10 weeks pregnant and drs arent listening!

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10 weeks pregnant and drs arent listening!
« on: August 02, 2013, 10:36:39 AM »
I am so glad I found this forum! I am 10 weeks pregnant and have thal minor. I have been told my whole life to not take iron supplements so when my OB called me yesterday in a panic about how anemic I was ( Hb at 9.2 and low hemocrit) and telling me I had to start taking iron right now - starting at 325mgs then increasing ina week to 650mgs - I told her no way. Good thing I did because they don't have the bloodwork.back yet with my actual iron levels . I will also talk to my doctor about increasing my folic acid intaKe. I take 800 right now. I also will mention the clotting problem Andy was talking about in other posts between the placenta and uterus. One question though, I realize there seems to be no way to raise your hemoglobin but does having such low hemoglobin affect the babies' development at all? And is there anything else I should be talking to my doctor about? And I get plenty of vitamin d, so I'm not too worried about that. Thanks for this website!

Re: 10 weeks pregnant and drs arent listening!
« Reply #1 on: August 03, 2013, 01:16:33 AM »
Hi,
Congrats on your pregnancy!   I have been told as long as your hemoglobin stays above 7 you are okay.  Mine was in the 8-9 range and I had a healthy baby boy.  I worried about my lower hemoglobin harming my baby as well, especially in the second trimester when I got dizzy and short of breath.  At that point I was referred to a hematologist, who was familiar with thal, and did find I was iron deficient in addition to my thal.  I was then given iron transfusions every other week, which helped a lot with how I was feeling.  I was also reassured the baby would be fine, as they take what they need and the mom is the one who feels the effects.  For my current pregnancy, I want to try to avoid the transfusions and am trying pure absorb iron water.  So far I haven't had any of the horrible side effects I had when I was trying to take the pill form iron.  Chances are you will need extra iron because of the demands of the pregnancy, but I would ask for a referral to a hematologist so they can monitor your iron levels. 
Best of luck with your pregnancy!
Crissy

 

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