Test results

Sigh. Nothing seems to be the same this time around in pregnancy. For the previous two, I had to have my tegretol levels monitored, but it was nothing much. Both times, I increased medication by 15% in month 6, responded well, then came right back down after delivery. So, I expected pretty much the same thing this time.

Sure enough, in month 6 my levels dropped enough to earn an extra pill a day. But the recheck in month 7 showed no response - my levels haven't come up at all. That is new. So now, I go up by another pill. Which would all be just a minor nuisance, except for the complicating factors.

I have also had a low platelet count throughout the entire pregnancy. Not dangerous, just borderline. Every month, my OB orders another CBC. Then after each one, I get a call from the nurse. "Your platelet count is low, so Dr. R just wants to recheck it next month." Okay. Makes sense to me. I wonder if she finds all the info, with which she apparently plans to do nothing, just randomly interesting? At least I am well used to blood tests, so I don't really mind all the extra pokes - but it is an annoying expense.

Well, the last few times, "low" platelets have gotten lower. Again, not dangerous, but definitely dropping, and now out of the range of "low normal" and into "low." And the bummer is, based on all my investigations for this pregnancy about low platelets, I now know that low platelet count can be a side effect of tegretol. So I feel a bit "damned if do, damned if don't."

I can't very well drop the tegretol and risk a seizure. Bad for me; very bad for the baby. But if it really is the culprit in my low platelet count, then it might very well be exacerbating a low platelet count for the baby that could already exist due to immune factors. Maybe this would push her over the edge into the "dangerous" levels. And now I find that I need to start taking a higher dose of tegretol than I have ever had before.

I reached 32 weeks today - 8 weeks to go. With these competing bad options before me, it starts to feel like a race to the finish line. At what point is this baby better off on the outside, early or not?

Ironically, in all other respects, this pregnancy feels like it is going really well now. I feel pretty good, overall. I have energy. I haven't gained too much weight. I don't have major aches or pains (almost no heartburn this time; no sciatica or lower back pain). As long as I don't have to smell Dawn dishsoap, the nausea seems under control. (I don't know why...it just is. We gave the Dawn away and I am much happier.) The baby moves lots every day, reassuring me of her continued vitality.

Well, tomorrow is our (probably?) last visit to the specialist OB (maternal fetal medicine). It is another ultrasound, and a consult to discuss cordocentesis, c-sections, and other delivery-related options. Maybe after tomorrow we will at least have the plan in place, and the timetable. That should help me to stop fretting over these other things that I really can't do anything about anyway.

Hang in there baby! See you at the finish line.