As you all know we have been trying for quite sometime to be lucky enough to get pregnant after the loss of our beautiful little man Carter who passed away in June last year. After a long and painful few months we decided that we would like to try for another child.
Unfortunately for us nothing is simple!!!
We consulted our Doctor in Christchurch who works at ChCh Fetal Maternal Medicine, who informed us that while not impossible it would be very difficult for me to carry a child. My blood platelets are a very rare type and while pregnant with Carter they attacked his blood platelets - which caused him to bleed internally. This will ALWAYS happen when I get pregnant so all we can do is try and treat the disease, which out of interest is called Neonatal Alloimmune Thrombocytopaenia (NAIT)
So far the best known treatment is weekly 12 hour infusions of Immuno-globin through a line left in my chest and blood transfusions for the baby while still inside my tummy....followed by prem delivery by c-section.....coupled with a large dose of steroids to shut down my immune system. If we complete the treatments we were told we have a 70% chance of delivering a live baby!!
So that leads me to one thing....we are nearly ten weeks pregnant and will be starting treatment in the next two weeks!!
If anyone wants to read what we are up to - or wants to leave us any messages please feel free xxxx <3
Hi Kirsten
ReplyDeleteHuge congratulations on getting to the 20 week mark on your pregnancy. How exciting.
I've just been talking to a friend of mine in Hokitika and telling her that I was 20 weeks pregnant in Auckland and have a condition called NAIT and she recalled your story in the local paper and forwarded to me.
I start treatment next week (IVIG)and have completed a ton of my own reasearch on the condition because it appears so rare that no-one could answer my questions. I too have been told to expect an early delivery via ceasar and no decision has been made as yet as to the use of steriods. I have a 2 year old son who was born with very low platelet count which triggered the HPA test that confirmed I have the condition. I would love to correspond with you and/or offer any support.
All the best
Colette