Leggo My Preggo, 4G/4G!!

A little background on why I am starting this blog.....It all started 6 months ago.  2 days before Christmas of 2010, I found out that I was pregnant.  Surprised that it happened so quickly, my husband and I were ecstatic.  What a great Christmas gift!!!!  We waited patiently for the 8.5 week appointment - it felt like an eternity.  At the appointment, we found out that there was no heartbeat and the embryo was only measuring at 7.5 weeks.  Needless to say, this was the worst possible news.  With all things in life that our awful, you never think that it will ACTUALLY happen to you. 

I opted to have the D&C, despite my fear of being put to sleep.  I had never experienced any type of serious procedure up to this point.  Things that I learned:  the happy drug before surgery is the smartest thing every invented, eating 5 salads within the first week of the procedure gives you horrible gas.  Don't do it.  hahhaa.

It was finally all over, so I thought.

The next week, I received some of my blood work back from my appointment and found out that I had hypothyroidism so I went and saw an endocrinologist, had some tests and went on some meds.  No big deal, right?  Well, at the next appointment I found out that those tests showed that I had extremely high lupus anticoagulant levels.  More than my doctor who has been in practice for 40 years had ever seen.  Note to self:  Don't ever have a doctor's appointment on a Friday.  He tells me that I have to go see a Hematologist immediately.  A what??   

The next week again, I go to see what will soon be my new enemy/best friend - the hematologist.  I get more than 10 viles drawn..SICK.  Find out I don't have a lupus anticoagulant but instead an anti-phospholipid syndrome and a recessive 4G/4G genetic mutation.  Both of which research is still being done and not a whole lot is known about.  GREAT.  My Mom & Dad both get tested and we find out that my mom is also 4G/4G.  Now, she had 3 children with no problems, so I am going on that.  However, I also find out that whenever I do get pregnant again, I will have to give myself Heparin shots.  I was SHOCKED, dreading the whole idea of it. 

The 3rd and final issue?  When I had my first ultrasound, they found a fibroid outside of my uterus about the size of a large orange.  I am 5'3", 120lbs - so this thing is huge for me.  I was wondering why I had already been showing at 7 weeks!  It was pushing my uterus out to the side and making it stick out!  After the D&C, I had to decide if I wanted this taken out now or go ahead and try to get pregnant again and deal with it later as it just grows and grows.  They can get to the size of watermelons!!  They can also cause a lot of pain as well, so after much debate, prayer, and torturous decision making, I decided to go ahead and have my first "real" surgery.

Yay!  So the decision was made..well I thought it was made.  The hematologist was waiting on more blood work to find out about the 4G/4G so I had no idea whether or not I was actually going to have the surgery until a few days beforehand.  My surgeon talked to him the day of to figure out what we were going to do.  The solution?  blood thinner shots.  Arixtra is the name.  Because that is just awesome, giving yourself painful shots just an inch below where you had surgery.   The surgery went well..I had my first experience spending the night in the hospital and eating my first hospital food and taking baby steps down the hallway.  Once home, I did the shot once a day - well, my husband and brother - in law did it for me..I could NOT do it.  Got through it, though, healed nicely, and got the approval to start trying again!! 

Now that you have read my rather long tale of medical conditions in the last 6 months, I hope that this blog can give information and hope to those who have been in similar situations.  I could not find much about people who are pregnant with clotting issues and wanted to provide my own experience to anyone interested.  You are not alone!