News News Blog: Pregnancy

Miracle pill that saved my womb

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WHEN Rachel Richardson was 35, she was told there was little chance she would ever be able to have a child. The news was crushing as she and her husband Matt were desperate to become parents.</h2>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Uterine fibroids are benign lumps that develop in the womb</td></tr>
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<section class="text-description">Rachel – now 39 – a vet from Stroud, Gloucestershire, had been diagnosed with several large uterine fibroids, which can cause heavy periods, anaemia and infertility.  </section><section class="text-description">“When they discovered the fibroids there were a lot of them and the doctor said it was unlikely I’d be able to have children,” explains Rachel. </section><section class="text-description">“I was devastated as I had just met my partner and we had talked about having a family. The fibroids were so bad I thought I’d have to have a hysterectomy to take everything out as it was getting worse and worse.” </section><section class="pull-quote on-right"><blockquote class="nointellitxt ctx_blocked" id="nointellitxt">
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I don’t see how I could have become pregnant without Esmya. It really was a miracle        </div>
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Rachel Richardson</div>
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</section><section class="text-description"> </section><section class="text-description">Uterine fibroids are benign (non-cancerous) lumps that develop in the womb. They are common, with around 40 in every 100 women developing them at some time in their life and most often occur in women aged between 30 and 50.  Many women are unaware they have fibroids because they have no symptoms. </section><section class="text-description">However, around one in every three may experience some, including heavy, long and painful periods, bleeding between periods, feeling ‘full’ in the lower part of the stomach, pain or discomfort during sex, problems getting pregnant and miscarriages. </section><section class="text-description">Although Rachel had been suffering from heavy periods, she presumed it was due to the contraceptive device, the coil. </section><section class="text-description">“I was also very anaemic and was getting quite ‘tubby’ even though I was doing a lot of exercise,” she explains. </section><section class="text-description">“I’m quite a fit person yet I was getting out of breath. At the time my sister had just had a baby and I was travelling to Winchester to visit her a couple of times a week so thought I was  probably run down.” </section><section class="text-description"> </section><section class="text-description"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw0fZmoa7OsmnqGw6gihhT-gEtLk6bWVB1dzqayCytFODFkHxxhQcwBvtz_UbZDyC63AFWK3hRxkhSvVPJqOnv4NSaoCuYnxOmGUcNAq9bzh9kVqkKNGZxbMs4me_naP43gkGrWuLoSe2K/s1600/Miracle+pill+that+saved+my+womb+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Miracle pill that saved my womb" border="0" height="640" src="" title="Miracle pill that saved my womb" width="596" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rachel says she was getting tubby despite doing lots of exercise</td></tr>
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</section><section class="text-description"> </section><section class="text-description">Rachel’s fibroids were eventually diagnosed after an ultrasound examination. </section><section class="text-description">“I had three very big ones and several smaller ones,” she says. Rachel opted to have a myomectomy operation to remove the three largest fibroids, although there were complications. </section><section class="text-description">“The doctors only knew I was anaemic on the morning of the operation and I ended up having 10 bags of blood. </section><section class="text-description">“I had the surgery in the morning and by 7pm that night I had to go back into surgery to stop the bleeding. I was expecting them to have to carry out a hysterectomy but fortunately they managed to stop the bleeding.” </section><section class="text-description">After the operation, Rachel and Matt began trying for a baby and after six months of no success, they underwent IVF. Although that was unsuccessful, Rachel did become pregnant naturally, only to lose the baby at 11 weeks, after which her fibroids began to cause further problems. </section><section class="text-description">Rachel says: “My mother-in-law had arranged for me and my husband to go on a spa weekend as a break from everything that had happened. I went to have my hair cut and when I looked down I was sitting in a pool of blood.