Tira & Keepa

With our first son Tira we had a normal pregnancy.He was born full-term after a fairly quick labour weighing 7lb 1oz. While my midwife was weighing him she noticed that he was covered in blotches and called for the paediatrician to examine him. He was monitored overnight and bloods were taken. The next day blood was taken from myself and my husband and it was later found that we have a rare condition called Alloimmune Thrombocytopenia - while carrying the baby my body doesn't recognise my husband's blood in our baby and destroys its' ability to clot. Tira’s platelet count at birth was 7 (normal being 150). An ultrasound on his head showed that he had had 2 bleeds on his brain. Tira’s platelet count gradually built up on it’s own, he reached all his milestones and an ultrasound almost a year later showed that the bleeds in his head had healed leaving no scars.

When we fell pregnant with our second son Keepa we were counselled by the fetal maternal medicine team in Wellington who were amazed to meet Tira and to see that he was in such perfect condition – usually a couple would lose a baby with this condition first and then they would investigate why and go from there. We were now under their care which meant a number of trips back and forth from Wellington from 20 weeks with the possibility of our baby having to be born anywhere from 26 weeks and weekly infusions for me that meant an 8 – 12 hour day in hospital every week . While inside me Keepa was sedated three times, received three platelet transfusions and was found to be anaemic(which they could not find any explanation for) so was given a blood transfusion.

Although it was by far a more “labour intensive” pregnancy and a real emotional roller coaster for our whanau and close friends we have had the best possible outcome - our little whanau is now complete. Keepa was born via c-section weighing a healthy 7lb 7 oz at almost 38 weeks in Wellington hospital and was discharged from neonatal to Wairau hospital after 5 days. His platelet count at birth was 160 and he will continue to be monitored for some minor health issues.

Having almost lost both boys a number of times we definitely know how lucky we are to have them. I will never cease to be amazed by their strength and determination coming into this world and will be forever grateful for the medical care we received.