Anemia in pregnancy

[Motherhen]

My daughter is in her third tri with her second baby--due May 24th. My grandson is 22 months old and nursed him up til just recently and even now, a little bit on/off. She works fulltime nights on a physically labourious job. Back at the beg'g of Feb she was very very tired and the midwives had her take two weeks off which is what she needed to recuperate--she'd had the flu just prior to this as well. After the two weeks, she felt much better. Due to time restraints, she hadn't went for her blood work yet at all so two weeks ago when she was there, the midwife took her blood sample in the office.

 

Today she went and I drove her. I wish I'd have went in with her though I guess it was for the best. I think I'd have blown up.

 

The results of the blood work came back and she is severely anemic. I'm not sure what the difference is between hemoglobin and hemocrit but one is 6 and the other is 11. I know I've been borderline anemic at 18/19 and then a year later, even less despite being on 300-600 mg.of iron daily and how I have felt though I do have Chronic Fatigue too. However I just about fell over when she told me that she was this low.

 

I'm SHOCKED that the midwives did not call as soon as the bloodwork came in but rather waited for her next appt. 2 weeks later, which was this a.m.

 

The midwife told her to go to the health food store and get Floradix or there were 2 others that she could choose from. We did and now are starting Cream of Wheat for breakfast, dh just went to the butcher shop to get some liver for supper tonight. On the way home, we bought Raisin Bran cereal, molasses and orange juice to help boost her iron levels. She's been craving tomato based foods so I told her to have her husband cook up some spaghetti in a cast iron fry pan with the spaghetti sauce to leach out the iron from the pan. He loves to cook and has a cast iron pan too which he uses.

 

She eats well..her own dh works afternoons and she leaves for work for nights so I cook her evening meal for her bcz they live on the property with us. We just had liver and onions last week too!

 

Fortunately she's feeling ok...it could be that her iron level went up from when her blood work was taken 2 weeks ago...but I don't think THAT high to be in safe range.

 

My questions are: Shouldn't the midwife have called her as soon as the lab work came in showing she was so anemic? Should she have taken her blood again today? They are to take it again in 2 weeks.

 

My daughter is off for today and tomorrow--goes back to work on Friday night and then one more week of work. Then she has 1 week of vacation booked. She was going to play it by ear after that and hopefully work for another 2 weeks. The last pregnancy she worked up til 1 week before the baby came but this time its more difficult with juggling his schedule too.

 

I'm wondering if it might be too much on her to work now. She could start maternity leave as early as this weekend but really didn't want to start it so early. In Feb. her employer gave her one weeks vacation and one weeks paid sick leave. She has no more sick leave with the employer left. We're in Ont./Canada so our govt. does offer some type of sick leave for pregnancy---I think unpaid but sometimes the employer pays a portion.

 

The other problem is she stubbed her toe the other day--and is hobbling around--though pretty good. She thinks she broke it--very bruised. I thought we could assess how she's feeling after a few days of the Floridix and the toe situation on Friday and take it from there. The girl at the health food store said after 3 days she felt so much better on the Floradix. I'm just really concerned too that IF by chance, we had a car accident in the next 5 days, how that would affect her with having such extremely low iron levels and the baby. (after that she's on vacation and will just be home for the week).

 

Any info or thoughts are appreciated. Thanks for reading.I realize its long and several situations involved.

 

 

 

 

[CrabGrassAcres]

The liver is the best thing that she can do. Have her eat as much as she can of it. Another thing is alfalfa or wheat grass juice. That is very anemic and I do not understand why her midwife didn't make an effort to get her on something sooner.

 

Tell her not to cook the liver too well done. It actually tastes better if it isn't cooked too much.

[Mother]

Motherhen. I believe your user name is very appropriate and I'm glad to see you taking such good care of your DD.

 

I am not an expert or a professional but after having anemia many times myself I know that no matter what you take it seems to take a while to register on the blood test. That is most likely why they weren't concerned about taking another test right away. I'm not sure why the midwife didn't respond to the test right away unless perhaps she hadn't gotten the test back all that soon. Not excuses but perhaps reasons.

 

It sounds like you are doing all you can to help her bring those levels up. Floradix is one of the better iron supplements (in my opinoin. It's what I have taken) In case you haven't seen this here's some info. http://www.florahealth.com/flora/home/usa/...ucts/r64771.asp

 

I would guess that she should go by how she feels as to whether she works longer or not. Anemia can make one very tired but resting alone doesn't seem to bring the levels back up. If she is really worried she should talk to her midwife about working.

 

Just keep mothering her. Every pregnant woman should be so lucky to have someone who cares so much for their well being. In the mean time, we have some really knowledgable people here on the board. Perhaps some of them will pop in and give you more advice.

 

Please let us know how she's doing.

[zzelle]

praying everything works out

[Jori]

My daughter is in her third tri with her second baby--due May 24th. My grandson is 22 months old and nursed him up til just recently and even now, a little bit on/off. She works fulltime nights on a physically labourious job. Back at the beg'g of Feb she was very very tired and the midwives had her take two weeks off which is what she needed to recuperate--she'd had the flu just prior to this as well. After the two weeks, she felt much better. Due to time restraints, she hadn't went for her blood work yet at all so two weeks ago when she was there, the midwife took her blood sample in the office.