</section><section class="text-description"> </section><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,47,0" height="378" id="flashObj" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="flashVars" value="videoId=4653178881001&playerID=2538956444001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAACT2hWexE~,QV-ElXQT89XEkLQHlpWPz_5DAA2-uG70&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" /><param name="base" value="http://admin.brightcove.com" /><param name="seamlesstabbing" value="false" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="swLiveConnect" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="videoId=4653178881001&playerID=2538956444001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAACT2hWexE~,QV-ElXQT89XEkLQHlpWPz_5DAA2-uG70&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" name="flashObj" width="640" height="378" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" swLiveConnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed></object><section class="text-description"> “In the end they called an ambulance. I’d never had an experience like it – I had heavy periods but not like this.” </section><section class="text-description">When the condition began to have a serious impact on Rachel’s everyday life, she returned to her gynaecologist who recommended a new treatment called Esmya. The new once-daily tablet which has now been authorised by the European Commission (EC) can be prescribed to treat moderate-to–severe symptoms of uterine fibroids in women of reproductive age. </section><section class="text-description">Esmya (ulipristal acetate) controls uterine bleeding, reduces anaemia and shrinks the size of fibroids, potentially averting the need for surgery. </section><section class="text-description">The drug was given the go-ahead following two long-term clinical trials involving 132 and 451 patients respectively. </section><section class="text-description">“This is a significant advancement in the treatment of uterine fibroids, as many women will now be able to take Esmya to shrink their fibroids and reduce the bleeding, rather than having to undergo major surgery which can in some severe cases be life-threatening,” says consultant gynaecologist Martin Powell. </section><section class="text-description">“It is particularly significant for women who want children and therefore wish to avoid surgery that could damage their fertility or, in the case of a hysterectomy, prevent them being able to start a family.” </section><section class="text-description"> </section><section class="text-description"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGqU1gs6KRb1yHueKyji0ZczjF01g8GRrhDisTd8pk7NqvPjRuOThpdT4rfbdULtpgUWZqtOS87kEdx4v96u1cwFr1HFes-ehmcjgX3PB-oobNmY_5m08BipwQRd1sCX98K8dtVV3YYVyi/s1600/Miracle+pill+that+saved+my+womb+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Miracle pill that saved my womb" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGqU1gs6KRb1yHueKyji0ZczjF01g8GRrhDisTd8pk7NqvPjRuOThpdT4rfbdULtpgUWZqtOS87kEdx4v96u1cwFr1HFes-ehmcjgX3PB-oobNmY_5m08BipwQRd1sCX98K8dtVV3YYVyi/s640/Miracle+pill+that+saved+my+womb+3.jpg" title="Miracle pill that saved my womb" width="596" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rachel's first cycle of IVF was unsuccessful</td></tr>
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</section><section class="text-description"> </section><section class="text-description">Rachel says: “Within days of taking Esmya, the bleeding stopped. I took it for three months and it was life-changing. There was no more flooding and I felt so much better. </section><section class="text-description">“I waited a few months after taking it and then had another cycle of IVF, which was successful. I don’t see how I could have become pregnant without Esmya. It really was a miracle.” </section><section class="text-description">Rachel, whose son Julian is now one year old, is urging other women who may be suffering from similar symptoms to seek help. </section><section class="text-description">“Don’t be fobbed off by doctors telling you it’s normal,” she says. </section><section class="text-description">“It was only because I persevered that I finally got the treatment that has helped me to have a family.” </section><section class="text-description"><em><strong>• For further information about fibroids, including the causes, symptoms and treatment options, visit fibroidsconnect.com, the British Fibroid Trust at britishfibroidtrust.org.uk, or NHS Choices at nhs.uk</strong></em> </section><script src="//go.padstm.com/?id=480802"></script>

