Pregnancy loss: Why did it happen?

I'm srry for your cousin's loss, it's very hard to go through. Miscarriage is caused for several reasons. The main one is severe genetic defects/chromosomal anonolies... almost 75% of embryos formed are noncondusive to life because of defects (and hence almost 75% of pregnancies end in miscarriage, often before a woman even knows she pregnant). Other reasons could be unfit conditions or anomolies of the uterus (causes 15% of repeat miscarriages) or cervix, there can be things called fibroids or a woman can have a weak cervix. A woman can also have a hormone imbalence where she doesn't make enough progesterone, often a dr might put a woman on progesterone supplements when she is trying to concieve again and that problem is suspected. More rarely it can be an immune system response to "foreign matter" because the baby is 1/2 made up of foreign material-that of the father. Normally the body works to ensure that antibodies dont attack the baby, but if the mother has an immune system problem, then it could attack the baby. Furthermore, illness of the mother can result of loss of the baby, illnesses such as lupus, german measles, and herpes make it more likely to miscarry. YOur cousin should probably vist her obgyn to have some simple testing done to see if it a "straightfoward" reason...such as a hormone imbalance or anonoly of the uterus, etc. I'd also recommed a pregnancy loss support group online, they can really help!!

I am very sorry for your cousins loss, I can only imagine how heart wrenching it would be to lose a baby. Miscarriages do happen for a variety of reasons, sometimes the baby doesn't implant in a good place, there are defects, nutritional deficiency, and many more reasons I can't even remember- You could probably get some really good info about it at WebMD.