The count down begins

Notice anything different?

Look over there --------->

I'm going to be a grandma again. :o)

This developing bundle of joy will be my daughter Annie's first child.

Annie's official due date is November 6th, an eternity from now, but the birth will be earlier than that. I know this because Annie will have a scheduled delivery for medical reasons. The really strange thing about this pregnancy is that while it is putting her health at risk now, it actually saved her before. Because of a positive at home pregnancy test Annie decided she ought to have a doctor look at her painful, swollen, numb arm, which she had been dealing with (trying to ignore) for over a week. One glance by the doc and she was hospitalized. Diagnosis? A blood clot in her left subclavian vein. Briefly stated, she had/has a blood clot, in a very large vein, in her chest, not very far from her heart. She was immediately placed on a blood thinner, (Lovenox, two injections a day, which she does herself.)

Annie's hospital stay was short (3 days) but for a while there the docs didn't want her left alone, nor allowed her to go back to work. (Annie had two jobs a bartender and a waitress) They also said no to bringing her home with me, the Hermitage is too far from a hospital. So aside from the typical lifestyle changes one must go through with pregnancy, Annie had to give up her jobs, and her apartment. She's now living with my sister in town and my sister's couch has seen a lot of use lately with me sleeping on it. We've had 2 ER visits. Both were false alarms but when someone with a total occlusion of the left subclavian displays classic heart attack symptoms you go to the ER. And when someone on blood thinners displays classic stroke symptoms you go to the ER.

Our weeks and days have been filled with doctor visits and blood tests. Every test ran for the purpose of determining the cause of the clot have come back normal. I guess the cause of the clot is something we may never know. What we do know right now is that the clot is dissipating. A doppler test on the clot Tuesday detected some minimal flow through the vein. (yea!) They told us it would take at least three months for the clot to be completely gone, another doppler will be done in mid-June to confirm that. The Lovenox really doesn't dissolve the clot, Annie's body is doing that on its own, the Lovenox is used so no other clots form.

The doc has given Annie permission to find another job if 1) she's not on her feet all day 2) she's not sitting all day 3) she does no lifting 4) the working environment is such that there is no possibility of slipping and falling (ie wet floors, tile floors) 5) and the job must be stress free......um yeah.......jobs are plentiful right now even without restrictions. Annie doesn't have to be watched 24/7 anymore but she does have to be mindful of her surroundings, what she does and what her body is doing (ie pains, breathing difficulties, bruising etc). I'm trying very hard not to hover, but its difficult to let her do anything or go anywhere with out me.

At this point it is prob'ly unlikely she'll throw the clot, or miscarry, but the risk of bleeding out due to a simple fall (internal hemorrhage) or a bump on the head (a stroke) or a simple cut from a broken glass or chopping onions, could be a problem. Lovenox is a blood thinner that usually is very easy to manage, the dosage is based on weight, but being pregnant with the expected weight increases and the higher hemoglobin levels it's a little bit harder to manage, not to mention they have no idea why she even got the clot to begin with.....Oy, this going to be a very looooong pregnancy.

Soon, if I'm up to it, I'll take some pix of the baby knitting I've been doing. 4 sweaters and 4 pairs of socks. It is amazing what you can get done in a doctors waiting room! LOL No not all of it is for Annie's little bundle, technically the first couple pairs of the socks and a couple of the sweaters are actually for some of Gillian's friends.

So now you know why I've been AWOL for so very long. Lately I've been lucky if I get my email checked every few days. I am seriously considering a mini laptop or maybe just a Kindle. I feel so out of touch with the world.