Anna Whitehouse On Miscarriage And Learning About Microchimerism

Presenter and journalist Anna Whitehouse has opened up about a little-known phenomenon that helped offer some comfort after experiencing multiple miscarriages.

During an appearance on the CBeebies Parenting Helpline podcast, Anna (known as Mother Pukka on social media) said she was “woefully” unprepared for losing a baby, as it’s not something touched upon in school or spoken about in society.

Sadly, she ended up experiencing five miscarriages. In the UK, when a person has three or more miscarriages, it’s known as “recurrent miscarriage”, which affects around one in every 100 couples trying for a baby.

Candidly sharing her experience, Anna described how learning about microchimerism “changed everything” for her after experiencing such devastating loss.

When a baby is in the womb, cells travel into the parent’s body through the placenta, according to Vox. While lots of cells get targeted and destroyed by the parent’s immune system, others will travel around the body – making a beeline for various organs: the heart, lungs, brain.

There, they’ll enmesh themselves in the tissue and become one with the body. This exchange is known as microchimerism.

Some studies have found these cells have been present years after conception – in 1996, a geneticist discovered male foetal cells in a mother’s blood 27 years after giving birth, according to Scientific American. In some cases, the cells can even pass on and live within future siblings.

The exchange of cells can start as early as the first few weeks of pregnancy, according to biotechnology company Ariel Precision Medicine – and it’s been shown to happen in other mammals too.

It’s not entirely clear what these cells are doing in the body, however some studies suggest they could have healing properties – the cells have even been found in healed C-section scars.

Some studies suggest the presence of such cells could explain why women who’ve been pregnant have a lowered breast cancer risk. Others, however, note the cells could play a role in autoimmune diseases – however the jury’s out for now.

Anna, who has three daughters, acknowledged that those “little lives that have been lost” are “not away, abandoned; they’re there, they’re a part of you”.

She added that “knowing that my babies are a part of me on a cellular level” has “healed something in me”.

She’s not alone in finding comfort in this knowledge. In 2023, former Hear’Say singer Myleene Klass – who has previously spoken about experiencing four miscarriages – shared a video explaining the process of microchimerism and why it’s so important for mothers who’ve lost babies.

“Whilst there’s no little one to physically hold, knowing they’re quite literally in your heart and mind changes everything,” she wrote in a touching Instagram post.

“It’s hard sometimes, believing your body let them down, but there’s comfort in knowing it’s your body where they now reside.”

CBeebies Parenting Helpline is available on BBC Sounds and all other platforms.

• Sands works to support anyone affected by the death of a baby.
• Tommy’s fund research into miscarriage, stillbirth and premature birth, and provide pregnancy health information to parents.
• Saying Goodbye offers support for anyone who has suffered the loss of a baby during pregnancy, at birth or in infancy.