![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Jan. 14th, 2006 01:00 pmFirst step on the road to Project Baby. No, perhaps it was step two.
When I saw my gynecologist in December, I mentioned to her that we were wanting to pursue having a baby. Since it's going to require donor insemination, I needed to know whether she had clinics she works with and so on. She recommended that I consult a high-risk obstetrician prior to conceiving due to my history of pulmonary embolism.
I called the high-risk practice shortly thereafter. At first, they told me they didn't have any consultation appointments available until May, but they had a cancellation and I got in yesterday. I don't think I'd spent that much time just talking to a doctor in many years. He spent over half an hour with me going over my detailed history and explaining the risks of pregnancy and of birth defects based on my history and my age.
It turns out that 1) pregnancy increases everyone's risk of blood clots and 2) if you have a prior history, it does so even more, depending on what the causes were of the thrombosis. There are five different genetic factors that may be at work, and no testing had ever been done to determine which of them affects me. (It is also possible that none of them does, and there was an environmental reason for my event instead. This is unlikely, however.) So he sent me to have blood drawn and tested for these factors.
Whatever is determined to be the cause of my historical embolus will indicate treatment required during my pregnancy. But whatever it is, he recommends daily injections of heparin throughout. Oh joy. Coumadin crosses the placental barrier so of course is contraindicated. One of the secondary genetic abnormalities also increases risk of spina bifida in the baby, so if I have that, I'll also have to take high-dose folic acid.
I'm rather peeved that no one ever told me this before, because I had the pulmonary embolism in 1993 and I've had two pregnancies since then. (I had a miscarriage in 1998, and then Rosa was born in 1999.) However, being lucky once (twice?) doesn't mean I will be again, so I'm glad to know now.
When I saw my gynecologist in December, I mentioned to her that we were wanting to pursue having a baby. Since it's going to require donor insemination, I needed to know whether she had clinics she works with and so on. She recommended that I consult a high-risk obstetrician prior to conceiving due to my history of pulmonary embolism.
I called the high-risk practice shortly thereafter. At first, they told me they didn't have any consultation appointments available until May, but they had a cancellation and I got in yesterday. I don't think I'd spent that much time just talking to a doctor in many years. He spent over half an hour with me going over my detailed history and explaining the risks of pregnancy and of birth defects based on my history and my age.
It turns out that 1) pregnancy increases everyone's risk of blood clots and 2) if you have a prior history, it does so even more, depending on what the causes were of the thrombosis. There are five different genetic factors that may be at work, and no testing had ever been done to determine which of them affects me. (It is also possible that none of them does, and there was an environmental reason for my event instead. This is unlikely, however.) So he sent me to have blood drawn and tested for these factors.
Whatever is determined to be the cause of my historical embolus will indicate treatment required during my pregnancy. But whatever it is, he recommends daily injections of heparin throughout. Oh joy. Coumadin crosses the placental barrier so of course is contraindicated. One of the secondary genetic abnormalities also increases risk of spina bifida in the baby, so if I have that, I'll also have to take high-dose folic acid.
I'm rather peeved that no one ever told me this before, because I had the pulmonary embolism in 1993 and I've had two pregnancies since then. (I had a miscarriage in 1998, and then Rosa was born in 1999.) However, being lucky once (twice?) doesn't mean I will be again, so I'm glad to know now.
