And Speaking of Shots...

As I was looking through our blog recently, I realized that I haven't given a 'medical' update on all the crazy things going on! So here goes.

A year and a half ago, I was on a birth control pill to regulate my hormones. About 6 months into it, I ended up in the hospital for a week with bilateral pulmonary emboli (blood clots in both lungs) and pneumonia. While in the hospital, I was on heparin (IV thiner) and coumadin (pill thiner). Once the coumadin was doing it's job, I was taken off the heparin and sent home. For the next 9 months, I was on coumadin to make sure the clots didn't form again. I had to get tests (just a finger poke) every one to four weeks to monitor the thinning of my . After 9 months of this, my doctor did some follow-up work and determined that I have an abnormal clotting factor (protien s deficiency). Basically, my is fine under normal circumstances, but will clot when it's not supposed to when I'm on birth control or pregnant.

I didn't realize this until my OB went through my file about 9 weeks into my pregnancy. She referred me to a perinatal center at the hospital I will be delivering at. Since coumadin can be to the baby, my only option is to be on heparin. The only way to take it is through a shot in my legs or abdoment. The first couple months I shot up and down my thighs, but after successfully bruising every square centimeter of them, I decided to try my abdoment. That has proven to be much better. The brusing is minimal, but my growing belly looks like a war zone with all of the shot marks!

Bill has been a rock for me through this. I do my morning shot before he leaves for work because he wants to be there to help and make sure everything is OK. No matter where we are in the evening, he comes with me to do the shot (except when I had to give it in a movie theater bathroom, that was interesting!). It is so encouraging to know that he is right here with me and tells me often that he would gladly trade places with me if he could. I LOVE MY HUSBAND!

It took a little while to get the dosage right. I went through a week where I had pretty severe nose bleeds every few days. Now that the dose is right, the nose bleeds have stopped and I only have to have my tested every four weeks.

The wonderful part about all of this is since we are concidered a high-risk pregnancy, I will have an ultrasound every 4 weeks starting in the middle of March. We've already had a couple and even had one recorded on a DVD! So we have our first video of little B-Rob!

So, that's the update! Thank you so much for your prayers, encouraging calls and emails, and all around love! This has been a fun road, with a few bumps, but nothing unmanageable!