just had booking in blood test results.......

[devonsmummy]

got my notes back when i went for triple test today.
I asked if my results were in there and was told yes they were all fine.

When I got home and read through, there are 2 that are in bold and have an 'L' next to them

as both of these figures are lower than the given normal range should I be worried?

They are RBC and HB ?

Red blood count.

Haemoglobin (iron levels sort of)

What were the levels?

The levels are a range and if you are even slightly outside that it will show as 'abnormal'.

The Hb is haemoglobin, and if this is low that indicates anaemia, but it depends on the exact figures.

RBC is red blood cells. This goes with the Hb and is probably of little relevance to anything at all, if you are a little bit anaemic it will be slightly low.

What was the Hb reading? (And the range as each lab has slightly different ranges)

HB range is 12.0-15.0 and my reading was 11.7
RBC range is 3.8-4.8 and my reading was 3.78

so both not much lower than the ranges given.

what does a low reading mean, that I need more iron?

When I was pregnant with DS i remember them commenting that my iron levels were high so I wonder what's made such a difference?

I had EXACTLY the same thing happen - A very kind midwife explained to me (On here) that the ranges given are for the "Average" woman i.e NOT a pregnant woman. The ranges for pregnant women are a bit different so something that may look abnormal to us over analysers in the world are more than likely absolutly normal!

She also said if they were abnormal the midwife would have written on them or called you to tell you what to do.

Having said that even slightly low iron (within the normal pregnant woman range) made me feel awful. If you are worried or feel at all ill - call your midwife. But other than that stop worrying! You are fine and within a healthy range for a PREGNANT woman not the AVERAGE woman xXXx

I'm sure I had an 11 something reading in pg and was told it was normal - like hever says they must be the averages for non-pregnant women.

P.S I dont think they medicate for low iron untill you dip well under 11 - I was told I was only slightly low at 10.5 but they gave me iron tablets then anyway as I had been feeling so breathless and worn out. (I was also having heart palpatations - sp? - which put my pulse and bp up.) A few Iron Tabs later and I was MUCH MUCH better

thanks for the reassurance - I'm taking a pregnancy multivitamin/ iron everyday (when I remember!) so I guess I'll make an effort to remember.

Thanks