"Our Story"

Our daughter, Kylie, was born November 18, 2006. There were no complications during the pregnancy and everything seemed to be going great. The labor was a piece of cake, and we felt truly blessed to have such a beautiful daughter. During her newborn assessment, the doctor noticed her skin tone was yellow so they had a CBC drawn to check her bilirubin level. The CBC revealed a platelet count of only 20,000. (A normal platelet count should be around 200,000). Kylie was kept in the NICU for a few extra days while IVIG was administered. She responded very well to the IVIG treatment and has had no complications since.

This past Spring, Chris and I met with a perinatalogist for a prepregnancy counsult and testing to determine why Kylie's platelets dropped so low at birth. We found out that we have Neonatal Alloimmune Thrombocytopenia (NAIT). We were told the condition will impact each pregnancy and will also get worse with each subsequent pregnancy. There are many treatment options available which we were told would be discussed when we became pregnant so that a treatment plan can be tailored to meet our needs. Our second journey is about to begin...



10/26/10

Appointment 10/26/2010

I had another appointment with the Perinatalogist today and found out some good news! Since we are in the low risk group, we don't have to start the IVIG treatments until 20-24 weeks. I am 14.3 weeks today (according to the ultrasound) so that puts beginning the IVIG infusions around the beginning of December if we start at 20 weeks; however, I begged to start at 24 weeks so it would be after the holidays. This way if I experience any side effects from the IVIG it won't interfere with holiday plans. Once I start the infusions they will be once a week. I will also be started on Prednisone in December and will continue to take it until I deliver.

Second bit of good news...NO PUBS! Dr. Bennett said today that he feels there is actually more risk to doing a PUBS than if we did not do it. This was a very big relief to me since many of the websites about NAIT said it is highly controversial. If the baby's platelets were too low and a needle is inserted into the baby then there is a chance the baby could hemorrhage, need an immediate platelet infusion or c section, or possibly die.

Third...NO C SECTION, well hopefully not. Dr. Bennett stated today that according to the latest research they recommend inducing labor at 38 weeks. Unless I experience complications, I should be able to deliver the week of April 11th.

In the mean time, I will meet with the perinataolgist and have an ultrasound every two weeks. Intracranial bleeding is one of the biggest risks with NAIT so Dr. Bennett wants to monitor the baby as often as possible. We had an ultrasound today but they were not able to tell if it was a boy or girl yet. I have another ultrasound on November 11th so hopefully we will find out then!  Thank you everyone for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers!

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