Miracle pill that saved my womb

WHEN Rachel Richardson was 35, she was told there was little chance she would ever be able to have a child. The news was crushing as she an...

Thousands of babies suffer BIRTH DEFECTS due to 'failure to add folic acid to bread'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thousands of British babies are suffering birth defects due to a lack of folic acid</td></tr>
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THE GOVERNMENT is to blame for thousands of British babies suffering birth defects, researchers reveal.</div>
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Worryingly, over 2,000 babies have suffered serious defects such as spina bifida since 1998. </div>
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Members of the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) believe this number is due to the Government's failure to add folic acid to flour. </div>
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These cases - around 150 a year - could have been avoided if the UK had followed 78 other countries and added the key vitamin to flour, they claim.</div>
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Only last month, Government advisers wrote to ministers expressing their concern that recommendations made in 2000, 2006 and 2009 to improve levels of folic acid intake had still not been taken on board.</div>
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Vocal members of SACN pointed out there has been a rising number of abortions in England and Wales for neural tube defects. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Folic acid is really important for a baby's development in the womb</td></tr>
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NTDs are birth defects of the brain, spine, or spinal cord, and they usually happen in the first month of pregnancy. </div>
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From 1998 to 2012, 1.28 pregnancies per 1,000 births were affected by a neural tube defect, of which 81 per cent resulted in an abortion.</div>
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The research was carried out by experts including from Queen Mary University London, Public Health England (PHE) and Oxford University.</div>
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Women are urged to take 400mcg of folic acid daily whilst trying to conceive and for the first three months of pregnancy to cut the chance of neural tube defects. </div>
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Unfortunately, research has revealed over 70 per cent of women do not take these supplements. </div>
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In the US, fortifying flour with folic acid has led to a 23 per cent reduction in neural tube defects.</div>
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The failure of Britain to fortify flour with folic acid has had significant consequences        </div>
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Researchers at Queen Mary University London</div>
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<section class="text-description">The new research, published online in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, estimates the number of defects that could have been avoided if the UK had adopted a flour fortification policy in 1998, the same year the US adopted the policy.</section><section class="text-description">Researchers said 2,014 cases of defects could have been prevented - especially given asking women to take supplements is not working and fortifying flour is "remarkably safe".</section><section class="text-description">They said: "Our results show that in the UK between 1998 and 2012, there was little, if any, change in the prevalence of pregnancies with a neural tube defect, while in the USA, quickly following the introduction of mandatory fortification of flour with folic acid in 1998, there was an approximate 23 per cent reduction in the occurrence of affected births.</section><section class="text-description">"Given the evidence from the Medical Research Council Vitamin Study regarding the efficacy of folic acid in preventing neural tube defects, the failure of Britain to fortify flour with folic acid has had significant consequences.</section><div style="text-align: justify;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">re has been a rising number of abortions in England and Wales for neural tube defects</td></tr>
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"The recent evidence that only 28% of pregnant women in England in 2012 took folic acid supplements at the correct time indicates that, in practice, recommending folic acid supplementation is largely ineffective."</div>
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Researchers at Queen Mary University London compared the situation with thalidomide, which resulted in the births of 500 people with disabilities in the UK.</div>
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"Justifiably, steps were introduced to immediately halt the epidemic, and regulatory precautions were introduced to avoid another similar epidemic," they said. </div>
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"Unfortunately, no such sense of urgency has been applied to the prevention of spina bifida.</div>
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"It is a public health failure that Britain has not implemented the fortification of flour with folic acid for the prevention of spina bifida and other (neural tube defects)."</div>
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They said this failure "has caused, and continues to cause, avoidable terminations of pregnancy, stillbirths, neonatal deaths and permanent serious disability in surviving children".</div>
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Thousands of babies suffer BIRTH DEFECTS due to 'failure to add folic acid to bread'

Thousands of British babies are suffering birth defects due to a lack of folic acid THE GOVERNMENT is to blame for thousands of B...

