Hello everyone. Wow, what a very stressful few days it has been here. Thank you all who sent well wishes our way, I really appriciate all of your kind thoughts.
So .... let me get on with what has been going on here. I will try to start where I left off on Friday. As soon as my hubby came home we went to pick up the kids from school and drove directly to the Mayo clinic - the ride seemed to take forever but as soon as we got there, they were waiting for us and we were seen immediately. First before doing anything else, they wanted to do an ultrasound of the baby (everything for that went well and we even got new photos to share ... that is, soon as I scan them. )Next, I had to pee in a cup and get my blood drawn, finally after all that we got a chance to sit down with the doctors and have a good discussion about what was going on. It took me a bit of time, however -I finally understand it alot better than I did at first. Anyway, the problem that I seem to be experiencing is called "Allo-immuno-combo-cyto-penia" and basically what that means is that my body is making antigens that are or will cause the baby's platelette levels in the blood to drop. Sometimes it isn't bad and sometimes it can be very bad, it all depends on the number of platelettes in the baby's blood. Another way of saying it is like - my body's immune system is fighting against that of the baby's. Now, you may be asking how come this is a new thing (as I was) now ... like duh, this is our 5th child ..... so let me explain that too, however to do so I will have to start way back at the birth of Jordan - our 16 year old. Okay ... so, he, like I said is 16 .... he was born - full term - July 20th, 1991 and weighed 7lbs. 9 oz. ..... labor for him took just about an hour and he was and is still normal. (mostly - ha, ha, ha.) Brittany, our 2nd child - who is now 13, was born full term, November 21st, 1993 - weighing 6 lbs. 11 oz. and labor for her took about 45 minutes. The pregnancy's for both were normal. Hannah - our 10 year old - however was born premature at 34 weeks - on June 15th, 1997 - labor for her took just under half an hour and she weighed 5 lbs and 4 oz. I was pretty sick alot with asthma flare-ups and allergies most of the pregnancy, my parents whom we stayed with alot at the time (we had just moved from NJ to IN.) smoked liked feenes and my father would just not care blowing it directly at me, I had pneumonia as a result as well and was on alot of medications for that. When Hannah was born however, they had not yet done the test for group B Strep and when she passed through the birth canal she contracted the virus - 24 hours later - the virus had turned into Meningitis causing her to have several seizures and as we now have learned a stroke as well. Today she has many problems as a result of this. Her brain does not have good short term memory, and you must be very repetitive with her, even if you have told her something 10 times she may have trouble. After an MRI last year, they found a golf ball sized region in her brain that was deadened as a result of her stroke, this also causing her problems that she has had with her left foot and what resulted in her having her surgery to fix it. ( Her brain does not tell her foot how to grow - thusfore it was growing wrong, so surgery had to fix it. ) Anyway ..... until now we never conected the two as being one. So, with Cameron - we was born a little early as well, but at 36 weeks. My pregnancy with him was odd ... literally everyday I would throw up or have heartburn so bad I would cry, not until the end did we finally figure out that my body was doing what it is doing now. I am not kidding when I tell you that my son Cameron is the craziest two year old on the planet .... from the moment he started kicking in my belly - he LITERALLY did NOT stop ... then on October 4th of 2004, he did stop .... and I was quite alarmed, but thought that I would wait it out till morning to see if It were going to change, when no change was reached ... I went directly to the hospital where they informed me of the problem that I had ... my placenta possibly ruptured, baby heartbeat and motion were down and they must perform an emergency c-section. The date was october 5th and by October 6th we were being told that our blood types are what caused the problems, it was not an RH factor, however something different. ... they wereno longer compatible. So for all this time I never really understood what was going on .... that was until now. NOw I understand that since Hannah's birth where my body picked up the wrong messages to fight, it will forever continue to do so - no matter what the circumstances are. My body will produce the wrong antigens to fight in this situation. I never thought that this would still or could be an issue, but once the body learns this, it does not unlearn it. I think it would have been nice to know this before NOW.... but that isn't going to help at this point, ... no use in crying over spilt milk persay. Sooooooo ... what I have to do now is get treatments every week at the Mayo clinic ... yes, a one hundred mile drive every few days, but I have no choice. I have to have an IVIG done once a week for 4 weeks and it takes about 5-6 hours to get it all into your system in the infusion center. I am not really looking forward to it much. At the end of 4 weeks, they want me to come and stay at the hospital, delivering there - waiting for me to deliver, early or not. They say 34 weeks just as a precaution, but are hoping to make it as far as possible. Either way, they want for me to stay there. I am glad though that MAYO is one of the best health centers, (they say in the world) so for that, I am thankful - however, I will MISS my DR. here, he was a diamond in the rough.
As far as this pregnancy goes ... I feel - have felt - quite healthy, I have had no problems what so ever and only had morning sickness one time. I keep telling them that the Lord is on my side and that I know that the baby is okay - none the less, at 34 weeks I have to have an amnio done to determine the platelette level in the baby's blood. They will stick a needle, through my belly - into the baby's umbilical cord to draw blood to determine this. If the platelette level is above 50,000 - I can have a normal delivery, if it is under 50,000 they will have to do another c-section. So , here is praying that the platelette counts are over 50,000 - most of you know how I HATED my c-section. (OH BIG PRAYER INSERTED HERE )
So, my next appointment is this coming up Saturday, it will unfortunately take all day and that is going to drive me crazy. I tried to imagine sitting five hours doing nothing, but didn't get with that thought very far ... omg .... I will have to bring this laptop with an blog like ALL DAY !!!! Anyway - Just wanted to let you all know. I am glad to be home, it was one very long weekend and much to our dismay we returned home this evening only to have the neighbor lady arrive within five minutes - telling us off about things she didn't like us doing and her and my hubby getting into it. But ....anyway .... For tonight, (it's a long story) I will leave it at that and explain THAT all tommorrow. I swear --- sometimes things come all at once and other times they seem to good to be true ! I wish life would seriously make up it's mind !
I will be back tommorrow and will catch up on everyone's blog's as well ! Take Care all and have a great night !I promise, no more running around like a headless chicken !!!! Thank You all again for your nice comments, they really meant alot to me.
TAMMIE :o)
p.s. the picture is of a "bobble" chicken that Brittany bought for me with her own money - isn't it really cute ?!?!? I really liked it.
GOOD LORD .... I HOPE THIS BLOG MAKES SENCE ?!?!?!?!!?!
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