One miscarriage after another: A Brit woman who dreamed of becoming a mother discovered she actually had Crohn’s disease after 13 accidental abortions.
Luckily for her, Julie Ashworth became pregnant for the first time at the age of 27. But the expectant mother quickly had to see her dream fail when she experienced her first miscarriage, according to information from the Manchester Evening News.
She first started experiencing symptoms resembling menstrual cramps and bleeding at eight weeks of pregnancy.
After four miscarriages — all of which ended at eight weeks — and an ectopic pregnancy that damaged one of her tubes, she finally managed to conceive. In 1998 she gave birth to her daughter Lauren.
“I had Lauren and she was worth everything I went through,” she told The Mirror newspaper on Sunday.
In all, Julie suffered 12 miscarriages before her doctors found a diagnosis that could explain her situation: the English woman actually had Crohn’s disease, a condition that can cause thrombophilia. This means the blood clots easily, increasing the risk of miscarriage.
After a recent involuntary abortion, bringing the total to 13, she managed to give birth to her second daughter, Ellen, whom she and her sister consider “their little miracles.”