My Morning Routine

Since I'm a high risk pregnancy (two genetic blood clotting mutations that put me and baby at high risk for developing blood clots), my morning routine is pretty intense.

My 'sharps container' with my detailed shot notes

For the last six months, I've been injecting myself with shots of Lovenox, a blood thinner. The bruises at first were brutal.

Now, they're a lot better because I have my injection technique and tricks down. Icing is a big part of this. But icing takes ten minutes or so.

The "shrine"

I use this time to bond with the baby. I have a cute little "shrine" set up with healthy baby boy photos. I sing to the baby. I talk to our handsome son and tell him the same few phrases every morning. And, I go through positive birth affirmations. By the time that's all done, I'm ready for the shot.

 Bruising from 2 weeks ago; that's my thigh in case you're curious. I hit a big blood vessel. Whoops.

The shot itself is a 30-50 second injection. The medicine burns going in so it's easier to do it slowly. And then, if I'm lucky, no bleeding and it's off to work. If I'm not lucky, I'll hit a blood vessel that will not stop bleeding (no duh - I'm on blood thinners!) and I have to stay at home until I quit bleeding through bandages. The shortest stop-flow time was 30 minutes. The longest was 12 hours. That was a weekend so I stayed home, bled through 3 bandaids, my sweats and left a bloodstain on the sheets. Whoops. Could have been worse. It could have been the couch.

All in all, I feel incredibly thankful that me and the baby have the best medical care - a high risk OBGYN and a consulting perioneonatologist from University of Washington.