Finding Out

For 18 months, I read everything I could about platelet disorders and the only thing that made sense was Neonatal Alloimmune Thrombocytopenia (NAIT). I was freaking out!! For one thing, the prognosis wasn't good. We would either have a 50% chance or a 100% chance of reoccurence and if we had another baby without treatments, the outcome was bleak. For another thing, the reality of what Jay managed to survive relatively unscathed sunk in. God we had come close!!! So close to losing him. I still don't think people realize just how close we came to our first born being fatally harmed by this disease. To this day, I still play the what if game. "What if he weren't born by c-section? What if we had waited one more day?". The what if game can drive you mad.

Last November, I called Dr. Yee to get advice about being tested for NAIT. He told me to try with my regular OB. I had already switched doctors from my delivering OB since he told me that what happened to Jay was a fluke and made me feel horrible about not breastfeeding Jay, which coincidentally was when his levels went up. (Antibodies are still passed in breast milk to baby and can possibly keep levels low.)

My new OB told me that if it was NAIT, then Jeff and I should not have anymore children. The treatments were so cumbersome. We should just count our blessings and move on. I was devastated.

I cried and cried, knowing I had always wanted two children of my own and here was someone, a medical doctor, telling me no. I called Dr. Yee back and he told me that was ridiculous. He referred me to Dr. Moise at Baylor in the Texas Medical Center. Dr. Moise is a Maternal Fetal Medicine doctor that specializes in fetal surgery and has done a lot with hematology and immune problems. Jeff and I went to meet with him in February of 2009 to have our blood drawn and sent off to Wisconsin. Then it was a waiting game.