First MCA Scan | Losing Lucy and Finding Hope

Today we had our first MCA scan to find out whether the baby is anemic (being attacked by my antibodies) or not. The news isn’t good, but it’s not terrible. The scan gives the baby a score to show how high the anemia is. A score of 1, or anything close to a 1 is normal. When it gets to 1.5 the baby is anemic and needs a blood transfusion in the womb. Today the baby’s scores ranged from 1.3 to 1.48 which makes us incredibly nervous. This shows us that the baby is probably anemic, but not so anemic that (s)he needs a blood transfusion yet. This also shows us that the baby is probably kell positive, which means (s)he has Daddy’s blood type and is being attacked by my antibodies. This baby is going to have to fight to live and will probably need a lot of intrauterine blood transfusions and will probably be delivered prematurely. Our goal is to get the baby to viability so that delivery is an option if (s)he gets too anemic. The danger is in the environment, not the baby (the baby is perfectly healthy as far as we know) so we want to get the baby to a point where it’s safe to remove him/her from the dangerous environment (my body.)

So, what is our plan of action now that we know baby could be anemic? I wanted the doctor to double my weekly dose of IVIG, but he was reluctant since it isn’t the normal protocol. I tried my hardest to convince him, but he wouldn’t budge. The only down side of an extra dose of IVIG is the cost, but we don’t mind that if it gives our baby a better chance at life. A double dose can’t hurt the baby, it can only help, so I’m frustrated that they won’t just try. The doctor wants to wait and rescan the baby this Friday to see if the anemia gets worse. If it is any higher than it was today, I will be traveling to Houston to have a different doctor treat me and try to save the baby. If the anemia level is the same or lower, we will just continue weekly IVIG and watch the baby closely. There is still a very small chance that the baby isn’t anemic and it was just a high reading on the scan because it’s still so early.

Please, please pray for our baby. The scan on Friday is so important and will tell us a lot more about how the baby is doing. Pray that the baby’s anemia level goes down and not up. We appreciate all of your prayers for this ultrasound today. Even though it didn’t go as well as we were hoping, we are thankful that the baby looks ok for now and doesn’t need a transfusion yet. Lucy’s anemia level on her first MCA scan at 17 weeks was 2.5 and it was pretty much too late to help her. We are glad that we are catching this baby’s anemia early so we can do more to fight it. Also, I know this is all kind of confusing so if you have any questions about it, feel free to ask in the comments. Thank you, again, for all of your prayers and support.