Hi guys,

I just wanted to start a new thread about my various fertility problems, as it is the biggest cause of ongoing stress in my life and has now caused years of depression and anxiety.

A bit of history - I am 31 and have had three miscarriages and no live births yet. Two of my miscarriages were around 3 weeks, and physically quite straight forward, but one was at 13 weeks and was extremely physically and emotionally traumatic and required a lot of medical intervention.

Since then I've had many, many tests to determine the cause of my miscarriages. It was eventually determined that I have a hyperactive immune system which means that my body attacks the growing foetus. I will need to take steroids, anticoagulants, and intralipid infusions in order to suppress my immune system enough to maintain a pregnancy.

It was also found when I was 29 that my ovarian reserve was 8.9 nmol (1.2 ng) which is about the expected level of a woman of 40. That was almost two years ago, so goodness knows what it is now. It means that I have a smaller window of opportunity in which to fall pregnant than most women.

I've been single for 2.5 years now and so due to time being against me I decided to go ahead with IVF with donor sperm. I currently have six frozen embryos, which have all been tested and found to be chromosomally normal.

Unfortunately I have also just been diagnosed with toxoplasmosis, which can also cause miscarriage or severe health problems in a baby. Once the toxo infection becomes latent in theory it should no longer be a problem, but I'm a bit concerned that the next time I'm pregnant on steroids and my immune system is suppressed the infection will re-emerge and cause significant problems.

So that's something I'm going to be discussing with my GP tomorrow!

All I want is to have my own family. My only close family are my parents, who are 69 and 75, and once they're gone I won't have anybody. I can accept never having a husband or boyfriend but I want so badly to be a mother. I know I have a lot to offer a child. I've been working very hard to fulfill my family goals over the last few years and I'm just going to keep trying and trying until either I succeed or I know I have done absolutely everything possible.