She Could Get Pregnant… But She Couldn’t Stay Pregnant: The Root Causes Behind Recurrent Miscarriage
When you can get pregnant… but you can’t stay pregnant 💔
This is one of the most heartbreaking fertility struggles a woman can experience.
Because every positive pregnancy test comes with hope… and every loss chips away at your trust in your body.
So many women navigating recurrent miscarriage are left carrying shame, guilt, and confusion while desperately searching for answers.
And unfortunately, conventional fertility care often stops at:
“Just keep trying.”
“It’s common.”
“At least you can get pregnant.”
But recurrent miscarriage is rarely random.
And in many cases, there are deeper root causes being missed.
Abby’s Story: 3 Miscarriages in 9 Months
When Abby first reached out to me, she was exhausted physically and emotionally.
She and her husband had been trying to conceive for over a year. And technically, she could get pregnant.
The problem was staying pregnant.
In just 9 months, she had experienced 3 miscarriages.
She told me:
“I need to figure out why I feel like crap, my skin and hair look like crap, and I need to feel like myself again. I want another baby… but I also want to be healthy.”
That sentence told me everything I needed to know.
Because fertility doesn’t exist in isolation.
Your skin, energy, digestion, immune system, hormones, nutrient status, metabolism, and stress response are all connected. And when the body is under-supported, pregnancy can become incredibly difficult to sustain.
After one initial call and functional lab testing, we had clear answers as to why Abby felt so rundown — and why her body wasn’t prepared to carry a healthy pregnancy.
What Her Labs Revealed
1. She Wasn’t Eating Enough to Support Pregnancy
One of the biggest findings?
Abby simply was not eating enough to meet her body’s needs.
Her intake was significantly below what her body required daily, and her labs reflected it.
Her cholesterol levels were LOW — which matters because cholesterol is a critical building block for sex hormones like progesterone and estrogen. Without adequate fuel and nutrients, the body often prioritizes survival over reproduction.
She was also depleted in several key nutrients essential for fertility and healthy pregnancy outcomes.
This is something I see constantly in women struggling with fertility:
underfueling, chronic dieting, fear of carbohydrates, and unintentionally starving the body of the resources needed to feel safe enough to sustain pregnancy.
2. She Had an Iodine Deficiency
Another major finding was iodine deficiency.
Iodine plays a critical role in thyroid function, hormone production, metabolism, and healthy pregnancy outcomes. Research has linked inadequate iodine status to reproductive challenges, including miscarriage.
Yet many women are never tested or evaluated for this.
For Abby, this was a huge missing piece.
3. Her Gut + Immune System Needed Support
Functional testing also revealed significant gut and immune dysfunction.
Her gut immune function was extremely low, which can impact implantation, tissue remodeling, nutrient absorption, and the ability to maintain a healthy pregnancy.
This is one of the reasons I look beyond hormones alone with fertility clients.
Because your gut is deeply connected to your immune system, inflammation levels, nutrient absorption, and hormone metabolism — all things that influence fertility outcomes.
How We Supported Her Body
Once we identified the root causes, we created a personalized plan focused on supporting her body as a whole.
This included:
Increasing calories + carbohydrates
Replenishing nutrient deficiencies
Targeted iodine support
Upgrading her prenatal
Supporting gut + immune health
Helping her body feel safe and nourished again
And just one month later…
Abby got pregnant again 💕
But this time, her body was finally supported enough to carry to term.
Recurrent Miscarriage Deserves Deeper Exploration
If you’re navigating recurrent pregnancy loss, I want you to know this:
Your body is not broken.
And you deserve more than “just keep trying.”
So often, there are underlying imbalances contributing to recurrent miscarriage that conventional fertility workups overlook — from nutrient deficiencies and underfueling to gut dysfunction, immune imbalances, thyroid issues, and beyond.
This is exactly why I take a root-cause, whole-body approach with my fertility clients.
Because your body needs more than just ovulation to sustain a healthy pregnancy.
It needs:
✨ Adequate fuel
✨ Strong nutrient status
✨ Balanced immune function
✨ A sense of safety
If you’re ready for deeper answers and personalized support, I’m currently accepting applications for 1:1 fertility coaching for women who want to get pregnant (& stay pregnant) in 2026.