Thrombophilia Testing in Pregnancy

I am familiar with several of these As I have an auto immune disease -Antiphospholipid Syndrome with both Lupus anticoagulant and the APA antibodies. My mother has hyper homocystieinemia (sp) All of these tests are for various clotting disorders. Very good for your MD for running these tests.. Thiugh there is no cure for any of these rhat I am aware of, there is treatment.

Your Dr is right. He or she is just being extra careful and trying to get an idea of your risk for blood clots. Varicose veins without a positive for any of these labs do not greatly increase your risk for blood clots. I've had all these done because my mother has had blood clots in her legs diagnosed twice in her life and I also have varicose veins. Thankfully, all were negative and my pregnancies were healthy. Best wishes for a healthy term delivery. So glad your protein levels are decreasing. Take care. Nurse midwife mom of 3

My sister had her placenta tested after delivering her twins early, and she tested positive for Factor V Leiden and MTHFR. It is unknown whether this caused her to deliver early, however, she did have another full term baby after this with no incident. Probably just a precaution...trying to exhaust every possibility...good doctor!

I was just tested for the same types of things as well. Nine months after having my baby, because I needed to be sure if I had or was at risk for blood clots. I tested negative for all the major clotting problems but came up positive with the MTHFR mutation. Apparently you have two pairs of the gene and if you have a mutation, mine is mutated on both pairs, then you can be at risk for blood clots. Please look it up as I am going on memory for the details. But if you have the mutation then your body doesn't break down folic acid like it should. This will in turn raise your homocysteine levels. All of this can increase your risk for clots which also leads to strokes. So..... My doctor has me taking Deplin, which contains the already broken down form of folic acid. And because I am taking a birth control pill, which itself increases your chance of clots, I am taking a baby aspirin a day as a blood thinner.

I wouldn't worry too much. It seems they are just being cautious. It was kind of a bummer to know that at thirty I already had pills I know have to take daily for the rest of my life. But if it's something I can do to prevent worse things later on, I'm ok with it.

Best wishes to you and congrats on the new little one arriving soon.

I have the MTFR mutation. They tested me after my second miscarriage. I am on folic acid as well as baby aspirin, but have since had a healthy full term little boy and am 8 weeks pregnant. In the big scheme of things it's not a big deal. I'll take a folic acid supplement for the rest of my life and may need the aspirin as well, but that's about it.

It sounds like your OB is being pro-active (switching you to a level III nicu and testing you for thrombophilias which can be treated to lower your risks). I would much rather an OB who checks/plans for every contigency.

I myself had the tests run as a precaution during my second pregnancy when my blood pressure started acting up (after having had preeclampsia in my first pregnancy). The test results came back normal though I did go on to develop pre-e again.

Odds are your results will probably be normal as well since you don't have a history of blood clots (including in past pregnancies). And your baby sounds large for gestational age and blood clotting problems tend to be more associated with small for gestational age infants.

Sorry you are dealing with preeclampsia (&bedrest!). I have found the preeclampsia foundation (www.preeclampsia.org) a great source of information and support. Good luck!