I tried to tell my OB back in June that I should get a full lab work up every 2 months or so, just because my blood doesn't "behave" like normal blood. My levels can get out of whack a lot faster than other people's. But they weren't having it. "You just had a CBC in April," said one OB I saw on 6/13. "You don't need one again yet." I tried to tell her that yes, I did in fact need one but.. anyway the point never got through so I didn't get a CBC, CMP or anything else for that matter.
So I got some of the results back on Wednesday evening, and I posted them here on the blog.
Yesterday I went in for my 1 hour glucose tolerance test at the OB's office. Basically I had to drink a small bottle of lemon-lime flavored sugar water and then get a blood draw an hour later to see if I am likely to have gestational diabetes. At this time they also do an iron test. The drink was pretty gross, and you can be sure I fretted about how many calories were in it! (There was no nutrition information printed on the bottle. Freak out!)
The good news is: I don't have gestational diabetes! Hooray!
The bad news is: I got the rest of my lab results from my ND and they don't look so great.
The OB's office called me within 2 hours of my returning home to inform me that I'm anemic. No surprise there! My ferritin (storage) only went from 13 to 20 in 5 months, even with my drastically reduced exercise, prenatal vitamins and increased food intake. The last time I cut back on exercise was on my honeymoon in October/November of last year, and it went from 7 to 73 in three weeks! I had a suspicion that my iron might be low based on the very minimal movement from my ferritin. If Mara is sucking all my nutrients out (as she should), then my body is going to turn to it's reserves to replete. She took all my iron, so I turned to ferritin. Hence why it's so low. At least that's my theory.
Also I have very low protein/albumin, low potassium and a high white blood cell count. My instructions are:
-Take iron supplement (great, more nausea/constipation. Just what I needed!)
-Take vit C supplement
-Eat potassium rich foods AND take a potassium supplement
-Double prenatal vitamin dosage
-B12 shots once every two weeks
-Increase food intake (you can be sure I'm not happy about that)
-Greatly increase protein
To add insult to injury (or to add injury to bad blood counts??) I got the Tdap vaccination yesterday. Not only can I not lift my arm higher than my shoulder because it hurts, but I am running a low-grade fever, feeling incredibly fatigued and nauseated. These are all common side effects of getting a Tdap while pregnant. (Aren't you all so excited to have kids now, if you haven't already?? Lol!) Thankfully, THOSE issues don't affect the baby and they only last about a day! Whew!
The very best news out of all of this, though, is that Mara is doing GREAT! She is growing perfectly, measuring about a week ahead, and kicks like crazy all day long. Sweet little thing. I love her so much. :)
The moral of this story is this: Never again will I defer to the judgement of my OBs in place of my own. Clearly they don't understand what chronic anorexia can do to someone's body. I do. I may not be the very best at "listening to my body" all the time, but I know how my body acts and reacts most of the time. I'm sure, after this pathetic lab result, they will listen to me in the future and just order the damn CBC and CMP. It's much easier just to do what I asked. You don't want to piss off a pregnant mama bear anyway -- it might just be the last thing you do! :P
HAPPY WEEKEND!!!! :) :) :) xoxoxo
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