Cue "Eye of the Tiger"...

There are so many of you who have been praying for and thinking of and fighting this fight with us, I feel I owe it to you to be honest about all updates regarding our Rocky.

I had my 24-week checkup this morning (yay Vday!)... I woke up so excited about Vday, aka Viability Day.  

I went to my checkup still on Cloud 9, where I've been since that March morning when a plastic stick told me I was pregnant.

All was well in terms of heartbeat, baby movement, my weight gain (yeesh!), and my stomach measurement.  But then they checked my hemoglobin.

I've always been borderline anemic, on and off, my whole life.  Because of this, my fertility specialist put me on an iron supplement twice a day back in January.

So today, my OB told me my hemoglobin was pretty low, and that I'd need to start on iron.  When I told her I was already taking it two times a day, she was surprised - and not in a good way.

Long story short, anemia can be pretty common in pregnancy, especially in people like me who have iron issues even when they're not growing a human.  However, my number today was alarmingly low for someone who is already taking such a high dose of iron.

And anemia in pregnancy that isn't resolved can cause all kinds of scary things for Rocky - things that have made me feel sick to my stomach all day long.

My doctor was honest about these risks, and I also Googled.  I knew better than to Google, but I couldn't help it.

Anyway, what do we do from here?  Well, I had a full blood workup done and the results will give us more information.  From there, we will determine what steps to take next.  So basically, we hurry up and wait.

For now, I am taking Vitamin C in addition to the iron to help with absorption, and am also supposed to try to incorporate more iron-rich foods into my diet.  So I need all the help I can get - any advice and suggestions for iron-rich foods and recipes and easy ways to eat more would be greatly appreciated.

Mostly?  We need prayers.  Continued prayers for our little fighter, for my body to provide what Rocky needs.

Y'all - I'm so scared.  I feel like I had finally gotten to an okay state-of-mind about everything and now, I'm finding myself back in such a dark place.

Please, Lord, please let our baby be okay... let him/her keep fighting, growing strong and healthy over the next 16 weeks... let my body provide everything our little miracle needs, so that he/she is alive and safe and at home in my arms this November.  

Amen.