Rhesus Negative Blood Group in Pregnancy

sonu_627 · Feb 10, 2006

Rhesus Negative Blood Group in Pregnancy

Approximately 15% of the population has rhesus (Rh) negative blood. If you are a mother-to-be with negative blood, there are some things you might like to know if your partner has rhesus positive blood.

Rhesus factor is a substance (blood product) found in blood. Approximately 85% of the population has the rhesus factor and the remaining percent do not. It is symbolised by the plus or minus after your blood group, for example, A- is rhesus negative and A+ is rhesus positive.

What if I don’t know mine or my partner’s blood group?

When you first find out you are pregnant, your doctor may prescribe some routine tests. If you don’t know your blood group or if you’re unsure whether the doctor is testing it or not, just ask and this can be easily done.

How can my negative blood be a problem?

If you are rhesus negative and your husband is rhesus positive, then your unborn child may inherit negative or positive blood – you wont know until birth. However if the mother is negative and the foetus happens to be positive (positive being dominant, negative recessive), this may cause problems for the foetus as well as any future pregnancies the mother may have.

Problems can occur if the foetus’ positive blood manages to find it’s way into the mother’s bloodstream, either during pregnancy or labour, mixing with her negative blood. If this happens and it is not treated, the mother’s blood can create antibodies to attack the positive blood being a ‘foreign’, causing anaemeia or in a worst case scenario, death for a foetus. This means that any future pregnancies the mother has where the foetus is again rhesus positive, her antibodies may cross the placenta and attack the foetus’ blood cells.

How can this be prevented?

Your obstetrician or midwife may organise for blood tests throughout your pregnancy to monitor antibodies in your blood. It is important that the hospital where you birth your baby is aware of your rhesus negative blood, so they can test baby’s blood after the birth (from the placenta) to discover baby’s blood type. Should your baby have positive blood, you can choose to be given an “anti-D” injection within a couple of days following the birth. This prevents antibodies from forming.

If you experience any bleeding during pregnancy or if you have an amniocentesis, miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy or termination, you need to make your primary medical carer aware of this as soon as possible, as these may all pose opportunities for the blood of the foetus to mix with that of the mother’s and it will be unclear in most of those cases as to which bloodgroup the baby belonged to. If none of these things happen, in a normal pregnancy, you will not need ‘routine’ anti-D injections until after the birth, should the baby’s placenta come back as rhesus positive – and if you choose to.

What if I already have formed antibodies against positive blood?

The anti-D injection may not be able to protect you or your baby if you already have antibodies and you will need to be closely monitored by your obstetrician, possibly requiring specialist care. Discuss with your obstetrician.

If I have the anti-D injection will I be protected for good?

No – with each pregnancy the risk still exists of antibodies forming, should positive and negative blood become mixed. It is therefore important to make sure you continue to communicate your blood group with your future medical carers if you decide to become pregnant again.

P.S I am B Rh negative. My baby was born caeserion due to some complications. Mostly ladies who conceive or trying to conceive hardly know about this fact.It is better to test blood group before trying to conceive.

ssubhasr · Apr 5, 2008

Rhogam Injection during pregnancy ?

Hi all

Anyone know about the Rhogam injection which will be given during pregnancy if the mother has RH factor ?
I know a little bit about Rhogam shot...which is "The RhoGAM injection halts the mother's immune system from responding to the Rh positive blood of her child as a foreign threat and attacking it with antibodies"

And I think, In India its given only after delivery (within 48hrs.) if the mother has RH factor and if the baby is positie. And I also heard it will be given only for the second child..... ?!!
But here in US, it seems, in 28weeks Rhogam shot will be given to the mother during pregnancy as well as after delivery.

Does this shot have any side effects ? Because ppl say it has more mercury content and will have some side effects....I dont know abt this...

Pl clarify me if anyone know about this......

Vandhana · Apr 5, 2008

Re: Rhogam Injection during pregnancy ?

Hi Subha,

I was also Rh -ve, and got the rhogam shots for both my pregnancies. Once at 28 weeks, and then one more immediately after delivery. There are no side effects for the shots. I was perfectly healthy and had two healthy babies.

So no worries. Go ahead and get the shot.

