About Us

Note: This is copied from our original site, which is no longer active: About Us Welcome! We are two women with personal stories dealing with low progesterone in pregnancy. Our passion is to prevent other families from having the same problems we did. We both handle the site and e-mails. Please read our stories below (written in 2003), and then read the stories other women have provided. If you would like to share your story with us, please contact us through the links page.

Cathy My name is Cathy. I am 29 years old (written in 2003) and I live in northern Idaho. My husband and I learned I was pregnant during my fourth week of pregnancy. At the urging of a close friend who had had low progesterone and had suffered a miscarriage because of it, I requested a progesterone test immediately. I was told when I first called that a progesterone test is not normally done unless problems had been diagnosed that deemed it necessary. I was also told I didn’t need an appointment until I was 8 weeks along. Luckily, my friend prepared me for these responses. So, I insisted on an immediate appointment and I insisted that my progesterone level be checked. I convinced the woman on the phone and was tested two days later. I was 5 weeks along and my progesterone level was 7. A pregnant woman’s progesterone level should be much higher! The doctor called. I am BLESSED with a wonderful doctor who made every effort to save my baby. My physician sought counsel from a fertility clinic in Washington after seeing my test results. I went to see him that day and started progesterone treatment. For the next 6 to 7 weeks, I took 200 mg of progesterone (specifically, prometrium) three times a day. My progesterone level after the first week was up to 13. The most memorable side effects of the progesterone were an over-all calming of my nerves which made me easier to live with and a constant fatigue. I slept all the time. My second and third trimesters were relatively uneventful and on Aug 3, 2003, my baby girl was born. I underwent a c-section and had a wonderful birthing experience. My husband was by my side and we were thrilled to see that precious baby come into our lives. I believe this intervention saved my baby! More: As I shared my story with close friends and family, they related similar stories of 8 other women who have had complicated pregnancies and/or miscarriages due to low progesterone. I started reading message boards and discovered this is far more common than most people know. I do not believe that the medical world recognizes that there are a great number of women suffering with progesterone problems. I truly believe this is an epidemic and medical research must be more intensely addressed to prevent these needless deaths. I believe miscarriages caused by this problem are preventable! And I believe the medial and governmental communities must see and hear the outcry by documented stories from the women and families suffering from needless loss before it is taken seriously. Let’s document, ladies.

