Wait and See
Went to see Dr. W. He did a blood test since I still have not actually "started". I didn't need to have blood drawn. I really think I know the answer. But, maybe I'm wrong. Still no bleeding, but I think I know why... I guess we wait until tomorrow for the test results and move on from there.
He said the other tests he did came back fine. Treatment for a subsequent pregnancy will be one injection of Heparin per day, baby aspirin, B6 and B12. He disagreed with Dr. M about continuing the baby aspirin. She said no, he said yes. He trumps her, so on we go with that. He said we'll start it as soon as we get a positive test.
It was interesting that he just came from a National OB conference and the MTHFR mutation was a pretty hot topic. I was just talking to some other moms and we are all still shocked that the medical community does not test for this mutation as part of the Triple Screen and/or other blood work done as standard practice at the beginning of a pregnancy. I saw a study recently that estimated about 25-35% of all pregnancies that ended in stillbirth and had been listed previously as "cause unknown" might be explained by this mutation alone. If you consider that the rate of stillbirth is higher than the rate of SIDS, that will give you some idea of this impact that testing might have. I just don't get it.
So, we hurry up and wait. Some more.
He said the other tests he did came back fine. Treatment for a subsequent pregnancy will be one injection of Heparin per day, baby aspirin, B6 and B12. He disagreed with Dr. M about continuing the baby aspirin. She said no, he said yes. He trumps her, so on we go with that. He said we'll start it as soon as we get a positive test.
It was interesting that he just came from a National OB conference and the MTHFR mutation was a pretty hot topic. I was just talking to some other moms and we are all still shocked that the medical community does not test for this mutation as part of the Triple Screen and/or other blood work done as standard practice at the beginning of a pregnancy. I saw a study recently that estimated about 25-35% of all pregnancies that ended in stillbirth and had been listed previously as "cause unknown" might be explained by this mutation alone. If you consider that the rate of stillbirth is higher than the rate of SIDS, that will give you some idea of this impact that testing might have. I just don't get it.
So, we hurry up and wait. Some more.
posted by MB @ 4:49 PM
3 Comments:
At 7:50 PM ,
Anonymous said...
That is unreal (the numbers, that is). Before Audrey, I never would have thought anything of it. Now it's a different story. And if they added that to a screening, you & Audrey would be reason enough to have it done. It sounds like you're going to be in good hands for this next pregnancy though - I'm so glad about that!
At 11:16 AM ,
Anonymous said...
I totally agree with KB. Before this happened to Audrey, I thought stillbirth was something that happened to our grandmothers before there was adequete prenatal care. I had no idea what the rates are were in comparison to SIDS. I wonder why they don't talk more about this stuff? Seems crazy not to include it in the screening.
At 11:32 AM ,
Anonymous said...
I think the reason they don't test for the mutation is that 44% of the population has one copy of it and 12% have 2 copies of it. From what I understand, most of the research now is directed at looking at what else is going on "downstream" of this mutation that has implications for pg and other health issues. But like KB said, you are in good hands and hopefully won't have any problems!
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