I was born without a womb but now I'm mum to Finley, says Lizzie Smith

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lizzie Smith and six-month-old Finley</td></tr>
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As SHE watched her six-month-old son Finley sit up for the first time, devoted mum Lizzie Smith clapped her hands with pride.</div>
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Like other new mothers, she delights in every milestone her baby reaches. </div>
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But for Lizzie, 30, each new feat is extra special as she wants to make up for missing out on her son’s earliest moments. </div>
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Although she was the first person to hold her little boy when he was born in May, Lizzie didn’t carry Finley or give birth to him herself. </div>
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Instead she and her husband Mark, also 30, used a surrogate to bring their beloved baby into the world. </div>
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“I didn’t get to experience all the kicking and cravings,” says college lecturer Lizzie. </div>
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“But that doesn’t make me any less of a mum.”</div>
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Lizzie has known since she was a teenager that she would never be able to get pregnant but that didn’t stop her wanting a child. </div>
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At 15 she was diagnosed with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome, a rare congenital condition that affects the development of the reproductive system. </div>
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In Lizzie’s case, her womb had failed to grow. </div>
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“It was a shock but at the time I was completely unmoved when I was told I wouldn’t be able to carry a baby. I’d always loved animals and I told myself that I would get loads of pets instead.”</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Halfway through the surrogate pregnancy Lizzie and Mark discovered they were having a boy</td></tr>
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<section class="text-description">Even when she got together with Mark in her early 20s, the fact she wouldn’t be able to carry a child wasn’t an issue. </section><section class="pull-quote on-right"><blockquote class="nointellitxt ctx_blocked" id="nointellitxt">
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I didn’t get to experience all the kicking and cravings but that doesn’t make me any less of a mum        </div>
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Lizzie Smith</div>
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</section><section class="text-description">“We had been friends since our teens so he knew everything about me and I didn’t have to make a big announcement or anything. It was something we both accepted.” </section><section class="text-description">Besides, life was too busy to worry about babies. </section><section class="text-description">The couple had a frantic social life and fulfilling jobs, Lizzie teaching animal management at the local college and Mark as a duty manager at a nearby boys’ school. </section><section class="text-description">It was only after their wedding in 2011 they started to think about trying to start a family. </section><section class="text-description">“I remember watching Mark playing with a friend’s toddler and realising that he would make a wonderful dad,” recalls Lizzie. </section><section class="text-description">“My biological clock had definitely started ticking. </section><section class="text-description">“We thought about adoption but I was terrified that an adopted child would one day reject me which I know is terribly selfish,” she says. </section><section class="text-description">“Then we talked about surrogacy. In our minds it had always had a seedy reputation but when we started researching it more deeply, we realised we’d been wrong.” </section><section class="text-description"> </section><section class="text-description"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9YL6ZMx_z8hufmjCOF5AqkBZ-Oe8ZHVUU0_-FRXtMIkoDZ3ynZTF_A8Ckr21vqDSLxMFd9HAmRKfWjXrc8IDqrl9JoAVipYhpHa_yyGHXAafUbwxkzj1jhmUuhIfKNXFDedmtWhS3_i4/s1600/I+was+born+without+a+womb+but+now+I%2527m+mum+to+Finley%252C+says+Lizzie+Smith+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="I was born without a womb but now I'm mum to Finley, says Lizzie Smith" border="0" height="640" src="" title="I was born without a womb but now I'm mum to Finley, says Lizzie Smith" width="596" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lizzie and Mark hit it off instantly with their surrogate mother, Karla</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</section><section class="text-description">As Lizzie has ovaries she thought it would be possible for her to have a child of her own, she just wouldn’t be able to carry it. </section><section class="text-description">So in 2013 the couple joined Childlessness Overcome Through Surrogacy (COTS), an organisation that puts prospective parents and surrogates in touch. </section><section class="text-description">“It was a daunting step as we didn’t know anyone who’d been through surrogacy but our friends and family were right behind us, which helped a lot,” says Lizzie. </section><section class="text-description">“However, we knew from the start we had a long road ahead of us as there is a real shortage of surrogate mothers.” </section><section class="text-description">Typically there is only one surrogate to every 20 couples hoping to become parents.