Caneel My name is Caneel. I am 27 years old (written in 2003) and the friend who Cathy mentions above. My husband, beautiful daughter, born in January 2003, and I live in Texas. I suffered a miscarriage with our first baby when I was around the very beginning of my second trimester. I was about 13 weeks along according to my last menstrual period, but less if you go by the sonograms (which in hindsight may have indicated something was wrong early on but since it's not always that way, no one was worried). Words can’t describe how devastating it was.We didn’t know the reason for our loss; the results of the D&C were inconclusive. My mother and aunt told me of a friend who had multiple miscarriages before her doctor tested her progesterone levels. Sure enough, her levels were low and after progesterone supplements during her pregnancy, she carried full-term. When I got pregnant again, I requested a progesterone test and my levels were very low - around a 6. My doctor told me they needed to be a very minimum of 11 to sustain a pregnancy in the first trimester (but she wanted them much higher than 11) and got me on progesterone suppositories twice a day (Crinone 8%). My levels skyrocketed. She continued to monitor my levels weekly, and then dropped me to using the crinone once a day after she was convinced my placenta was producing progesterone. Because of other complications, she kept me on the crinone until I was around 16 weeks pregnant.Thankfully with God's help, a caring and proactive doctor and the prayers of many, many people, we now have a healthy, beautiful daughter. I had an all-natural childbirth in the hospital using the hypnobirthing method, but she was born a month early. I went into pre-term labor at 28.5 weeks and tested positive with the fetal fibronectin test. Thankfully, we were able to hold it off for two months with strict bedrest and medication, and I had been given steroid shots to mature her lungs. I have since learned that low progesterone is strongly linked to pre-term labor and there is a new progesterone shot that is being tested on women with pre-term labor risks. I believe we wouldn't have our daughter if my doctor hadn’t tested my levels and then prescribed the progesterone. Her willingness to be proactive saved my baby. I can't bring myself to seriously think what would have happened if it hadn’t been for the progesterone. Unfortunately, there are too many women out there - some of whom have shared stories with us for publication on this site or to keep private - who lose many babies before progesterone testing is done. This is all too common and it’s a tragedy. When a doctor waits until multiple miscarriages to find out what's going on with a woman's body, this is the same thing as telling a family to wait until two or three (sometimes more) of their children are dead before they find out what is causing it! My doctor told me that progesterone testing often isn't done until there have been multiple miscarriages. Thankfully she was happy to test me. I've heard stories from too many women about doctors being reluctant to test even when the patient requested it because there weren't enough miscarriages. Women who request the test who haven't had a miscarriage are often given an even harder time - many times refused unless they push the issue or get a second opinion. It's a simple blood test. I want to help save other women from the trauma and tragedy I went through. True, if testing isn't done until the pregnancy begins, sometimes it is caught too late. But sometimes it's not. Cathy and I are examples of women who were blessed and it wasn't too late. Why would anyone in the medical and/or insurance community want to take any other chance with the life of a precious baby? In the vast research I have now done on progesterone and pregnancy, I'm finding so much conflicting information. There are medical professionals who swear by it. There are medical professionals who say progesterone supplementation makes no difference in a threatened miscarriage (of course if the miscarriage is already beginning it's most likely going to be too late!). There is evidence that a low level indicates an already failed pregnancy. That very well may be the case in many instances, but I am an example of one with very low levels and progesterone supplementation did make a difference! The bottom line is: WHY TAKE THE CHANCE? If it can't harm and can only help, why not test? I understand the feelings of many professionals who don't want to give patients false hope, but if they are candid with their patients and let them know that it may not work, why not give them the option of testing and supplementation? I've read that low progesterone isn't the cause, only a surface problem caused by something deeper. If that's the case, then let's get to the bottom of it! There are too many families suffering from this problem! I recently met a woman who was in her 60s. After talking for a while and playing with my daughter, we got on the subject of pregnancy and she told me that she had several miscarriages before her doctor put her on progesterone supplements and she went on to have healthy children. Not only does she have healthy children, she has healthy grandchildren and some of them are adults now. I was shocked to learn that the medical community knew of the benefits of progesterone and pregnancy even then and we are still having problems with testing. Women all over the Internet on baby and pregnancy loss support boards are talking about problems with low progesterone. The numbers are staggering. Please share your story with us to increase the awareness of this problem and get the insurance companies and medical community recognize this importance! An update: 9/18/2004 My doctor referred me to a fertility specialist/reproductive endocrinologist recently when I asked about the possibility of getting on progesterone earlier when we begin trying to conceive again, instead of waiting until after I know I'm pregnant. The specialist gave me some insight to my problem, as well as cleared up some things. It was all very interesting. She told me that Crinone doesn't raise blood test levels of progesterone (other research I have done since has validated this – it stays so concentrated in the uterine area that it doesn't really go elsewhere. If it does raise the serum levels, it's usually not very much). This means that my blood levels that went up after beginning Crinone were actually from my body naturally producing progesterone. That said, however, she agreed that my levels were too low in the beginning of my pregnancy and it was good that I had been given the Crinone. I guess my body is able to produce the progesterone but it starts producing it in the amount needed when it's too late maybe. Anyway, she agreed that I could begin taking the progesterone supplements earlier the next time around and I will begin the Crinone after ovulation when we begin trying again. -Caneel This updated information from Caneel about Crinone may not be true of other types of progesterone. Blood tests in my 6th week of pregnancy confirmed that prometrium raised my levels. Consult your physician for more information concerning the progesterone you are prescribed. -Cathy Another update: 5/6/2005 I lost another baby in April. I was only 4.5 to 5 weeks along, but it's still of course a painful loss of another child. I was on the Crinone after ovulation so we know it wasn't the progesterone issue. The reproductive endocrinologist began to run some tests on me: blood tests and an HSG. The HSG was normal but the blood work came back positive for one inherited genetic mutation called C677T MTHFR. It is a blood disorder and it has something to do with the way my body uses folic acid. Progesterone issues, placenta previa and pre-term labor can all be linked to this problem, as well as miscarriages. I have dealt with all of these things. Other things that aren't uncommon with this disorder but thankfully I haven't dealt with are preeclampsia and neural tube defects in the babies. It also causes increased risk when not pregnant for some things like heart disease, strokes and some cancer, among other things. The treatment before pregnancy is a prescription dose of 4mg of folic acid daily and one baby aspirin for a couple of months before pregnancy, which continues through pregnancy and then after pregnancy 1 mg of folic acid with a baby aspirin every day for the rest of my life. I will also be using the crinone again after ovulation and into pregnancy. Women with two mutations are given other medication, as well, during pregnancy, but thankfully I only have one. I will begin to see the perinatalogist at only 8 weeks pregnant as well, rather than beginning those visits mid-pregnancy. Hopefully this will put an end to the problems! -Caneel Yet another update (positive!) 9/29/2006 We had another healthy baby girl in July 2006. With intervention and seeing a specialist in conjunction with my regular doctor, I made it to only five days before my due date despite pre-term labor beginning at 30.5 weeks which I had to get on terbutaline for, and was also given the steroid shots to mature her lungs. Before getting pregnant, I was on one baby aspirin a day and 4 mg of folic acid. This continued during my pregnancy, with the exception of the baby aspirin which I got off of in the beginning of my third trimester. I was also on the Crinone 8% treatment again until about 16 weeks. I began taking the weekly progesterone injections (called 17P for short) at 21 weeks (was supposed to begin them at 20 weeks) for the pre-term labor and I believe they work because it was held off for so long!

Disclaimer: We are not medical professionals. This website is for information purposes only and is not a prescription for your particular needs. Consult with your health care professional if in doubt or if you have questions. We do not try to overrule the advice of your health care professional and can only say that if you question your doctor, you need to get a second opinion.