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Baby boy is still doing great and handled his third IUT like a pro. My third IUT was a little bit more dramatic than the others but in the end everything was fine. We found out that I did develop a second antibody and it’s called anti-Kidd (jkb) antibody. This makes it more difficult to find blood for me since they now have to match donor blood with both of these antibodies. The blood bank worked all last weekend trying to find donor blood that matched mine and finally called Dr Trevett the night before the transfusion to tell him they got it! Well, the next morning I arrived at 5:30 am for the IUT and started getting ready for the procedure. Here I am with my GIANT belly at 32 weeks and 2 days:

Dr Trevett came in with a really frustrated look on his face. He said after all that work to find the right blood, the courier had forgotten to drive it to the hospital so there was no blood for the baby. This meant that we would miss our 7:00 time slot in the operating room. The courier was doing his best to get the blood to the hospital so all we could do was wait. There is a 24 hour time limit for when you can safely use the donor blood after collecting it, so the clock was ticking. It was stressful to wait and not know if the blood would get there in time. The hours leading up to an IUT are difficult anyway because it is a somewhat dangerous procedure and I never know how it’s going to go. Since I had a bad experience with my very first IUT ever in Alabama, it is often hard to feel hopeful. I never felt Lucy move again after her IUT and the doctors would not scan her again for a week. Lots of fears go through my mind before every IUT. Is baby’s heart rate going to plummet when they stick the needle into the cord? Is he going to develop a blood clot? Will they have to do an emergency c-section in the middle of the procedure? Would they get him out in time? There are so many what-ifs so it was difficult to have added stress during that time. I got a sweet text from another mom who has been through several IUTS who I helped through her own kell pregnancy. She shared a verse with me and encouraged me. I knew many of you were praying for us and that gave me strength. We finally were told that the blood had arrived and we had an OR room booked for 12:00. The hours ticked by and finally a little after 12:00 Dr Trevett walked in looking super frustrated again (poor guy had a long day!) He said there had been two emergency crash c-sections and we now did not have an operating room available but the 24 hour window to use the donor blood was about to close. Our only safe option was to do the IUT in an ultrasound room, which would mean I couldn’t have the sedative/pain medication for the procedure since we weren’t in the OR. It also meant if baby went into distress they couldn’t deliver right there, they would have to move me up to a different floor to an operating room before getting the baby out. The other choice was to let the blood expire while we waited for an OR to open up, then the blood bank would have to search for more donor blood that matched my antibodies. It could take days to get the blood and in the meantime baby would be getting more and more anemic, which would obviously be very dangerous. I agreed with Dr Trevett that we just needed to go ahead with the procedure in the ultrasound room so baby could get the blood he needed.

I really struggled with my anxiety at that point but two verses came to mind that helped. The verse my friend had shared with me earlier that day:

Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6,7

And this simple verse that I love:

For He Himself is our peace. Ephesians 2:14

I made a conscious effort not to focus on the fear or the list of things that could go wrong and instead to find things I was thankful for. “Thank you Lord that I’m not in Houston trying to get an intrauterine blood transfusion in the middle of a disaster. Thank you for Dr Trevett and his patience, his kindness and his competence. Thank you for getting my son all the way to 32 weeks alive. Thank you for another chance to trust you in a difficult situation.” These small offerings of thanks brought me great comfort. I also thought of the other verse I mentioned, “He Himself is our peace. He is my peace. He’s bigger than the situation and the fear and the risks. He is my peace and He’s right here with me.” These thoughts calmed me, although they didn’t calm the contractions that started coming more frequently as I was moved into the ultrasound room for the procedure. The contractions kept coming throughout the procedure, which was really annoying and painful (having a long needle going through your uterus during a contraction is not something you want to feel.) Thankfully Dr Trevett and Dr Gomez, who was assisting, were very careful and patient working to get the blood into baby’s umbilical vein through all the contractions. Baby’s starting hematocrit was 24 and ending hematocrit was about 43. Baby handled the procedure well. Dr Trevett decided that he didn’t want to risk going in a second time to do the IPT (put extra blood into baby’s belly) since I was having regular contractions. I was thankful again for his caution and unwillingness to take extra risks when it isn’t absolutely necessary.

After the IUT, Dr Trevett wanted to monitor the baby and me for several hours and my contractions got closer together, although they weren’t changing my cervix at all or starting actual preterm labor. Dr Trevett had me stay overnight and they monitored baby’s heartbeat and my contractions all night long just to be safe. Since Josh had to work and couldn’t be there, my mom and Nora had come with me to Atlanta for the IUT. Nora brought so much joy to my hospital room while we passed the time on the monitor.

Love pats for baby brother.

And here’s Nora laughing at nothing:

The baby looked good all night long and my contractions eventually subsided so we were discharged from the hospital in the morning. Since Dr Trevett didn’t do the IPT we can only wait about two weeks until the next IUT and we will probably have to deliver a week earlier than we hoped. The next (and last!) IUT will be Tuesday, September 12th when I am 34 weeks and 3 days. Then, depending on how that IUT goes we will deliver two or three weeks after that at 36/37 weeks. I cannot wait to meet my son!

I had my appointment with the MFMs at UAB Hospital this past week and to be honest, I left feeling very discouraged and depressed. I’m feeling a bit better now and I’m working on the blog post to share how it went with everybody so hopefully I can post that soon. We appreciate all of your prayers and encouragement. They mean more than you know!