What Happened?

Shortly after Alisha got out of the hospital from her appendectomy surgery, we returned to the hospital to consult with a high-risk pregnancy doctor that we'd worked with prior to Roscoe being born. Dr. Mentakis was the one who we started seeing once they discovered that Roscoe had IUGR.

Dr. Mentakis explained to us that the source of Roscoe's problems were in the placenta (which we knew) and were caused by blood clots (which we didn't know). He said that roughly 15% of Roscoe's placenta was blocked by blood clots, rendering it ineffective. This was discovered through a post-birth analysis of the placenta.

He said that since this clotting occurred, there's roughly a 90% chance of it happening again if we take no corrective action. The corrective action that he recommended was to start Alisha on low-dose aspirin before getting pregnant, and then once she got pregnant to give her daily heparin shots (blood thinner). You may remember that Roscoe was on heparin to prevent clotting in his pulmonary vein stent. Alisha would need to administer the heparin shot to herself, so we didn't like the sound of that. Dr. Mentakis claimed that if we followed the recommendation the likelihood of a reoccurrence would drop to 10%.

We consulted with a naturopathic doctor to get a second opinion and some alternatives. The naturopathic doctor said that we could use vitamin K (which would be in any prenatal vitamin), fish oil / omega3 fatty acids, and garlic as natural blood thinners. After consulting with some of her colleagues, she confirmed that we should follow the recommendation of heparin shots. Once Alisha started the shots, we could get a blood test done to confirm/deny that she has a blood clotting disorder that would effect the placenta again. The result of that test would determine whether she needed to stay on the heparin.

Another issue Alisha will have to work through is a hypoactive thyroid. Her thyroid levels were slightly off, and that could effect nutrition to any baby were she to get pregnant. The naturopathic doctor heavily stressed that we'd need to get Alisha's thyroid in check (either with medication or supplements) before she got pregnant again. Add to that the need for her C-section scar to fully heal internally, and we're at least 6 months out from any attempts to have more children. We are excited to get started, but we want to wait until the time is right. Our prayer has been for God to grant us more children, but to do so safely and in the right time.