Blood test

So, I had my gestational diabetes blood test last week. They were supposed to call me with the results on Wednesday, but I didn't hear from them... So, I called them and spoke with the doctor's office on Thursday. Turns out that my glucose test came back fine, BUT..... there was something weird with the other test results. (I didn't realize that in addition to a glucose test, they also ran a CBC - complete blood count.)

My blood type is AB negative. The negative part means that I don't have any of a specific antigen on my red blood cells. This normally isn't a huge deal - I just have to get a shot at 28 weeks and one again after the delivery to prevent my blood from developing antibodies to any positive blood cells (from the baby) that may have mixed with my blood during the pregnancy or during delivery itself. Weird thing is - they drew my blood just before I got the shot, and the results came back saying that my body already has some of these positive fighting antibodies in my blood. This doesn't really make any sense. According to the brochure that the nurse handed me at my appointment, I shouldn't have any of these positive antibodies, but sometimes, pregnant women develop these antibodies for no apparent reason, but usually not until the last few weeks of pregnancy. That is why they give the shot at 28 weeks. Weird deal though - I already have them in my blood.

So, my doctor's office sent my blood to Seattle to run further tests. They determined that it has a very weak level of antibodies present, and recommended monitoring my blood once per week for 3 weeks to see if anything changes. They seem to think that the fetus should be OK if my hemoglobin (the measure of the oxygen carrying capacity of the RBC) and hematocrit levels (something to do with the ratio of RBC to that hemoglobin level) stay OK. I am still trying to understand what all this means for me and for the baby. I need to do some on-line research to see what I find. My doctor and the hematologist that he consulted with are a bit baffled as to why I would have have these antibodies in my blood. I don't like being a mystery - I want to be a textbook case. Of course, you start looking at worse case scenarios - like the baby being born with crazy hemolitic diseases where they need to have a complete blood replacement blood transfusion.... Makes you crazy. As Andy said, I think this is just the beginning of being a parent - worrying about everything for your kids...

I'll keep you posted as we get results next week - probably not until Wednesday or so.

On the other side of things - After 5 hours at the dealer, we bought a new Honda CRV for Andy! I'll try to get a picture of it tomorrow. The one we wanted is actually at another dealer, so we will go pick it up tomorrow. We got to drive a different one home tonight - how fun - Andy didn't want to park it - he wanted to drive it some more! There's something about having a brand new car - Neither of us have ever owned one before...