What could be the reason for so many complications during my wife's pregnancy?

Hello doctor,

About a year ago, we found out that my wife was pregnant with our first child. When her gynecologist confirmed her pregnancy, she started bleeding heavily two weeks later (around the 10th week). We drove to the nearest hospital to perform an ultrasound, and they told my wife that she had a small hematoma; hence she was bleeding heavily. They told us that the fetus was fine and that hematomas can unfortunately happen. The hematoma was about 2 cm large, but it was still considered small and not too problematic.

After a few weeks, she started bleeding heavily again, so we went to the hospital to perform another ultrasound, and they told us the same thing. They said the hematoma was still the same size, but they were confident it would resolve itself.

A few weeks later, around the 17th week, her private gynecologist told her that her amniotic fluid was lower than it should be, so he advised her to go to the emergency for further exams. They did a test to see if it was a loss of amniotic fluid, and it turned out that it was, so they kept my wife in the hospital for two weeks. They also found that my wife had a bigger hematoma that was not easily visible because of its location and was about 16 m large. My wife did not lose any more fluid during those few weeks in hospital, and they told her that it seemed that the levels had gone back to normal so she could return home.

Two weeks later, when my wife was around the 20th week, she started losing her sight in one eye, so I drove her to the hospital again for some further tests, and her blood samples showed signs that she was at high risk of preeclampsia for the next few weeks because of a specific blood parameter. For this reason, they decided to keep her for another three weeks and started giving her shots of steroids to help the baby's lungs in case she had to deliver prematurely.

She came home on the 23rd week, and we kept track of her blood pressure which was not extremely high, and was always on normal levels. Unfortunately, after one week, when she was in the 24th week, she started having pain in her shoulder and her stomach, and I felt that HELLP syndrome would be the diagnosis. When we went to the hospital, they did another blood test, and it turned out that I was right. Her liver enzymes skyrocketed within 24 hours, so the gynecologists decided to deliver the baby at 24 weeks to save my wife and try to save the baby.

Luckily, my baby is at home now after six months in hospital, and aside from weak lungs, she has no other issues.

How can it happen that my wife had so many different complications throughout her pregnancy? (subchorionic hematoma, low amniotic fluid, preeclampsia, HELLP Syndrome).

The problem is that my wife does not feel confident enough to have another child in the future because of what happened. Do you think she should go for further tests to see if something is wrong? She went for another blood test after the pregnancy, her blood count is on the lower end, but it is still within the normal range (150,000). Everything else looks fine but is there something else we should check? Is there anything, in particular, that could cause so many different complications? Kindly help.

Hi doctor,

Thank you for your reply.

She had a tendency to bruise easily. Also, before the pregnancy, she did a blood test, and I realized her platelet count was lower than the normal range, around 120 mL. Her general practitioner told her it could be because of her menstruation, but I believe there is something else since she went through all those pregnancy complications. Thank you for directing me toward the right diagnosis; this would make great sense.