We found out we were expecting on July 26th - and, as I'm sure any woman who gets a positive pregnancy test, I took a few to be sure. All had the same result so I called the doctor to set up our first appointment. At eight weeks we finally got to meet with the doctor, ask all of our questions, have a million tests done and...hear the heart beat and see our baby for the first time! Here is Baby H's first picture - the line down the middle is the baby. The head is down and the rump is at the top.
 |
| Baby H at 8 weeks |
At this point, we hadn't told anyone that we were pregnant; but, considering the new circumstances, we decided to call our parents and explain what was going on. I definitely did not plan to tell our parent over the phone, coupled with concern, but it was still great to hear the excitement in their voices when we told them they were going to be grandparents. And, just knowing they were aware of what was going on made me feel a lot better...that, with the support from Nate, helped get me through the five days of wondering and waiting to see the hematologist.
Though I asked my OB tons of questions about what could be going on, we still did our own research. Low platelets could mean anything from blood not being able to clot to leukemia to lymphoma. So, really, we couldn't find any minor issues that would just end up going away. I was advised by my doctor to not do anything where I could cut myself (which could cause me to bleed out if my blood doesn't clot) or fall and hurt myself (which could cause internal bleeding). No pressure!
After what seemed like forever, it was finally the day of my appointment. Nate drove me downtown and we patiently (not really) waited in the cancer ward of the hospital to meet with the doctor. This was one of the saddest and scariest places I have ever been. My name was finally called and I went back to have my labs completed, just to be sent back to the waiting room again. When the nurse finally called us back, she started by asking if we were told my platelet counts yet...and then followed by saying 158,000!
What a huge sigh of relief...followed by some confusion. When we got back to talk to the doctor and he was looking at all of my past blood work (collected back to 2006), he determined that there is nothing wrong with my blood/platelets. Unbeknown to most doctors who do not specialize in blood, there is a test tube phenomenon affecting few people where platelets clump. So, when my blood was tested, my platelets clumped together in the test tube making it look like I had very few, large platelets. Since this doesn't happen often, most doctors don't know to set their equipment to avoid this. To be on the safe side, my platelets will be tested with the hematologist two more times throughout the pregnancy to be sure my counts are maintaining.
Needless to say, it was a terrifying experience and we are so thankful that everything turned out the way it did! Now we can go back to just being excited about our baby on the way! And, since I'm now in my 13th week, the risk of miscarriage has dramatically dropped - another reason to be excited!
After what seemed like forever, it was finally the day of my appointment. Nate drove me downtown and we patiently (not really) waited in the cancer ward of the hospital to meet with the doctor. This was one of the saddest and scariest places I have ever been. My name was finally called and I went back to have my labs completed, just to be sent back to the waiting room again. When the nurse finally called us back, she started by asking if we were told my platelet counts yet...and then followed by saying 158,000!
What a huge sigh of relief...followed by some confusion. When we got back to talk to the doctor and he was looking at all of my past blood work (collected back to 2006), he determined that there is nothing wrong with my blood/platelets. Unbeknown to most doctors who do not specialize in blood, there is a test tube phenomenon affecting few people where platelets clump. So, when my blood was tested, my platelets clumped together in the test tube making it look like I had very few, large platelets. Since this doesn't happen often, most doctors don't know to set their equipment to avoid this. To be on the safe side, my platelets will be tested with the hematologist two more times throughout the pregnancy to be sure my counts are maintaining.
Needless to say, it was a terrifying experience and we are so thankful that everything turned out the way it did! Now we can go back to just being excited about our baby on the way! And, since I'm now in my 13th week, the risk of miscarriage has dramatically dropped - another reason to be excited!
No comments:
Post a Comment