Friday, September 14, 2012

Kell, you are not my friend

I'm 12 weeks pregnant.  Still mostly sick.  I had one good week, it was glorious!  Then the puking resumed. Super lame.

I don't cook, my gag reflex is too touchy.  My poor family eats out mostly.  The dishes we do make sit there and sit there and sit there.  My dish doing time is the evening and evenings are the worst.  I just lay there and mentally stave off the up-chuck....unsuccessfully.

Now that you have been updated on my ongoing yuckiness, I really wanted just to get our pregnancy woe out on the floor.  I'm no good at hiding stuff, especially if it is affecting my life.

Ever heard of the Kell antigen?  It's kind of a problem for our baby right now.  The explanation is steeped in genetics-speak, so I'll keep it as simple as I know.  Ethan has the Kell antigen in (well, on) his blood.  Only 9% of people do.  So when I was pregnant with Ro, my body was introduced to it because she has Kell, like her Daddy.  For the record, there is nothing good, bad or indifferent about having it....unless you don't and your baby does.

Since then my body produced antibodies against it, it's like a foreign invader.  So my baby is like a foreign invader.  Not ideal.    This only becomes a problem if my antibody response becomes high.  Right now it's low.

High response means our baby becomes anemic and they would do a blood transfusion in-utero.  There is no risk of losing the baby.  There is no long term effects on the baby either.

Low response means that nothing happens.  I just go on with pregnancy like normal, deliver, etc.

So every month I get a blood test to see where my response is at.  And that's it.  There's nothing else they can do.  No prevention, no shot, no nothing.  Just waiting.

Crazy, right?

2 comments:

  1. Zephaniah 3:17 The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.

    And just maybe that singing might come from your little Ro..XOXO!!!!

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  2. Ugg on the sickness. Fingers crossed it goes away completely soon.

    Crazy on the Kell antigen. Wow on the in-utero blood transfusion. Yay modern medicine!

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