TV star's miscarriage hell
A leading TV presenter told today of her heartache after suffering seven miscarriages trying to start a family.
Naomi Cleaver, 36, of Channel 4's interior design programme Other People's Houses, said she and marketing executive husband Oliver, 45, are now trying to overcome her medical problems so that she can carry a baby to full term.
She has a successful career, happy marriage and a stylish Georgian house. But she has suffered complications after early stages of pregnancy for eight years and the last miscarriage was in March during the filming of Other People's Houses.
'It was heartbreaking but I hadn't told anyone apart from my family and close friends that I was pregnant, so I just prayed I could struggle through until the end of the day,' she told Eve magazine.
'I hung on to the thought that then I could go home and have a massive cry in private. But then I caught sight of a baby buggy that belonged to the couple whose house we were filming. That did it.
'I thought 'I don't suppose I'll ever need one of those', and I couldn't stop sobbing.'
Cleaver has now been diagnosed with antiphospholipid syndrome, or 'sticky blood', which stops the flow of blood to the foetus. She is taking lowdose aspirin to thin the blood.
She said: 'I almost dread getting pregnant again. It's stressful and frightening after you've lost a baby time after time. There is that sudden elation - you somehow never give up hope that this time it will be all right - then the crashing disappointment.'
She said her husband is 'brilliant', adding: 'If it's not meant to be, we will accept it.'
Cleaver, who told one homeowner their living room looked like a 'Tenerife timeshare', insisted she is not as severe as her TV image suggests.
She said: 'I know people think I must be a cow because of the cutting comments I've made on TV, but I hope they don't get too hung up about it.'
Sticky blood - the facts
Known as 'sticky blood', antiphospholipid syndrome causes clots to form in the blood vessels.
Some patients develop clots in the leg - deep-vein thrombosis - others in arteries supplying the brain, causing a stroke.
In pregnancy, the placenta can be affected by small clots, leading to an increased risk of miscarriage.
The baby is usually lost after 12 weeks. Fifteen per cent of women who suffer three or more consecutive miscarriages test positive for the condition.
Two per cent of women have antibodies to the disease, suggesting it may be in their bodies, but only a fraction of carriers have any symptoms. Treatment, with blood thinners, is often life-long.