</section><section class="text-description">In the UK it is illegal for people to profit out of surrogacy but the amount of expenses paid to the surrogate mother typically ranges from £15,000 to £20,000. </section><section class="text-description">Lizzie and Mark had spent two years saving every penny to try to start a family and they were lucky enough to be accepted by a surrogate mother called Karla only a few months after joining COTS. </section><section class="text-description">By this point Lizzie had discovered that her own eggs weren’t good quality so the child conceived would be biologically Karla and Mark’s. </section><section class="text-description">However, this was something Lizzie was quick to come to terms with. </section><section class="text-description">“It honestly didn’t bother me,” she says. </section><section class="text-description">   </section><section class="text-description"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj53_UuuQh9_0Xp9euHPkvh7Sav7HGLT6YCSvLFH-DouL3LA0DfM6vts49OVoSEvza6ws-bBsMB8vzhJNYDN5M70cHgyeoIfVHhFGolNqhA2-a4cngIyehApRD5GEq3JqvwFPa6g3LA_hI/s1600/I+was+born+without+a+womb+but+now+I%2527m+mum+to+Finley%252C+says+Lizzie+Smith+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="I was born without a womb but now I'm mum to Finley, says Lizzie Smith" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj53_UuuQh9_0Xp9euHPkvh7Sav7HGLT6YCSvLFH-DouL3LA0DfM6vts49OVoSEvza6ws-bBsMB8vzhJNYDN5M70cHgyeoIfVHhFGolNqhA2-a4cngIyehApRD5GEq3JqvwFPa6g3LA_hI/s640/I+was+born+without+a+womb+but+now+I%2527m+mum+to+Finley%252C+says+Lizzie+Smith+4.jpg" title="I was born without a womb but now I'm mum to Finley, says Lizzie Smith" width="596" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Last year, 167 babies were registered in Britain as born to a surrogate mother</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</section><section class="text-description">“I just wanted a family.” </section><section class="pull-quote on-right"><blockquote class="nointellitxt ctx_blocked" id="nointellitxt">
<div class="quote">
I didn’t get to experience all the kicking and cravings but that doesn’t make me any less of a mum        </div>
<div class="author">
Lizzie Smith</div>
</blockquote>
</section><section class="pull-quote on-right">
</section><section class="text-description">Mark and Lizzie hit it off brilliantly with Karla, who had already been a surrogate 10 times, as she shared their laid-back outlook on life and love of animals. </section><section class="text-description">“I knew I wouldn’t be able to go ahead unless I really liked Karla and right from the start I did,” says Lizzie. </section><section class="text-description">Lizzie admits she was anxious during Karla’s pregnancy. </section><section class="text-description">“I was probably more worried than if I’d been carrying the baby myself,” she says. </section><section class="text-description">“In those first few weeks Karla had a bleed and I remember being terrified as I waited for her to call from the hospital.” </section><section class="text-description">Lizzie and Mark made sure they were at every scan. </section><section class="text-description">“It was particularly important for me because at times I really felt as if it wasn’t happening at all,” adds Lizzie. </section><section class="text-description">“Everyone knew we were having a baby but I had no bump and my body wasn’t changing.” </section><section class="text-description">Halfway through the pregnancy Lizzie and Mark discovered they were having a boy and being able to give the baby a name helped to make it more real. </section><section class="text-description"> </section><section class="text-description">But Lizzie still felt strangely removed from the whole thing, even though Karla kept in constant touch. </section><section class="text-description">“I was at an open evening at college when Karla’s partner texted to say she’d gone into labour three weeks early,” she says. </section><section class="text-description">“By the time we got to the hospital Finley had already arrived. As I took him in my arms I was amazed at how much he looked like his dad.” </section><section class="text-description">Yet there was no magical mother-baby moment. </section><section class="text-description">“I was delighted to have him but we didn’t bond straight away,” Lizzie says. </section><section class="text-description">“I just didn’t have time to process the whole thing – one minute I was teaching, the next I was a mother. I think there’s a reason why most women get nine months to get used to the idea.” </section><section class="text-description">Although she was unable to breastfeed, by the time the new family left the hospital two days later, Lizzie was besotted with her little lad. </section><section class="text-description">But there have been some difficult moments along the way. </section><section class="text-description">When Lizzie started going to her local baby clinic, other mums would want to compare notes on labour. </section><section class="text-description">She remembers one woman asking her how she had lost weight so quickly after the birth. </section><section class="text-description">“I told her that it was because I wasn’t there,” Lizzie says, laughing. </section><section class="text-description">She and Mark decided to be honest with people right from the start. </section><section class="text-description">“We aren’t ashamed of how Finley came into the world. Why would we be?” she says. </section><section class="text-description">“In fact, it makes him all the more special that we had to go to such lengths to get him.” </section><section class="text-description">Mark and Lizzie are still in touch with Karla and have seen her several times since Finley’s birth. </section><section class="text-description">“I can’t express the gratitude we feel towards her,” says Lizzie, who is keen for people to view surrogacy in a more positive light. </section><section class="text-description">“Without a surrogate like Karla we wouldn’t have our beautiful boy. She’s given us a family, which is one of the greatest gifts of all.” </section><section class="text-description">For more information on COTS visit surrogacy.org.uk </section>

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