My day began at 5 am when they came to draw blood – again. This time it was for the gestational diabetes test. Blood drawn at 5 am, drink nasty glucose drink at 6 am, blood drawn again at 7 am. Oh, and did I mention that I usually don’t get to bed until midnight each night due to the last time the baby needs to be monitored? Oh, and did I mention that I needed to fast for a certain amount of hours which wasn’t too bad, but I was still starving nonetheless? Anyhow, I know, no big deal – it’s all part of the show, right?
Meanwhile, while waiting for the diabetes test results to return…I was visited by a doctor who further explained something I began to learn last night from another doctor. Many, but not all, of the blood tests they ran last week have been received. All came back normal (Lupus, and others I have no idea how to spell, let alone pronounce), except for one.
It’s called MTHFR (Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase – again, for our parents, not the average blog readers!) and has to do with your DNA and ability to covert folic acid and vitamin B from an inactive to an active form. It’s a genetic mutation where I didn’t receive both of these genes from both of my parents. (Which, in my opinion, if we all got our DNA tested, we’d pretty much find something imperfect, right?) Right now, we know I have the C mutation, which basically means I don’t process folic acid and Vitamin B like the average person, which can cause me to be more lethargic. So, I just need to stock up on those vitamins, in addition to a multi-vitamin. Today, they took blood to test for the homocysteine level, which deals with MTHFR mutations. It’s rare, but IF it comes back at a high level, that means I have a problem dissolving blood clots in my body – which explains why the placenta becomes clogged and nutrients are restricted to the baby. It can also explain recurrent miscarriages. It also means that I’ll be at a higher risk for clots in veins/arteries – strokes, heart disease. If it comes back at a normal level, then no issues. The other results we’re waiting for is to see if there is a mutation in the A gene. This will indicate a higher risk for your baby to have neural defect such as spinal bifida. However, through tests on Hunter, the doctors say he does NOT have spinal bifida, with 99.9% accuracy.
So here’s how the Lord really worked things out in a very awesome way…having the MTHFR mutations with high homocysteine level not only can cause problems in the placenta, but it can also cause other blood clots that lead to multiple miscarriages as well as neural defects in a baby. Before I got pregnant with Hunter and throughout the pregnancy, I decided to take one baby aspirin a day as well as extra folic acid in addition to what’s in my prenatal vitamin. I did this because our fertility specialist recommended it before I got pregnant with Madison. When I got pregnant this time, my OB/GYN in Beaumont said I didn’t need to do that, but I went ahead and did it anyway. A few weeks later, I got his permission to continue. Anyhow, the doctors here said that in taking that extra folic acid (2-4 mg), it helped to decrease our risk of having a baby with a neural defect. Also, in taking the baby aspirin, it acted like a blood thinner and given my condition causing higher rate of miscarriage b/c of blood clots, I likely could have avoided a possible miscarriage with Hunter – who knows, but again, this is what the doctor said to me. So, just because I was told to do it with Madison, I did it with this pregnancy…all the while not knowing this deficiency/condition I had…I really believe God was protecting me.
The best part of my day was when my Mom surprised me by driving to Houston with Madison to visit me! It was wonderful. I got to spend 3 hrs with them. I didn’t get to “wheel” outside because I was on the monitor, it got dark, and we didn’t have help with Madison. But that’s okay because I got to see my little girl. I really miss doing the normal things for her – changing her diaper, feeding her, tying her shoes, fixing her hair, scooping her up when she falls because she’s running too fast…and it’s hard to always see and rely on others to do this for you. Sometimes, in normal circumstances, it’s so nice to have a break from those things! But not in my situation, that’s for sure. I’d do anything to be able to just pick her up. But, I’ll wait and I know it will be so well worth it.
Lastly, we got the results from the gestational diabetes. It was borderline. SO...we have to repeat a more extensive test tomorrow...beginning at 4 am!!! I'm not kidding. I'm already "fasting" for it. Ugh. Really? So between 4 and 9 am, I will be woken every 30 minutes to every hour...with people drawing my blood 5 different times, giving urine samples 4 times (sorry, TMI) and drinking nasty glucose stuff. Oh my goodness, stop the madness, someone.
Praise God – tomorrow we’ll be 29 weeks!! Talk to you then…
Madison's teacher said she's really enjoyed playing with hula-hoops at recess lately...so of course, my Mom went out right away and bought her one. She brought it in the hospital...but did NOT want her picture taken!
Beautiful, bright sunflowers that Dirusha, Nicole and Vanessa brought to me when they visited last night - thank you, ladies!!! It was so great to chat and catch up and see you all!!
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