S2 Ep5: #14 Pregnancy after stillbirth, surprise miracle pregnancies and donor conception

In this week’s episode I chat to Shema aka @one_in_seven who was 17 weeks pregnant at the time. Shema has a condition called Chronic Histiocytic Intervillositis (CHI) which is a rare placenta condition where mum’s immune system mounts a response to the baby causing the placenta to fail. It is an incredibly rare condition affecting only 300 women globally. Shema and her partner moved to donor egg IVF after initial rounds with her own eggs were unsuccessful. They got pregnant following their second donor round but heartbreakingly her condition caused their son Altair to be born sleeping at 21 weeks. Armed with new information about her condition they successfully navigated their second pregnancy and are now parents to Faris who turned one recently.  Then, to their surprise, they found out that they were pregnant naturally – something they had been told had less than a 1% chance of happening. It’s a jam packed episode that I hope you enjoy and get lots from. We touch upon parenting after infertility and loss and the affects on our mental health and whilst we didn’t have the opportunity to go into it further on this episode, please do head over to my episode with the amazing Anya Hayes aka  @Motherswellnesstoolkit who talks at length about what to look out for and how to support ourselves when pregnant and beyond. Please do subscribe, rate and review this podcast wherever you listen!  If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch too. Much love, Cat  [email protected]