Usenet Writings

A Week Before Jordan was Born

©1992 Beth Weiss, Posted to misc.kids Usenet newsgroup, July 6, 1992

I wrote this when I found out I was about to have an induced labor.

Although my low platelet count (pregnancy induced ITP) hasn't given me any real problems during my pregnancy, the counts have continued to drop.  Apparently, the "normal" range is between 150,000 and 400,000.  My count is now about 70,000.

The worst part of this problem, actually, is that I've had to see a hematologist every week, and he's always late for our appointments. (Oh, and the weekly blood counts haven't been any fun--my arms look as if I'm a junkie or something)  As far as the medical profession currently knows, I'm at greater risk than the baby is, since the antibodies I'm creating that are killing my platelets are too big to pass through the placenta.

Last week, my OB sent me to a perinatologist.  The big concern, apparently, is that my counts will drop more before I go into labor, and that I would then require steroids to bring my platelets up high enough for me to get through labor without excessive bleeding.

Conclusion: I'm being induced Wednesday morning.   I check into the hospital Tuesday evening at 5pm, and I'm told they'll start induction at 6am on Wednesday.

I should have some great conclusion here, but basically, I can't believe it's really going to happen!