8 Months In and My Leukaemic Rate has Stayed Stable!

Well, believe it or not, this week is week 32 of pregnancy and I have hit the eighth month! I can’t really believe how quickly time has flown by. The first trimester was the longest 13 weeks of my life because I had to wait an additional two weeks before properly announcing it. Then with moving out of London to rural Suffolk and that taking up more headspace than I thought, and generally having no brain or focus in the first trimester or the third, the time has flown by!

So many doctor's appointments

I also spent 2 or 3 days a week throughout September and October in London with clients or hospital appointments which took it out of me more than I thought. I’m under the care of two specialist teams (the premature clinic and an obstetrics team with a haematologist attached to it), I'm seeing a midwife, and my haematologist, so I’ve had a lot more appointments than most.

I’ve been at my haematology clinic every 4 weeks since my positive pregnancy test back in May for bloodwork and monitoring, not that I mind. It’s been keeping us safe which is the most important thing. Then November just disappeared and I genuinely have no idea how! I also look back at photos of myself when I thought I really had a bump and compare it to now and laugh. I’m not concerned about how much bigger I’m going to get over the next 8ish weeks, I’m intrigued but also slightly, well, apprehensive? I’m not sure. Anyways, this is quite possibly the only time I’m going to be able to do this, so I am enjoying it. I’ve also felt really well throughout and have nothing to complain about which definitely helps.

My rate has stayed the same!

My haematologist flagged with me when I told her I was pregnant that Interferon is safe and would I be ok going back on that. I mean, if I needed to, she wasn’t really asking my permission, but because I had such bad side effects the last time I was on it, it was more flagging that it would be highly likely I’d be back on it and to prepare myself. I had already thought this would be what would happen as historically my Leukaemic rate has shot up after 6 weeks of being off treatment and always thought this would happen in pregnancy so back on Interferon I would go.

But, it’s been really quite amazing! My Leukaemic rate has stayed exactly the same, staying in the magical 'major molecular response' result bracket meaning I am still in remission. It hasn’t gone up a smidge. Which is epic and has completely blown my consultant's mind. Once again, my body really not doing what was expected! I did read an article about research that has been done in women's health in pregnancy and how the circulating fetal cells in the mother's body are incredibly healing which is why so often women with conditions feel so much better in pregnancy. So this little rainbow baby is doing its magical thing in keeping me healthy to ensure its survival.

So we shall see what happens after the baby is born. I’m really hoping that things will stay stable enough that I can breastfeed for 6 months, rather than the 3 I’m allowed at the moment.