Let me be specific I only have one gene of Factor V Leiden. (Factor V Leiden is a mutation of one of the clotting factors in the blood called factor V.) I have no history of blood clots or anything like that. I do take a baby aspirin a day to be on the safe side. My Dad on the other
hand has both genes of Factor V, has had blood clots and is on blood thinners.
Both my parents and my husband were a little concerned with me being pregnant because
we had no idea what having one gene of Factor V meant. Should we be concerned?
Is it nothing? Before I was pregnant I told my ob/gyn about my Factor V and he
seemed aware of what it was and said when I get pregnant then he would refer me
to a specialist, and that he would consider me high risk. So fast forward a few
months, I’m pregnant go to the consultant. It went something like this:
Yesterday had a consultation with a Dr at Loyola Hospital.
Once we found the area the lady behind the counter asked the basic questions
about insurance and then we sat and waited. We didn’t wait long at all before
my name was called. The nurse took my weight, height, pee and other basic
things. I weighed 176lbs (according to their scale, I mean I had my shoes
on….and yea know a baby growing in me…whatever) Oh on my way to pee I heard the
nurse saying something about oh hope your baby has red hair and Andy was like
yeah…it’s fake…that comes up again later…so then we were off to a room where we
were going to see a Dr that would talk to us about Factor V and some
precautions I may want to take because of it. My husband and I were thrown off
a little by the doctor’s appearance. She was (I’m bad at age) early 40’s?? had a
dress on with high sweater type boots and torn leggings, a nose ring and short
strawberry blonde hair. I was expecting foreign older man in lab coat with too
much hair coming out of his nose and/or ears. She explained to us that when
woman are pregnant they have a higher risk for blood clots and with the factor
V blood that risk is even higher. She asked me a bunch of questions about my
dad and his situations with factor v. She then suggested that I take give
myself a shot of lovenox which is a blood thinner once a day. She said that a
side effect from taking lovenox or any blood thinner is that the placenta may
separate from the uterus. Which I guess is not necessarily fatal but sounds
horrible. (She also said that redheads bleed more during pregnancy than other
woman, which was kinda awkward cause all I could think was NOT A RED HEAD, and
I was waiting for my husband to say something but he didn’t so I just went with
it…)We took the information from her and told her that we would talk it over
with my current Doctor then come to a decision. On the drive home we were
talking about it, and my first reaction to it all is that I don’t feel like I
need it. I haven’t had any blood clots or any signs from the factor V at all
ever. There is not a history of miscarriages in my family. I just don’t think
it’s necessary. I called my mom on the way home and told her about it my husband
thought that she would suggest that I take the shots but she was not for it
either, she said why risk it, it didn’t sound necessary. I believe we have
decided to not go with the shots.
So week 30 of my pregnancy came and Dr asked if my husband
and I had considered me taking blood thinners. I told him that we hadn’t
completely decided yet. My Dad had
talked to his blood Dr about it and since I showed no history of problems then
I shouldn’t worry about it. The Dr said that I may just want to take some blood
thinners after the baby is born when I’m not as active. So we decided to go
with no blood thinners but my husband wanted to meet with my Dad’s blood doctor
just to be safe. At the Drs appointment He told us that the lovenox was
not necessary and to not worry during the pregnancy. He did suggest that I get
a shot of lovenox after I have the kid because I will be less active.
So basically I wanted to explain why I was considered high
risk. I really wasn’t actually high risk. Having the one gene of Factor V did
not affect my pregnancy at all. Although it was really nice getting all those
ultrasounds because I was considered high risk.
