Tired and sore, despite napping for pretty much the rest of yesterday... feeling a little dumb because I'm so surprised that a needle straight through my abdomen might ache a bit. Managed to make a few trays of celebratory cupcakes for the office over at Baylor - apparently how I utilize my nervous energy as of late.
On to the nitty gritty... had the follow up appointment this morning and I can't recall if my MCA was ever this low during this pregnancy! Looks like for the time being, Geo's blood is as thick as molasses!! The expectation is that his hematocrit will drop about a point a day and that keeps us in line for another transfusion in 2 weeks.
An additional development is that during testing, they found that Geo's blood had a pretty low reticulocyte (basically, brand spanking new or immature red blood cells, fresh from the marrow) level. This kind of reaction is more commonly seen in Duffy's big, badass older cousin, Kell (another of the many proteins that are found on a red blood cell). Ken & I have always been thankful to be dealing with Duffy and not Kell. When Kell is an issue, not only are the fetus' red blood cells broken down, it screws with its ability to make new ones (again, the reticulocytes). Bad news. As a side note, there is a theory floating around that Henry VIII was Kell positive and had a genetic disorder, McLeod syndrome, which is linked to Kell as well. This would explain the many late-term miscarriages, fertility issues, and his drastic physical and mental decline.
So my damn Duffy is screwing around, trying to be like badass Kell. Why can't I be freaking normal, fer crying out loud? The doc seemed a little surprised. At this point, I can't say that I am. Dammit.
Anyway, this development doesn't mean much in the long-term... just that the little guy might need another transfusion after he's born in addition to the ones he gets before birth.
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