White blood cell count 16.95 at week 39 preg appt. doc casually mentioned leukemia. any other ideas? second child, first there was no elevated levels

Confusing data: In most circles a white blood count of 16.95 would mean 16,950 cells per microliter with a expected range of 4500-10,000.Pregnancy is known to cause an elevation of the WBC level. If the count were above 100,000 I would consider that a possibility & rarely it could be at a lower level. Why the diagnosis was even brought up in that setting is confusing. I suspect the doc has some explaining to do.