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Hi all. I had 2 stillbirths at 20 and 22 weeks, then was dx with factor V and MTHFR. I was on lovenox, baby ASA, folic acid 4 mg during my pregnancy (she's 2 yrs old now!!). I have been on high dose of coumadin and am planning to stop this week to try to get pregnant again, my family MD (OB won't get involved until I'm pregnant) ordered lovenox 70 mg BID, that just sound like a lot for preconception, I wasn't even on that much full term with my daughter. Any advice?

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Gidd,
You are awesome, your wife is very lucky to have you.Congradulations on getting pregnant and good luck with everything! How far along is your wife?
Heather M

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Third degree-
I don't believe that you are here too early. In fact I think it's great that you are doing the research now to prepare yourself. The more you know the easier it will be to handle. When I was first diagnosed I did tons of research, mostly about the clotting disorders and mutations and what it meant for future pregnancies.
To answer your first question about what I wish I would have known before starting down this road.... It's that you already know that there is an issue that needs to be treated. Consider yourself lucky that you know what your facing before you get started. God willing, you will not have to go through the heartache of miscarriage and losing a preterm baby that my husband and I (and a lot of other families) have. I agree with your OB/Gyn it's not negatives it's just dealing with what is.
Secondly I totally understand where you are coming from when you talk about everyone else being pregnant and asking you the questions. When we were pregnant with our daughter "everyone in the world" was pregnant including my husband's best friend's wife and my sister in law. Of course they breezed through their pregnancy (i was on bed rest) and brought home healthy beautiful babies when ours was in the NICU.
Go ahead and talk to them about it, answer their questions honestly and tell them how you feel. Believe it or not, they will understand. To some extent, every mother-to-be fears the "what if's" of pregnancy afraid that something might go wrong. They will stand by you and lend support in anyway that they can.
I wish you all the happiness in your upcoming marriage and future pregnancies.
Jean

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Hi everyone! I have been reading about your stories to help settle my nerves about Lovenox. Since my son in 2001, I have had 3 miscarriages. All of them ended as we were going to "hear the heart beat" and didn't. After a sonogram showed the baby only 6 weeks instead of 14, we would have a miscarriage within the next week.
When I found out I was pregnant again, I changed Dr's. I expressed my concern to my Doctor and he set up an early sonogram and early lab tests. However, the following Friday I was certain I had had another miscarriage. You can imagine my surprise when on Monday my Doctor said I was still pregnant. On Monday he also got my lab results and found that I tested positive for Factor 5. He began me on Lovenox right away. I have been taken the shots for 2 weeks now and it appears as though everything is going well. At first I had people inject me but when the weekend came, I did it myself. I have been injecting myself in the stomach and have had minimal bruising and I find it only hurts for a little while after the shot. My stomach is not sore.
My question is, "Is anyone still experiencing bleeding?" I go back to my Dr. on Wed. and I'm going to ask him about the clots. I was just wondering if anyone else has had the same problem.
I'm glad that there is a forum for this. It really does help!

Congratulations to all!

Texas Sara

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My wife is 2 months along. We first realized there was a problem when she developed a embolysm from birth control about 2 weeks before we got married in 2000. Although she was tested several times for various factors leading to blood clots, every test she ever took came out normal. Nothing came out of this until we were having trouble getting pregnant, once she went on thinners things started progressing naturally. We never got any answers as to why, but as long as she is safe and the baby is safe I can almost live with the mystery.

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well, i havnt been on for a while and i see we have a few more ppl! thats great. and i noticed a daddy has come aboard! thats wonderful, im soo glad to see u on here gidd, my husband offers to do my injections for me, but i dont let him. silly of me im sure. but i dont like needles and i wont let anyone but myself and my lab tech come near me with a needle.

anywho, just thought id leave an update with everyone. im now 33weeks and babys growing just fine and the shots are...well, they dont really change do they? lol. my specialist has decided it would b better for me to switch to heparin at 36weeks and go into natural labor bc my babys just too small and needs all the time he can get. so no more induction for me.

hope everyone else is having a spiffy time and enjoying their pregnancy. looking forward to chking up on everyone again soon!

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I know it's probably a pipe dream but does anyone out there have any tricks for getting bruises to heal faster from the needles? She doesn't get them all the time but when she does I know having a big ol bruise on her tummy just reminds her of the bad side of this whole thing.

