mark their first-born son’s third birthday this month. After enduring the heartbreak of three unexplained miscarriages, including twins, 31-year old Amy and 35-year old Daren feared they would never have a baby of their own, never mind two.
After her first miscarriage in 2010 and then the sad loss of the twins, both before the 12 week stage of pregnancy, Amy decided that she would try five times in total. But thanks to pioneering work at Heartlands Hospital, Amy and Daren are at last proud parents to Freddie, who turned three on 22 January 2016 and Henry, aged four months.
Amy said: “I saw it as losing four lives rather than as three devastating events. It was almost a sense of relief to know that I could get help after the third miscarriage.”
Referred by her GP to Heartlands Recurrent Miscarriage Clinic when she fell pregnant for the fourth time, Amy took part in a double blind trial called PROMISE, where half the participants received supplements of the hormone progesterone for 12 weeks, and the other half received a placebo to see if the hormone boost helped to maintain a healthy pregnancy. Although she was not aware if she had received the progesterone or the placebo, Amy gave birth to Freddie, who was a healthy eight pounds. The couple then went on to have Henry on 13 September 2015 weighing nine pounds after participating in the RESPONSE trial, introduced to test a new medication called NT100.
Women taking part in the RESPONSE trial made up to 12 clinic visits during their pregnancies, with half the participants receiving the NT100 medicine and half receiving a placebo. NT100 is a man-made form of a naturally occurring protein in the female reproductive tract called G-CSF (granulocyte colony-stimulating factor) and the aim of the trial was to find out if this drug improves the chances of maintaining a successful pregnancy.
Amy said: “The boys are my two little miracles – I’m so blessed to have them. The fact I was helping myself by taking part in the trials helped raise my morale. I can’t thank recurrent miscarriage midwife, Rachel Small and obstetrics & gynaecology consultant, Dr Gupta enough. They took care of me and monitored the babies but more importantly, they understood why I was worried. I also hope by sharing our story, we might help other people reach out for much-needed support.”
Rachel Small said: “Miscarriage can be devastating, lonely and a heart-breaking time for couples. The Recurrent Miscarriage Clinic looks to find causes and treatments for preventing miscarriage, as well as offering support and continuity of care. In some couples we do not find a cause for their miscarriages hence why it is so important we continue our clinical trials, to try to find new causes and treatments for women like Amy so couples can take their babies home. I am so happy for Amy and Daren that they have their happy ending twice and also very grateful to them for participating in our clinical trials that will benefit many couples in the future.”
Having recently celebrated Freddie’s third birthday and in the process of arranging a baptism for Henry in May, Amy is content with two healthy boys. She says, “I’m not going to push my luck, I have my two miracles.”
For further information about the Recurrent Miscarriage Clinic at Heartlands Hospital, including the criteria for referral to the clinic and any clinical trials taking place, call: 0121 424 3505.