 

Today she went and I drove her. I wish I'd have went in with her though I guess it was for the best. I think I'd have blown up.

 

The results of the blood work came back and she is severely anemic. I'm not sure what the difference is between hemoglobin and hemocrit but one is 6 and the other is 11. I know I've been borderline anemic at 18/19 and then a year later, even less despite being on 300-600 mg.of iron daily and how I have felt though I do have Chronic Fatigue too. However I just about fell over when she told me that she was this low.

 

I'm SHOCKED that the midwives did not call as soon as the bloodwork came in but rather waited for her next appt. 2 weeks later, which was this a.m.

 

The midwife told her to go to the health food store and get Floradix or there were 2 others that she could choose from. We did and now are starting Cream of Wheat for breakfast, dh just went to the butcher shop to get some liver for supper tonight. On the way home, we bought Raisin Bran cereal, molasses and orange juice to help boost her iron levels. She's been craving tomato based foods so I told her to have her husband cook up some spaghetti in a cast iron fry pan with the spaghetti sauce to leach out the iron from the pan. He loves to cook and has a cast iron pan too which he uses.

 

She eats well..her own dh works afternoons and she leaves for work for nights so I cook her evening meal for her bcz they live on the property with us. We just had liver and onions last week too!

 

Fortunately she's feeling ok...it could be that her iron level went up from when her blood work was taken 2 weeks ago...but I don't think THAT high to be in safe range.

 

My questions are: Shouldn't the midwife have called her as soon as the lab work came in showing she was so anemic? Should she have taken her blood again today? They are to take it again in 2 weeks.

 

My daughter is off for today and tomorrow--goes back to work on Friday night and then one more week of work. Then she has 1 week of vacation booked. She was going to play it by ear after that and hopefully work for another 2 weeks. The last pregnancy she worked up til 1 week before the baby came but this time its more difficult with juggling his schedule too.

 

I'm wondering if it might be too much on her to work now. She could start maternity leave as early as this weekend but really didn't want to start it so early. In Feb. her employer gave her one weeks vacation and one weeks paid sick leave. She has no more sick leave with the employer left. We're in Ont./Canada so our govt. does offer some type of sick leave for pregnancy---I think unpaid but sometimes the employer pays a portion.

 

The other problem is she stubbed her toe the other day--and is hobbling around--though pretty good. She thinks she broke it--very bruised. I thought we could assess how she's feeling after a few days of the Floridix and the toe situation on Friday and take it from there. The girl at the health food store said after 3 days she felt so much better on the Floradix. I'm just really concerned too that IF by chance, we had a car accident in the next 5 days, how that would affect her with having such extremely low iron levels and the baby. (after that she's on vacation and will just be home for the week).

 

Any info or thoughts are appreciated. Thanks for reading.I realize its long and several situations involved.

 

If the toe is black and blue that is usually a sign of a break.

 

The midwife....my former OB, who delivered both of our children, was a midwife before becoming earning her OBGYN. I hemorraged with both pregnancies. The first one, I was in the ER or on the phone all of the time. She finally explained to me that it was common and to just watch for any significant changes. She told me this AFTER the 4th or 5th trip to the ER. I think that they sometime forget that we don't deal with these types of things everyday. But I would talk to her about it if for no other reason then feeling better before the delivery.

 

My Kinesiologist had me take Black Strap Molasses - unsulphured during my 2nd pregnancy. I spoonful a day - I didn't do it everyday because I had learned to listen to my bodies needs but I took it when I needed it.

 

Good luck to you and your daughter!

[FLGardenGirl]

When I was anemic during pregnancy, I found it helpful to eat beets 2 or 3 times a week.

[Motherhen]

Thank you for all of your kind words and wisdom. She is on 1 weeks vacation starting yesterday and has her next midwives appt. this coming Wed. afternoon which this time, I will be there too. I She is feeling tired and her toe still hurts from all the walking she is doing on her job--which is all night long. She cleans the local Walmart store at night. We're hoping that she will go on an unpaid sick leave til the baby is here...If not, then she'll start maternity leave. In Canada its paid for 1 yr. and she can start now if she had to. I'll keep you posted.

[Necie]

http://www.foodshighiniron.com/

 

This is a good, short list. Keep it simple and just keep things around to 'snack' on that she likes. More small portioned 'snacky' meals are prolly better right now anyhow.

 

I'm anemic AND iron intolerant--LOL-fun, fun! I can NOT tolerate the supplements at all, but I do keep them on hand-just in case the foods don't help enough-but I really, really hate the, ahem, 'side effects'. I find that when I'm feeling 'blah', that I actually crave high iron foods. Snack more on the fish at work (cod) and make me up a baked potato. Made a whole panfull of dandelion greens the other day...had enough for lunchs for 3 days. hehe Been snackin' smoked oysters before going to bed. I think that bran flakes and oatmeal are the naturally highest in iron, but Cream of Wheat is prolly fortified, huh? I prefer oatmeal-raw can eat it by the handful. Beef and barley soup and any kind of bean (legume) soups are good. Eggs-I loooove any kind of egg, but tend to crave hard boiled and poached when I need iron. And give me a bag of pumpkin or sunflower seeds any day over chips or cookies.