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Hello everyone!! I can't tell you how excited i am that i came across this web site. I'm 25, had numerous sugeries on my ovaries and uterus because of cysts and tumors, i lost my left ovary last year and have been trying to conceive since. I also have a couple of clotting disorders and hypertension. My ob referred my to a infertiltiy clinic where a went through ivf and got pregant. I was so happy and everything was going good. i was on lovenox 40mg,folic acid,81asprin,labetol, norvasc and progesterone,estrogen. At 7 weeks i developed a blood clot in my uterus that i was bleeding from and was put on bed rest. The baby was good and the doctor told me that the clot was not harming the baby. About 5 days later i went for a checkup and the they couldn't find the heartbeat any more, i had a d&C the next night. i am emotionally exhusted and i feel like i have so much against me on having a baby(infertility,and now holding a pregancy) but i'm not ready to give up. How do you find the strenght to keep going on when you keep getting contanst let downs????

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Gidd-
I too have been in search of this answer. I have talked to a couple homepathic(natural) healers and I have been told many things for example. applying peanut butter, butter, or lard mixed with sugar
I haven't been brave enough to try anything I simply just don't have the time to go around with peanut butter on my belly. Plus smelling like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich wouldn't go over well at work:)
I have also been told a diet high in veggies that have bioflavinoids (spelling?) such as brocolli will help the skin and blood vessels maintain elasticity and heal faster. That kind of makes since to me.. we've always been told to eat our vegetables.
Basically I think that time is the only thing that gets rid of the bruises, but if you find that miracle cure let us know.

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Ginamarie -

I am so sorry for your hurt. I'm sorry for what you've been through on your journey this far. I really don't know where you find the strength to keep going in the middle of all the hurt. I started seeing a therapist in the middle of all my treatments...things got worse and worse and worse and I could not deal with it. I also started going back to church and heard a man speak and he spoke directly to me and my hurt. It was amazing. I'm not sure if you're the spiritual sort, but if you are, I will tell you what he told me.

The strength has to come from you. Unfortunately, you have to try to muster that strength in the middle of all these huge decisions about treatments, emotions of happiness and excitement, sadness and sorrow when things don't take...it's very hard. And, the hardest part is it all takes place in the matter of a few days...so it seems you only have a moment or two to be sad before you're being forced to make another life-altering decision about what you want to do next. It's very hard. My therapist told me that going through infertility doesn't allow time for real grieving. The grieving process is an actual and natural process...and when you're going through fertility treatments, you have a matter of days, sometimes minutes, to deal with the sorrow and the hurt before you have to try to put on your happy face and start it all over again. It IS an emotional roller coaster, one that sometimes isn't a whole lot of fun. I guess we just hope and pray that we find the strength to get up one more day, then once we're up, hope and pray that we find the strength to decide what to do about treatment. Even if you say you're going to take a break, it's never far from your thoughts, is it? You'll always see a baby, or a pregnant woman and you'll whip out your cell phone to schedule with your doctor right away. So, I guess it's like the movie "City Slickers" and Curley's one secret to life...he never said what it was leaving you to figure that out for yourself. So, what worked for me as strength might not work for you...your strength to go on has to come from you, be genuine...and sometimes that is NOT so easy. So I will pray for you - for healing of mind, body and soul - and I will pray that your strength will bubble up from your core and help carry you on your next steps on this arduous journey. I'm sorry for your hurt and for what you've been through, but I truly hope that you are able to win this battle and be victorious over infertility. Please keep us posted and keep coming back!!


Gidd -

I'm not sure there is anything to prevent bruises...I was told by two blood doctors and two OBs that it was just not possible to avoid bruises with Lovenox. I asked everyone in a white coat how to avoid them. But, with the needle going through tiny little capillaries when you inject, then injecting blood thinner that touches those tiny little capillaries, you're going to get lots of painful bruises that look like you may be in line for the World Champion Boxing title. Some women bruise REALLY badly, some don't bruise nearly as badly...everybody, and every body, is different. Though, I do LOVE Jean's home remedies: peanut butter, sugar and lard. What a riot. I really think I would get a HUGE kick out of slathering my pregnant body with butter or lard. My husband might, too! Though I couldn't do peanut butter...I'd be hungry all day!! Though, now I am hungry because peanut butter, butter, sugar and lard sounds like the beginning of a great Paula Deen recipe!! Best of luck with those pesky little needles and keep us posted. You're a WONDERFUL man, Gidd...bless your heart!!


