Morning morning. For the first time I was up and pacing at dawn today. And ravenously hungry. The dog is looking at me in sleepy bewilderment.
Well. Further to my unfortunate encounter with the GP last week, I've had a rather surprisingly pleasant encounter with the consultant's registrar. Despite the note from my GP stressing her concern for my plans (which of course I opened and read - it's a bit like being given a note from teacher to take home to your parents), he said nothing about the home birth, any contraindications etc. In fact, for the first time, I wasn't treated like a sick person. Am not sick! Just clotty! (And I do think that there is a temptation to over-pathologise the condition). He listened and answered all my questions - and the only suggestion he's made is that I go back in two weeks, having had my blood done again, just to check that my platelets aren't low and I'm clotting normally - stressing that I then continue as normal with my midwife.
It also seems to be unnecessary in his opinion to put me back on the heparin post-partum, as I have no history of thrombosis either personally or familially. Which is good - because the main side effect of long term heparin use is osteoporosis. Might get myself some lovely sexy dvt stockings though, just to be on the safe side.
The only slight worry was that he confirmed what I've read about the average gestation period for women with APS / on heparin. I knew it was likely to be on the short side, but I recently read that the average is 37.5 weeks. THE AVERAGE?? There's too much DIY to do to unleash the peanut before September!
Also on the positive side, my GP called on Friday, following a rather tersely-worded letter from my husband. She apologised for various aspects of the consultation and - while we obviously don't agree on certain things - it has at least cleared the air and allieviated any future unpleasantness.
Less positively, some distant in-law decided to send my husband an email the other day, commenting on the dubious plan of home birthing and how I'd be much better off in a hospital. Much comment about the terrible tragedy of the loss of a child, reference to my 'past problems' blah blah blah. I don't know what I object to most: the fact that he's commented on my medical history, whilst knowing nothing about it - or the fact that he's assumed that we've made the decision lightly (the inference being that I think I'm too good to be cattle-prodded through the NHS like any other woman...). To say that I was incandescent with anger would be an understatement.
Mummyhill: sorry to hear about your family issues. My FIL died of cancer in March - but he had been spectacularly unlucky in the way that it spread. To be honest, though - denial (on your FIL's part) may not be a bad thing as a coping mechanism. Hope everything works out. Seeing what happened with my FIL though, I'd say that he needs to keep pushing for tests and so on - because they were very slack in my FIL's case and didn't monitor the drugs they gave him. Regarding your grandmother's diabetes - is it type 2 she has? My father has been diagnosed with this and is dead annoyed because a) he was really borderline and b) he's quite fit, does lots of exercise etc. The people at the diabetic clinics are real doom merchants and best avoided, in my opinion. Mainly he's changed his diet in favour of a low GI one (now fashionable it seems). It doesn't seem to be as straightforward as just cutting out sugar. I haven't read enough on it, but it seems that foods with fat have a lower GI than another food with a comparable sugar content because the fat slows absorption. His homemade biscuits are a bit purgatorial though...