AB-

July 10, 2009
The walk the other day was a great idea (Thanks, Mom for dragging me outside!). I was actually able to do some laundry and chores that day. Husband was quite pleased. I need to be walked every day now. Anyone?

My sister also stopped by to visit me. Somebody told me she felt sorry for me because my blog is so depressing. I didn't think it was that bad. It's my current reality. If it causes you to think twice about getting pregnant, then I have done my job. This is really not fun and I don't think I want to do it again. We can adopt if we want more.

(Warning- Graphic paragraph to follow)

I think my morning sickness is getting worse. I've tried eating every hour or two to keep my stomach full, but I think it just gives me more to throw up at night. Last night was pretty rough, I started dry heaving because I ran out of stuff to throw up. Lovely, I know. Tonight, Husband and I actually went out to a nice dinner with friends. I made it through the meal and started to feel sick toward the end. I rushed Husband out of there and ended up throwing up in the car on the ride home. Good thing I had my handy dandy barf bag stashed in my purse, or it would have been a major disaster. I do have leather seats, though. Once home, I continued to review my dinner in the toilet. Three weeks or less and this part is supposed to end, right? That will put me into the next trimester when the happy times are rumored to begin. I want the happy times.

(OK, graphic part is over.)

I also discovered through my various lab tests that I am part of 4% of Caucasian women. I have rare blood, AB-. Remember how they used to do blood tests before you got married? It was to make sure you and future husband were compatible to have children. I think they stopped because now they have drugs to make you compatible.

Back to me being rare. A person can be either positive or negative blood type. This is called your Rh factor. If my husband has the same negative Rh factor, then our baby also will, and everything will be fine. The chances of this are super slim. If he is positive, baby will most likely also be positive. This is fine, unless something happens and my blood and the baby's blood mixes (usually this doesn't happen until labor and delivery). If our blood mixes, my body will think the baby is an intruder and build up antibodies to get rid of it. Not a good situation. So doctors got together and developed a drug or something called Rhogam, which tells my body not to build these antibodies. I get a shot of this between 20 and 28 weeks, I believe. So first baby should be fine. However, should we choose to have another, my body might build antibodies right away, or already have them since first baby was delivered. Thus, the second pregnancy will be considered high risk and I'll be closely watched. I asked the doctor if my husband should get his blood tested to find out his Rh factor, and she said I would be getting the shot regardless as a precaution, so he didn't have to get tested. They will check me later on to see if I have built up antibodies, and we will go from there.

Am I just a wimp, or is pregnancy really this complicated?