HeatherMak

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HI Audrey,
I'm 35 weeks pregnant and on Lovenox for Factor V. I doing fine, but now I'm concerned about birth. I read there is a risk of getting paralyzed if you get an epidural and being on Lovenox. My doctor suggested on having a controlled birth, so we can stop Lovenox 24 hours before. so he wants to induce me. I'm not positive about that.
I was just wondering what your input on the issue is as you might be due soon, too.
Sabine





[quote author=Audrey link=board=13;threadid=1981;start=0#15515 date=1141170874]
I am pregnant for the first time, and on Lovenox for Factor V. My Ob prescribed 40mL once a day, then my Hematologist upped it to twice a day. Is this normal, and will it increase the risks?
[/quote]

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Hi, I'm 35 weeks pregnant and on Lovenox as I have Factor V.
Have you stopped injecting before birth?? my doctor told me to stop 24 hours before. but you can only do that if you have a controlled birth.

What are your experiences??

sabine

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I've been working on a new injection strategy for about a week now, and although there is always the burning I think I have managed to lessen the pain of the injection and we haven't had any bruising lately (knock on wood) other than a very tiny red dot where the needle goes in that vinahes in a day or so.

What I have been doing was pinching the skin and sliding my fingers up a bit so that the top of the pinch is very taught. I would say fat but I have learned that using the word "fat" is dangerous in any context around a pregnant (or otherwise) woman ;).

Anyway the tip of the skin is very tight and I puncture the skin in a swift movemment and put it so the needle is all the way in. Then I steadily inject the fuid, not too fast but not painfuly slow. Having the skin tight makes the needle go in easier without skin resistence which I think bruises more. Putting the needle all the way in buryies the injection site more deeply in the fat (ooops I said it again) and lessens the chance of surface blood vessels being busted up.

I wouldn't worry too much about the epidural thing. Lovenox gets out of your system very quickly, which is why people have to inject it so often. As long as you and your Obj/Gyn and anestesiologist are on the same page they'll get you all squared away before birth. Even on a unantly going into labor situation they can either put you on something in the hosital to slow down the labor enough to get the Lovenox out of your system or put you in IV meds to counteract it. Blood pooling on the spinal cord due to Lovenox is rare in itself so being on top of the situation probably elminates the problem entirely.

One thing I have found in the last couple years be it from things that happen to my wife or myself is that you have to be as active in your healthcare as you possibly can. Don't feel as though you are bothering your Dr or medical staff when asking questions, and if you don't get an answer fast enough, keep on them, call a few times a day. Never sit there with unasnwered questions stewing in your mind driving you crazy and making you scared or nervous. Get in there and mix it up with them, it's your health and these people are here for you and your baby.

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Gidd -

EXCELLENT ADVICE!!

I would wholeheartedly second that - you MUST be an advocate for YOUR healthcare. Your doctor will not...simply because they do not have the time. So, ask questions...ask lots of them...ask lots of questions a lot. You have to, have to, have to BE EDUCATED and informed about your health. In ANY situation. If you have to see a doctor, arm yourself with knowledge about your condition and TALK with your doctor!! You're never a bother to them, your doctor or their staff. If you become a bother to your doctor's staff, tell your doctor...chances are they do NOT know what goes on in the office!!! If you become a bother to your doctor, FIND ANOTHER DOCTOR!!! You wouldn't accept being brushed off by someone at Jiffy Lube, do NOT take it from your doctor. If you want answers, by George, ask your doctor until you get them!!

Thank you, Gidd, for the great advice!!

Thanks, too, for the delicacy around the word "fat". My OB was talking to me about injecting Lovenox and said to inject it into the fat. Then he panicked becaue he said the word fat and tried to backpeddle...and I cracked up!! I told him I prefer to call it padding, so together we came up with "prenatal padding". My son is 11 months old and I still have some prenatal padding. Hmm...

Oh, glad to hear you've found a new injection stragety...I hope others try it, too! Let me know how it works!!

Hope everyone is well!!!


XOXO
HeatherMak

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Hello again!! Heathermak thankyou so much for your advice. I feel like it was a godsend that i came across this web site because by reading everyones stories really gives me hope and it amazes me that so many women have to go throught this crazy road. I can' thankyou all enough. I will put all of you in my prayers!!!!


My doctor just put me on Metformin but I'm a little confused because I don't have pcos. He said it will help will the gene mutation that I have. Has anyone been on Metformin????

:) Ginamaire

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Sabine, with my first preg. they stopped lovenox and switched to heparin when I was 34 weeks, I delivered at 36 weeks. They still would not let me have an epidural though, thought it was too dangerous even with the heparin

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