So our 28 week appointment went well. Blood pressure is good, measurements are right on track, had some bloods taken and a midstream test done. Turns out I have only gained 3.3lbs so far which is awesome! I was guessing it would be way more. We got to hear the heartbeat again, which has to be by far the best bit about each appointment.
We went home thinking all was good. Around 7pm we arrived at the restaurant where we were having a meal with a close friend and Will’s phone started to ring. It was my doctor… She was trying to get hold of me but couldn’t reach me on my number and decided to try his.
They had my blood results back and my Platelet count was really low. She told me that I had to go to the labour ward the next day to have more blood drawn so they could test again. At this point I was trying not to start crying at the table. I was freaking out not to say the least.
As soon as we got home I frantically googled everything I could about low Platelets and part of me wished I hadn’t as although much of it was alright and ended positively there were some poor women that ended up losing their babies and nearly their own lives because of it. Let’s just say that I didn’t sleep that night!
1.30pm came and we walk into the labour ward where I hand over my note and we take a seat. A few moments later we’re greeted by a lady that took us to a little curtained cubical in a room. She explained why I was there and said she would do a few tests to see how I am. She started by checking my blood pressure and that was fine. She then took two bottles of blood (after not being able to find a good vein). She also checked my pulse, now I don’t know what I was thinking about – all I think is because I had just had my blood taken but when having my pulse done the nurse got an odd look on her face. She was counting it and saying the usual “96, 97, 98, good” however it kept going… “99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109” she looked at me and asked if I felt ok and with that it dropped back down to 98. Very odd!!
The nurse had a feel of my tummy and told us that baby was head down (nice to know although I know babies keep moving around for a while yet). Will was surprised by this and said something that I can’t remember and she just looked at him and said “yes, babies do come out head first”. I couldn’t help but laugh at this which lightened the air a little.
We were then told we could go and make ourselves a cup of tea if we wanted and she left us to it. Some time passed and we got a drink and a pack of biscuits.
Finally after hours of waiting a different person came back to let us know that we have to go back in two weeks and be tested again as the results had not changed. She let me know that if they are still low then I will more than likely be put on steroids and if that doesn’t work then I will need a transfusion a few days before or while in labour.
So here we are again, waiting and hoping its better when we go back!
Just to let you know that a healthy Platelet count is between 150,000 and 400,000 and mine were at 52,000 (and only at 28 weeks pregnant) I started off with a count of 232,000 when I was 7 weeks pregnant so you can see how much they have dropped.
Fingers crossed for us please!!
