Low blood platelets

[laurziee]

Hello! I just joined this forum and wanted to know if anyone else has this condition?

[~TT40~]

Hi, welcome to bb! I assume you ae pg? Congrats!
I dont know much about it except low platelets can affect your bloods clotting ability.
Can really help more without more information =)

[laurziee]

Thanks foe replying! Yup, trying to find someone who is also experiencing this. How far along are you?

[ladybirdflies]

I don't have low platelets, but my last baby was born with extremely low platelet count. When we found out that she had low platelets the specialist tested my blood to see if I had low numbers as well(my count was normal). Apparently when a pregnant mother has a low count a baby can be born with a low count as well.I saw a leading specialist on blood , He said that it usually sorts itself out but you need to keep a eye on the levels until they reach normal range.

Perhaps mention this to your care provider, what are the affects of your platelet count on your baby and how will they monitor that.

Not sure what you can do to make your platelet count rise while you are pregnant?

[ticklish]

I develop this when pregnant but it never affected my babies. I am fine when not pregnant. It depends on the type of thrombocytopenia you have.

My first OB was very misinformed about it and gave me incorrect info about and treated me inappropriately.

I sought second and third opinions from specialists OBs who were much more informed about it.

I don't think there is much you can do to make a platelet count rise. Be careful taking fish oils because they can effect platelet count.

How low is your count?

[laurziee]

My ob told me last week my blood platelets dropped from 140 to 106 and that if it drops below 100 I won't be able to have an epidural or c section. I went to the hemotologist this week ans I dropped to 102. The hemotologist was extremely informative and told me I will have options at delivery. They are going to monitor me throughout the pregnancy to mske sure I don't drop too low. I'm 29 weeks now. Next week we get the blood work back to find out if its gestational or ITP. How did you deliver? Did you get an epidural or c section? How low was your count at delivery?

[ticklish]

Hi Laurziee,

With my first baby, my platelets were mid 60s at 38 weeks. I was given no option but a c/section under a general by my very ill-informed OB who told me that my baby was a risk of bleeding into his brain from a VB as he was likely to have low platelets too - all totally false.

I was diagnosed with ITP with my first but again an incorrect diagnosis. I have gestational thrombocytopenia as I occurs at no other time. If you have never had ITP before being pregnant I believe it is most likely to be gestational.

Your haemotologist is right. You will have options at delivery. The OB I saw later told me that some women get to about 70 in pregnancy and it can be normal - it is just one of those things and mine weren't that significantly less than so he would have considered it normal.

Blood volume increases but platelet production doesn't keep up for some reason. 70 sounds low but there are still billions of platelets so I was told it is actually rarely an issue.

With my second and third babies my platelet count was around 100 at delivery so it was considered mild and it didn't effect anything so I don't know what they would have done if things had been as low as the first time because we never had to cross that bridge.

I have had epidurals and c-sections with no issues.

Take care and fingers crossed for the testing.

Ticklish

[ladybirdflies]

Hey Ticklish,
Did they check the platelet count of your babies when they were born?

[ticklish]

Hey Ticklish,
Did they check the platelet count of your babies when they were born?

No, none of my three had platelet count checks. It wasn't thought necessary.

[ladybirdflies]

No, none of my three had platelet count checks. It wasn't thought necessary.

Thanks for the reply. My daughter was getting checked for a vit K deficiency(her cord/belly button was still bleeding after 3 weeks, plus blood shot eye) when the bloods came back they found really low platelet count instead. She was admitted to hospital for 3 days with constant blood tests to see what was happening, they slowly started to rise but had the Dr's scratching their heads. A week later the numbers went down again. It was during this time they tested me for low platelets because sometimes mum's with a low count can birth a baby with a low count too. Her count has risen enough to go to bi monthly test, but in light of what the Dr said ( he lectures world wide as a haematologist) I would think that any baby born to a mother who had low platelets during pregnancy should be monitored after birth. Our baby was so low that they admitted her to hospital (she was 3 weeks old) until they got to a level that was high enough and even then it was strict instructions on her safety.

I would ask about after birth if I were you laurziee even though ticklish's babies never had a problem after birth. Perhaps there are signs to look out for that parents with low count need to know about. like the belly button bleeding for three weeks after birth and her blood shot eye. A low count can mean a baby could not handle a knock that would normally bruise.

[laurziee]

This is all very informative. Thank you so much! I am going to the top hemotologist in Philadelphia om Wednesday so we will see what happens.

[ticklish]

Good luck with your appointment Laurziee. I hope your doctors find that it is one of those funny weird pregnancy things and nothing more.

Ladybirdflies - what a scary time you had with your daughter. Did they ever find a reason? Is she okay now?

My understanding is that babies born to mothers with gestational thrombocytopenia have no increased risk of being thrombocytopenic themselves. Babies with low platelets are born to mothers with normal platelet counts at the same rate as to mothers with gestational thrombocytopenia. At least that is what I was told.

There of course many different types and causes of thrombocytopenia which can affect mother or baby so I sure the doctors will be on top of what is needed.

Best of luck.