Today, I had my second doctor's appointment. For my last appointment, I went into a section of the hospital where they do the ultrasounds, and conduct non-stress tests. Today was my first appointment in the actual OB department.
In the past, my OB's offices have been very sparse. The OB typically comes in with a little handheld Doppler to listen to the baby's heartbeat. Sometimes, the OB has a separate room for ultrasounds, and sometimes I have been sent to a separate facility for my ultrasound. I was expecting this appointment to be similar to those appointments.
After the nurse took my vital signs, she told me that another nurse would be coming in to find the baby's heartbeat. I noticed the ultrasound machine next to the bed, but assumed that she would be finding the heartbeat with the little Doppler device that my previous doctors used. I was very glad that I was wrong, and when the nurse came in, she did a quick ultrasound to find the heartbeat. The office has a large TV right in front of the bed so I could see the ultrasound very clearly. The heartbeat was good, but the baby was very still. I asked the nurse if that was normal, and she assured me that it was. She kept the ultrasound on for a while, looking for some movement to reassure me, and we waited for quite a while. She then shook and poked my stomach and the baby woke up, and began moving around. It was adorable! I really appreciated the nurse for taking the time to help me feel better.
When she left, the doctor came in to see how I was doing. We went over my blood tests from last week, and everything came back normal except for one of the tests. They found that I have a genetic disorder called the Factor V Leiden Mutation. After talking to the doctor for quite a while, I still am pretty unclear about what this means. I know that it is a clotting disorder. When I told my doctor that I wanted the name of the disorder so I could research it a bit, he told me that I would find a lot of scary stuff online. I came home, and gave the info to my husband, and had him do the research for me. I don't need anything extra to worry about right now. The doctor let me know about the research that has been done, and there doesn't seem to be any conclusive results. Some doctors believe that the mutation causes an increased chance of miscarriage, and maternal death, but other doctors disagree. There are not conclusive results to back up either claim. The doctor gave me three options. He said we could 1) do nothing. 2) Take a baby aspirin everyday, which will have a very small chance of doing anything, or 3) I could give myself heparin shots twice a day for the remainder of my pregnancy. The info that he gave me made this option seem unnecessary, and I hate shots! We decided to take the baby aspirin. I'm ready for some concrete answers. All the ambiguity is driving me crazy.
The doctor will see me weekly for the next 5 weeks, and then hopefully I will be in the clear. I'm very grateful that the baby looks healthy. This pregnancy is the last time I "have to" do, or deal with many things, and this is also the last time I "get to" do things. Some of my "get to's" are seeing my little baby on the ultrasound, and feeling the baby move inside of me. One of my favorite "get to's" is seeing the baby of the family experience a pregnancy for the first time, and all the excitement that comes with it. Morgan is SO excited to be a big brother!
2 comments:
Sometimes it is good to know what is brewing within our genes and other times, it might just be better to not know. I know there are things we can do to help our genetic future (like taking the aspirin) and other times, it just is what it is. I hope all goes well with your pregnancy and that baby will bring joy to your family.
Thanks so much. I am hoping that more research will be done on this disorder, and that maybe, the medical community will have some answers in the future if I happen to pass this gene on to my daughter.
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