I'm currently 32 weeks pregnant. Up until last week, the pregnancy had been normal and uneventful. I have been more tired than usual, but with three kids running around, that's not too surprising.
A couple weeks ago I went to my appointment to do the glucose tolerance blood test, and I of course expected a normal result. When the doctor called a few days later to discuss my blood test results, I was sure she was going to tell me that I had gestational diabetes. I immediately started to think about having to test my blood sugar and stop eating sugar and, worst of all, stop drinking pop. Turns out, however, that I was negative for diabetes, but they had found an antibody in my blood.
"What does that mean?"
I asked the same thing.
I knew that at the beginning of my pregnancies they always take a bunch of blood and run tests on it, but I really didn't know or understand what they are checking for. Turns out that these antibodies are part of what they test for. For those who don't know what that means, let me explain the best I can:
Sometimes, during the birth of a baby, the baby's blood will get mixed with that of the mother. If the baby's blood has proteins that the mother's blood does not, it can cause the mother's blood to develop antibodies against the "foreign" blood protein. It treats that protein like an invader and builds these antibodies to attack the invaders. In rare cases, the blood can somehow mix during the actual pregnancy, which is what happened in my case. My blood tested negative for antibodies at the beginning of the pregnancy, but by the third trimester the E antibody has shown up. Which means that my baby has the E protein, but my blood doesn't. Somehow, some of the baby's blood leaked through the placenta and mixed with mine, causing my blood to build the antibodies against it.
The danger comes if the antibodies cross back over the placenta and attack the baby's blood. This usually doesn't happen, but because it can cause severe anemia in the baby if it does happen, the doctors like to monitor very closely to make sure the baby isn't being harmed. I had a specialized ultrasound last Tuesday and was told that the baby is fine for now, but they want to check again in two weeks. If the antibodies do start to harm the baby, they will either have to deliver the baby early or do a blood transfusion on the baby while she is still in the womb.
My body will always have these antibodies. If I have any more pregnancies in the future, and the babies have the E protein, the same thing can happen to them.
So this is the science lesson I learned this week. Luckily, this E antibody isn't usually a problem, and the doctors are optimistic that the baby will not be harmed. Still, I was much happier when the pregnancy was not labeled a "high-risk" pregnancy and I didn't have this to worry about.
Still, I'm sure things will work out. Those of you who think of it, you could pray for our little girl, that this antibody won't pass over and attack her blood. Pray that the ultrasound next week will show that she is fine, and that they won't have to deliver her early. And please pray that I won't waste much time worrying about things that might be.
In the Silence
1 year ago
