34 Weeks Pregnant - low platelets again!
Weekly pregnancy updates from a childbirth educator, doula and mum to 2 little girls. Come and join me on my journey as I share how I’m feeling, how baby is developing, what I’m doing to prepare, and some favourite resources!
Last week’s blood tests show my platelets have dropped off a bit again, which for Australian standards has technically put me back in the range of gestational thrombocytopaenia (very borderline still). Platelets dropping during pregnancy is physiologically normal for some women, and certainly seems to be my norm, since I know it happened with my first pregnancy too.
I’m continuing to support my iron and platelet levels with food and food-based supplements. I’m taking Spatone regularly and considering adding in Floradix for an extra boost. The levels are still perfectly adequate, I just want to be proactive in making sure that they remain adequate!
To be honest this isn’t something I’m freaking out about at all, since I know that anything above 80-100 is perfectly sufficient at birth, and I’m way up at 141. Also, I know I was down to 130 or less when I had my first baby, and had a magnificent birth with no issues around bleeding or blood clotting at all. So I have lived experience to go off, as well as the research and evidence!
What symptoms am I feeling?
My back has been great this week! I don’t know how much of that is due to baby moving around and maybe changing position, and how much is due to having family staying and extra help around the house... meaning I’m resting more. Could be a mixture of the two!
How has baby been developing this week?
At around 42-44 cm and 2.1-2.5kg, baby’s fingernails and toenails are fully grown! Something very important that is happening at the moment (probably since around 32 weeks), is that baby’s lungs are now producing what is known as surfactant protein A, or SP-A. Production continues until levels are high enough to support baby to breathe unaided. When the levels of SP-A are high enough, these rising levels activate the macrophages (immune cells) in the amniotic fluid, which in turn move to the uterus and trigger an inflammatory response which stimulates the onset of contractions. What a cool design!
What am I doing to prepare?
Life is busy with family visiting and a couple of my clients having their babies, so my biggest focus has been just trying to maintain my morning routine of Spinning Babies® exercises, breathing exercises, and some hip circles and figure-8s on the fit ball - all while listening to positive birth affirmations. I’m not getting as much opportunity as I’d like to sit down and relax with hypnobirthing relaxations/visualisations, but I’m not stressing over it since I know in the next few weeks or so I’ll have the capacity to do it more regularly. I’m definitely feeling calm and relaxed about the whole thing, but I know spending more time listening to the audios will be good regardless!
But for now, life is busy, capacity is limited, and I’m just thrilled I’ve been able to be consistent in writing a blog update each week - now 31 weeks in a row through this pregnancy!
And that’s it for this week! 🌿💛