Good luck with your pregnancy.
Rgds
Vandhana

ssubhasr · Apr 5, 2008

Re: Rhogam Injection during pregnancy ?

Thank you soo much vandhana...

puni88 · Apr 5, 2008

Re: Rhogam Injection during pregnancy ?

Thanks Vandhana for sharing this information.
I was hearing for the first time about the name of the injection.

Sylviaram · Jun 5, 2008

How the RH factor affects child birth!

Dear Ladies,

My blood group is B-ve while my husband is B+ve. We have a son who is now 5 years old. When I was pregnant with my son, the Doctor told me that she will have to give me an injection named "Immuno-Globin" soon after child birth to avoid complications in the second pregnancy..

But when my son was born, his blood group was O-ve and the Doc said that since he is also negative, there is no need to give that injection...

So, now what happens if I try for another child? What effect will this have on my second kid? Will anyone be able to throw some light in this matter?

Thanks in advance
Cheers!
Sylvia

ashapradeep · Jun 5, 2008

Re: How the RH factor affects child birth!

Dear Sylvia,
Rh incompatibility is usually seen in cases when the mother is Rh negative and father is Rh positive. The baby growing inside the Rh-negative mother may have Rh-positive blood, inherited from the father. Rh incompatibility usually isn't a problem if it's the mother's first pregnancy because, unless there's some sort of abnormality, the fetus's blood does not normally enter the mother's circulatory system during the course of the pregnancy.
However, during delivery, the mother's and baby's blood can intermingle. If this happens, the mother's body recognizes the Rh protein as a foreign substance and can begin producing antibodies against the Rh proteins introduced into her blood.

Rh antibodies are harmless until the mother's second or later pregnancies. If she is ever carrying another Rh-positive child, her Rh antibodies will recognize the Rh proteins on the surface of the baby's blood cells as foreign, and pass into the baby's bloodstream and attack those cells. This can lead to swelling and rupture of the baby's red blood cells. A baby's blood count can get dangerously low when this condition occurs.

But in ur case, your son was also Rh negative. So there is no fear of encounter with Rh positive blood in ur system. That was the reason your doctor did not give u the injection after your son was born. In case he had been Rh positive, she would have definitely done so.

There is no harm if you try for ur second child and if the next one is also Rh negative, there is no problem again. But if the child is Rh positive, the doctor may insist on giving you the injection, in case u decide to have any more kids in future. So don’t worry about it!!!

Hope this clears ur doubt!!

Sylviaram · Jun 5, 2008

Re: How the RH factor affects child birth!

Dear Asha,

Thanks soooo much for the quick and elaborate reply.. my doubts are almost gone..

Lately I see many familes having special needs kids and I get very worried.. But from your statement, i think that such incidents do not occur due to RH mismatch..

What a lot of thoughts were going on in my mind before I read your post.. you have saved me a lot of trouble.. thanks again!

Would you be able to answer another query?? How much of the child's mental and physical development be detected in scan? Is it possible to ensure delivery of a healthy child? Can a scan tell the Doc that the kid is mentally and physically sound?

You have been really helpful..

thanks sooo much
Cheers!
Sylvia

ashapradeep · Jun 5, 2008

Re: How the RH factor affects child birth!

Dear Sylvia,

Am happy that ur doubts are cleared. Glad to be of help.

As for ur next query. An ultrasound scan does show a clear picture of the baby's physical features (even the fingers, toes, eyes, nose...), so any physical abnormality can be seen using the scan, so can the brain development (am sure u must ve seen all these with ur first kid). In case the physician feels there could be any abnormality, am sure they ll suggest for additional tests. There are many of them available now a days!!!

Cool and stop worrying unnecessarily. Have faith and go ahead with ur plan for the next one. Am sure everything will work just fine.

Cheers,
Asha

ampu · Jun 5, 2008

RH Factor O negative Blood group

Hi All,

I am in my 28th week of pregnancy. My blood group is O negative. I have to take shot for RH negative factor this week. Let me know if there would be any side effects after the injection. And any special precautions I need to take.

My another concern is I heard many people telling O negative is very rare blood group in women. Will there be any complications for O negative women during pregnancy. And if there are any precautions I need to take pls let me know.

-AMPU