Hard Pill to Swallow

When my Dr. did all the tests after my last miscarriage we were told that all but one of the tests were normal and that one was only slightly elevated so the Dr. wasn't too worried about it. When we found out we were pregnant again we switched Dr's and I'm so glad that we did. Our current Dr. saw the elevated levels on that previous test and immediately referred me to an Haematology Specialist. I had that appointment today and I wish it was good news, but it wasn't. I have an autoimmune disorder called Antiphospholipid Syndrome or Hughes Syndrome. This causes my blood to become very thick and the platelets sticky so that blood clots form. Apparently what causes this is that I have abnormally thick blood to begin with and then when I was pregnant with Jordyn, my body didn't recognize Erik's genes in here so it made antibodies to help fight off what it thought was a disease. Those antibodies get confused as to what's me and what's not so it causes my blood to thicken and clot. Most likely what happened with our two miscarriage is that my body recognized that foreign protein and started making those antibodies again and the thick blood or a clot couldn't pass through the placenta so the babies essentially starved to death. Fortunately everything looks good so far in this pregnancy. We were able to see both babies heart beats at our ultrasound Monday. Due to this disorder and being pregnant with twins I'm considered high risk and will see my OB weekly and my Hematologist about every 6 week. I also have ultrasounds done every 3-4 weeks and blood work done almost monthly to test the thickness of my blood. To help the blood thin out I'm to take a low dose aspirin daily and then give myself 2 shots of Lovenox (a blood thinner) daily. When I see my Hematologist in 6 weeks he'll look at my blood thickness and decide if I can go down to 1 shot daily. I'll have to do the shots until the end of the pregnancy. I'm just glad that we have good insurance and the shots are covered. The pharmacist told me that not many insurance companies cover them and that they cost about $5000 a month (I had to pay $30).

Exciting News

For those of you who don't have facebook but read this blog we just found out that we're expecting TWINS!! They're due in November. We're excited (scared, nervous, and shocked as well). I'll post details later, along with updates from our trip to Utah a month ago, but I'm too tired right now.

Houston Rodeo

I logged on today thinking that I'd start relaying the details of our trip to Utah, but then I took a closer look at the blog and realized I've got more catching up to do than that. We'll go back to the first part of March and the Houston Rodeo and Livestock Show. This is a HUGE event in Houston, lasting about 3 weeks. To start things off this year, we went to the Rodeo parade (sorry no pictures, it was cold and I was trying to stay warm and keep J warm as well). J liked seeing all the horses, especially the police horses. About a week later we hit the livestock show and rodeo. J enjoys going to the birthing center to see all the baby animals that have been born that week and to the petting zoo. (this goat jumped right into Erik's lap). Erik and J were trying out the tractors, apparently J's a little scared of her dad's driving because after she quickly put her seat belt on. After a long afternoon at the livestock show we dropped J off with Erik's mom while we headed back to the rodeo. I've never been to a rodeo so it was cool to watch. Each night after the rodeo there's a concert, the night we went Tim McGraw was performing. We went back to the livestock show a couple more times, once with some friends of ours from church and then again with Erik's mom. On the trip with Erik's mom, J got to ride a few rides at the carnival. The carousel is always a favorite. She was so excited to be tall enough to ride this ride by herself, and here is her and her Mimi on the bumble bee ride.