[lauren in hi]

I know things could be much, much worse, esp. w/ the recent riots in Thailand & Gustav. So, I should not be complaining...I'm just a little bit frazzled right now. Brant decides he wants to change the faucet fixtures in the kitchen because it was leaking. But, when he went to turn off the hot water valve (main switch), he accidentally broke it & hot water was pouring out into our kitchen. It was a huge mess, and he managed to fall into one of the cabinet doors under the sink and break off the hinges and break the paper towel holder at the same time. So he had to turn off all our water. Luckily Abs is staying with the ILs tonight so I at least got to pee when I went to drop her off.

Then on my way home, my dr. calls (he's really good about following up w/ patients), and I guess they found a problem w/ my last set of bloodwork. Apparently I have alpha thalocemia (sp?) & my last dr. (I won't name names, but KAISER gave me so many problems w/ my last pregnancy) should have caught it. So I guess it's a form of anemia. Brant has to have his blood tested, but because of his ethnicity, my dr. thinks it'll be okay. (Apparently it's more common in Chinese & Filipinos and I have traces of both in me.) But, I may need to speak to a genetic counselor. I am ready to cry right now b'c I have been so worried during this pregnancy, and I am just hoping that everything will be fine.

Luckily Brant finally got the fixture off (because he couldn't do it earlier) and I guess he & his friend left to go get a new one & maybe some other stuff. So he thinks we should have water soon. Let's hope so, because if not, I'm sleeping at the ILs w/ Abby!


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[ShannonMVT]

Aww, Lauren, I am sorry. Sounds like a really bad day. I would be upset about the water situation as well, what a pain.

I wouldn't worry too much about the alpha thalassemia. There are 4 different forms of it and the 2 least severe forms (you are most likely to have the less severe ones) don't really pose a big problem. The main thing is that your red blood cells are a little smaller than normal. And since Brant is most likely normal, it should be fine for the baby as well.

[A*LOT*OF*HOPE]

Oh Lauren, Im so sorry about your test results, Im sure everything will be fine!!! I just had to read the beginning of this post to Dh, that is something that would happen to him, im glad he finally got the fixtures off though!!

[lauren in hi]

Aww, Lauren, I am sorry. Sounds like a really bad day. I would be upset about the water situation as well, what a pain.

I wouldn't worry too much about the alpha thalassemia. There are 4 different forms of it and the 2 least severe forms (you are most likely to have the less severe ones) don't really pose a big problem. The main thing is that your red blood cells are a little smaller than normal. And since Brant is most likely normal, it should be fine for the baby as well.

[/b]

Thanks, hon. I was kind of freaked 'cause I googled after I posted & it said if my baby has it, there is nothing I can do for him/her. That really had me freaked out. I am just trying not to throw up right now...I don't feel good, and I don't want to think about the no water situation. I think I'm going to lie down now!

[soImarriedAnerd]

My first question is do YOU have active anemia? If you say no or sometimes I am close but nothing that needs treatment your most likely 1 or 2 gene alpha thalassemia-WHICH IS GREAT! 3 gene would make you need treatment possible blood transfusions. 4 gene you don't usually live much past birth (so you can't have that!). Since you didn't know you had this to me that means you can really only have 1 or 2 gene type. If DH doesn't have issues either then tops he would have gene 2 (IF he even has it). So your looking at possible baby needing to take a daily iron supplement if that. I think you should be good and safe. Here is a quick user friendly article on it (http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/t...topic-overview)

Sucks about your water, hope it gets fixed soon!

[Mars]

WOW!! That's a lot to deal with!! I don't know anything about the anemia thing so I can't really comment on that but I do hope it's not anything major.

As for your leaks, I hope you get that resolved realy soon.

[thepinkleprechaun]

Oh my....I would be Sooo mad at DH!

As for the anemia thing, I'm sure your little bean will be okay. He or she might just have the same thing as you have, and you never noticed until now right!?

[Garfieldbear]

I'm so sorry about this news...........

[lauren in hi]

My first question is do YOU have active anemia? If you say no or sometimes I am close but nothing that needs treatment your most likely 1 or 2 gene alpha thalassemia-WHICH IS GREAT! 3 gene would make you need treatment possible blood transfusions. 4 gene you don't usually live much past birth (so you can't have that!). Since you didn't know you had this to me that means you can really only have 1 or 2 gene type. If DH doesn't have issues either then tops he would have gene 2 (IF he even has it). So your looking at possible baby needing to take a daily iron supplement if that. I think you should be good and safe. Here is a quick user friendly article on it (http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/t...topic-overview)

Sucks about your water, hope it gets fixed soon![/b]

Thank you for the info. I am just wondering now if I should be letting other people in my family know in case they have it too...like my brother? He's single right now, but it's not inconceivable that he could have kids someday. I know I must have gotten it from my dad because my mom is 100% Japanese. And then even if my kids don't have it, they could be carriers & possibly pass it to their own children someday?

I hate to complain about Kaiser b'c I'm sure some people love that HMO, but I am so mad that they didn't even tell me this. It's something I would have liked to have known.

And about the anemia--I had been told before that I was borderline...I am not as "strong" as other people. I am prone to headaches, nausea, lightheadedness kind of things more so than the "normal" person. And I had a cerebral cyst bleed in 2000 & my dr. said after that I probably would never be 100% so I have kind of chalked it up to that. But I think it might be more so from the anemia.

Oh yeah, and....I HAVE WATER NOW!!!! Didn't have it back on till almost 10 p.m., though!

[soImarriedAnerd]

Thank you for the info. I am just wondering now if I should be letting other people in my family know in case they have it too...like my brother? He's single right now, but it's not inconceivable that he could have kids someday. I know I must have gotten it from my dad because my mom is 100% Japanese. And then even if my kids don't have it, they could be carriers & possibly pass it to their own children someday?

I hate to complain about Kaiser b'c I'm sure some people love that HMO, but I am so mad that they didn't even tell me this. It's something I would have liked to have known.

And about the anemia--I had been told before that I was borderline...I am not as "strong" as other people. I am prone to headaches, nausea, lightheadedness kind of things more so than the "normal" person. And I had a cerebral cyst bleed in 2000 & my dr. said after that I probably would never be 100% so I have kind of chalked it up to that. But I think it might be more so from the anemia.

Oh yeah, and....I HAVE WATER NOW!!!! Didn't have it back on till almost 10 p.m., though!
[/b]

I would let anyone in your family about it-some are probably carriers. I'm a borderline anemic also-i can feel when its low and I just try to eat little better or take my vitamin more regularly. When i get bad I crave laundry detergent and potting soil (this is NORMAL that people crave to eat these two weird thing if they are anemic! LOL).

YEAH FOR WATER!!!!!!

[ShannonMVT]

When i get bad I crave laundry detergent and potting soil (this is NORMAL that people crave to eat these two weird thing if they are anemic! LOL).[/b]

Wow, crazy! But I think I've heard of that before.

I don't know of any genetic component to it, but if I don't take multivitamins every day, my iron gets super low.

Lauren, I agree it would be good to let others in your family know about it.

[soImarriedAnerd]

Shannon mine isn't genetic either, many women just have anemic issues-its pretty common.