So, here's my excuse for not updating this blog recently:
The heir to the Rolland fortune is due on Mother's Day, 2017. Needless to say, they're following this pregnancy very closely. Not only do I go to the usual pre-natal appointments (where the nurses are great about calling my rheumatologist with questions), but I have a maternal-fetal medicine specialist, who specializes in high risk cases. Which any lupus patient is, by definition. He says, however, that the fact that I am in remission makes it far more likely that the baby will be ok; generally lupus patients have an increased rate of miscarriage.
The good news is that my disease is under control, that I have good health care coverage, and that my rheumatologist very carefully tapered me off my immunosuppressants in preparation for this. Doing so took several months, but was necessary because drugs like CellCept can harm a fetus. I am still taking plaquinel, as it decreases the chance of something going wrong. Also, I do not have SSA/SSB autoantibodies or anti-phospholipid syndrome, which are strongly associated with neonatal lupus and other problems. So we're crossing our fingers and hoping for the best.
The heir to the Rolland fortune is due on Mother's Day, 2017. Needless to say, they're following this pregnancy very closely. Not only do I go to the usual pre-natal appointments (where the nurses are great about calling my rheumatologist with questions), but I have a maternal-fetal medicine specialist, who specializes in high risk cases. Which any lupus patient is, by definition. He says, however, that the fact that I am in remission makes it far more likely that the baby will be ok; generally lupus patients have an increased rate of miscarriage.
The good news is that my disease is under control, that I have good health care coverage, and that my rheumatologist very carefully tapered me off my immunosuppressants in preparation for this. Doing so took several months, but was necessary because drugs like CellCept can harm a fetus. I am still taking plaquinel, as it decreases the chance of something going wrong. Also, I do not have SSA/SSB autoantibodies or anti-phospholipid syndrome, which are strongly associated with neonatal lupus and other problems. So we're crossing our fingers and hoping for the best.
Boy or Girl?
I have to admit I'm not a huge fan of the "gender reveal" parties. If that's your thing, go for it. But it's not ours, so I'll just say that I had cell-free genetic testing done (which is fantastic--they can draw the mother's blood and make sure that the baby doesn't have any trisomies like Down's Sydnrome), and found out that it's a genetically health boy.
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Congratulations! You will be such a caring, loving mother! I wonder if you know anyone who will immediately start knitting baby stuff . . .
ReplyDeleteI'm expecting a granddaughter in January, and her parents went through a bit of an ordeal because her nose bone wasn't showing up on the ultrasound--and sometimes that's related to Down Syndrome. But the blood test showed very little chance of any problems, so they have calmed back down. I'm glad they can do that without an invasive test now.
Be sensible, follow your doctor's orders, blah, blah, blah. And enjoy it all you can!
Luckily, I was able to get cell-free testing and so I know that the baby doesn't have Down Syndrome or any other triploidy. It's fantastic that they can test now without having to do an amniocentesis or anything else that might cause miscarriage!
DeleteHooray! So very thrilled for all of you!
ReplyDeleteThanks! We're excited!
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