please help me - anti Kell antigen negative & RH negative

[thefearthefear]

Hope you can shed some light, I'm getting really worried. Met my lovely midwife today who pointed out that in my last blood tests, apart from being O RH negative, which I knew, it also said

Rh Phenotype
rr (C-D-c+e+)
Patient is K (Kell) Antigen NEGATIVE

the midwife said that it mattered in case I need a transfusion, but I googled and got quite confusing information that it may cause haemolytic disease to the baby, possibly need in utero transfusions, early induction and other such horrors.

Please, does anybody know more? I had already seen an obstetrician (have mixed care as I have hypothyroidism) and he didn't mention it.

[Bogeyface]

Its more commonly known as Rhesus disease.

If you are RH neg, and have aRh pos baby in your first pregnancy then some of that babys blood cells can cross into your blood stream during birth or a pre-birth bleed. Your body can then react to these "foreign bodies" by creating antibodies which can then attack the blood in your next baby if that one is also Rh positive, so to prevent that you are offered Anti D injections which stop the antibodies being made. Depending on the protocol in your area you will be offered either one or two injections during pregnancy and sometimes one after birth. It wont affect this pregnancy (unless you have been sensitised via blood transfusion which is very unlikely) but if you became pg again with a Rh pos baby then your body will recognise the foreign bodies again and will attack them, this can lead to Rhesus disease (or "blue baby syndrome") in that next baby and they can need blood transfusions whilst in utero and rare cases it can be fatal.

So, aslong as you have Anti D with this baby then you are protecting your next baby from Rh disease. It only works from one pg to the next though, so you would need anti D in the next pg too to protect the next one and so on.

I havent had it in this Pg as I am being sterilised after this baby is born, but had it in my others.


this probably explains it better than me :o

[Bogeyface]

I should add that the reason it hasnt been mentioned may well be because blood tests for antibodies and offering AntiD is so routine. You will have tests for antibodies later in your pg and it will be discussed then :)

[thefearthefear]

thank you very much Bogeyface, I have in fact given birth already a few years ago and my son was RH positive so was given extra anti D. Also, just before this pregnancy I had a miscarriage followed by surgical D&C where again I was given anti-D. What worries me the most is the anti-Kell thing, for which there is no shot, which I was blissfully ignorant of till today...

Cheers and good luck with your pregnancy. xx