Gestational thrombocytopenia

I've been diagnosed with this. It's basically pregnancy induced decrease in platelets in the blood. Anyone ever had it? It's pretty rare according to my Dr.
Normal platelet counts are between 450,000 - 150,000. Mine is at 87,000 and has been dropping over the past several weeks. A hematologist will be consulted if I get below 70,000. I may need platelet transfusions. There's no harm to the baby, thankfully. And no side effects for me, unless they get dangerously low, and then I could have clotting issues during delivery and after. After the birth, the levels usually return to normal within a few weeks. Oh, and even though I not wanting an epidural during my hopefully VBAC birth, if my count gets low enough, I can't have an epidural. Taking away that back up is scary!

 

One of my good friends had that when pregnant with her DD. She was followed by a hematologist but never needed a transfusion and her platelets when back to normal once Charlotte was born. I thought it was relatively common though.

 

My Dr. says he only sees the condition every few years.

 

I would mention it to your pediatrician and make sure the baby has a CBC after birth. In some cases there are maternal antibodies causing the low platelets that can cross the placenta and lower baby's platelets temporarily. Not to worry you but it's nice to be prepared and one extra blood test for peace of mind is worth it.

 

Why did they test you for this?

 

I've had it with all 3 of my pregnancies. My first one I did not know about it and found out at delivery when the epidural lady looked at my chart and said no way no how. After delivery they came in and told me I probably had cancer because my platelet level was so low. Luckily they were idiots and it returned to normal. With my twins, my OB (different one) knew to watch for it. My platelets dropped fairly low and he started talking transfusion if I needed a c/s. In the end, they made me do a bleeding test before they put in the epidural, which I'm pretty sure I failed but since it was twins, they wanted that line in. With my youngest, they induced when the numbers started tanking. I looked like a pincushion with those two pregnancies with my numbers monitored weekly up to delivery and every couple of hours for my time in the hospital after delivery.

I would talk with your OB about what level you need to consider a repeat c/s would be safer than bleeding out during a vbac attempt or emergency c/s.

 

They found it with the routine CBC and blood chemistry they do with the gestational diabetes check. Since my platelets were low at that blood draw, they wanted to repeat it at my next visit. And they were even lower then.