Baby joy for mum after 18 miscarriages
After 13 years of trying, Angie Baker gave birth to a little girl, Raiya, following pioneering treatment.
Ms Baker, 33, from Peacehaven near Brighton, said: “She’s my little miracle. I can’t explain how I feel. I’m overwhelmed. It seems like a dream and I still have to pinch myself. She’s perfect in every way.”
Raiya was born on December 9 last year, weighing 7lb, and is now a healthy 10-week-old girl.
From the age of 20, Ms Baker’s miscarriages took place one after another, between five and eight weeks after conception.
Doctors told her it was “just one of those things” but Ms Baker was convinced she must have a treatable problem.
She said: “Emotionally it was a roller coaster. Every time I got pregnant I was hoping this was the one and it wasn’t going to end in a miscarriage.
“I never gave up. I was desperate for a baby so I persevered.”
She discussed the possibility of adoption with her partner, Lee Gibson, a martial arts instructor.
But then, after 17 miscarriages, her best friend’s mother read a newspaper article about Dr Hassan Shehata who was doing pioneering work at Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust.
She contacted him for help in 2006 and was referred for treatment.
Dr Shehata, a specialist in recurrent miscarriages, said: “18 miscarriages is a huge number. This is the most unusual case I’ve come across.
“You’re more likely to win the lottery than have 18 miscarriages through bad luck. Therefore there must be an underlying cause.”
A specialist test, available only at Epsom, in Liverpool and in Chicago in the United States, showed she was suffering from a fairly common problem, thought to affect about 15% of women.
Ms Baker had high levels of a subtype of white blood cell, known as Natural Killer (NK) cells, which are responsible for protection from foreign viruses.
Because Ms Baker’s NK cells were too aggressive, rather than protecting the pregnancy they mistook the foetus for a foreign body and attacked it.
Dr Shehata’s treatment, using steroids, is pioneering because it starts before conception and the doses involved are higher than previously used.
Ms Baker fell pregnant for an 18th time but her troubles were not over.
During the pregnancy it was discovered she was diabetic and the high sugar levels caused by the steroids resulted in another miscarriage.
Dr Shehata said: “The emotion that goes with every miscarriage is huge. Every time it’s heartbreaking. A lot of people would give up so it’s an amazing story in itself that she persevered.”
The doctor was able to adjust her levels of insulin and the next time her pregnancy was successful.
Ms Baker said she is revelling in her role, blessed with a baby who sleeps from 10pm to 6am.
She said: “I absolutely love it. I enjoy every moment. It’s so precious. I can’t believe she’s here and she’s mine.”
Cradling her baby at Epsom hospital, Ms Baker said she used to be jealous of other women who decided to have children and went through their pregnancies without a hitch.
Now she is hoping to give Raiya a little brother or sister to play with.
