New Baby Marx Due April 2013!

Yep we are pregnant! And oh my goodness we are EXCITED! And nervous, thankful, happy, scared every emotion you could possibly feel and then some.  I found out August 1st when I took a pregnancy test on a hunch.  I just felt pregnant even though I wasn’t supposed to miss my cycle until the 3rd.  And surprise! It was positive.  I took a second one just to confirm.  I had a hunch but still didn’t really expect it to be positive.  So my due date is April 9th making me now almost 7 weeks!

Here’s pics of our first ultrasound confirming the pregnancy:

I was able to get in last week and while the doctor didn’t expect to be able to hear a heartbeat yet we were both pleasantly surprised to see and hear a little heart fluttering! It’s absolutely amazing to see something so teeny tiny with a little heart already beating.

If you don’t already know, our pregnancies are high risk.  We have one beautiful 3 year old, Caden, whom we almost lost after he was born.  A second son, Christian, who is in Heaven.  We lost him at 21 weeks due to hydrops.  And our third pregnancy sadly ended before it really began when I had a miscarriage at 5 weeks.  

So it’s really strange to say that this is our fourth pregnancy!

Now here’s the why we are so high risk. I have two antibodies that attack the baby’s red blood cells.  The first is – D antibody.  Otherwise known as Rh-, or Rh disease.  I have O- blood and Jeremy has O+.  Typically when the mother is negative, she is given a shot called rhogam to prevent the antibodies from forming.  This shot is given at 28 weeks and again when the baby is born.  However before I could get the shot they found the antibodies in my blood.  Meaning there must have been some sort of minor internal bleed causing mine and Caden’s blood to mix therefor my body created antibodies against the “foreign” O+ blood. I suspect this bleed was from my placenta previa. (yes another rare occurrence in a first pregnancy). Once your body creates antibodies they are always there.  So this rhogam shot would now no longer be able to work for me.  Bummer.  This is why Caden was in the NICU after he was born.  He was born severely jaundiced and needed a total of 3 blood transfusions. 

Once we found out we were pregnant with Christian we knew to expect the –D antibody.  What we did not expect was to find out I now also had the Kell antibody.  Exposed to it from Caden’s birth.  This antibody is not common at all because over 90% of people are kell negative. Kell is a phenotype in our blood.  Most people are K+k- or K-k+.  Jeremy is K+k+.  Because I am negative for Kell my body formed an antibody against it.  This antibody also attacks the baby’s red blood cells, but this one also prevents them from re-forming. 

SO, what do we do about it? Lots of monitoring and most likely intrauterine transfusions.  We cannot do transfusions until 18 weeks but it is preferred to wait until 20 weeks because the baby will be bigger therefor the procedure slightly easier to perform.  I will have doppler ultrasounds starting out once a week and as we get further into the pregnancy, twice a week to monitor the baby’s blood flow and signs of hydrops.  If they see the baby needs a transfusion they will perform it by going in through the umbilical cord.  Once I get the first transfusion I will then continuously need them every two weeks until the baby is big enough to deliver.  If I remember right they want to get to at least 32 weeks.  And yes there is a risk that the baby might not handle the transfusion but that risk is a lot smaller than if we don’t do it. 

Are you still there? I know this is A LOT.  I still sometimes get confused and I have to explain this to a lot of people who ask. 

SO WHY then did we share the news so early? I mean if there’s so many risks, why not wait until after the first trimester? A few reasons.  After our last miscarriage, we had just found out, and were making plans to wait a while and share the news in a fun way and then a week later I miscarried and instead had to “double whammy” everyone with the news that we were pregnant but now we’re not.  I felt like it cheapened the whole thing.  Made that pregnancy, while it was still so very early, seem like it didn’t matter.  But it did!  I would much rather have experienced the JOY of sharing with everyone and then the disappointment later after we learned we lost it.  Instead it was an awkward, sad conversation over and over and over again. 

Second, our risks aren’t just in the first trimester.  They are throughout the WHOLE thing.  So why not enjoy it from the start with everyone that loves us and our family?  We may not have very long before something happens and I would much rather have the support and prayer of our family and friends than nothing at all. 

We are confident in God’s plan for us and this baby, no matter the outcome. We still don’t understand why we lost Christian, but we continue to trust and have faith! 

If you made it this far thank you for reading and caring about us enough to try and understand what we’re dealing with.  There is more that I’ve learned of recently regarding procedures and such but I think this post is long enough!  I’ll save that info for another time so you can process all this!

Lots of love,

Jessi