Rare antibodies in blood - short on advice

[Lucyfirstbabynoidea]

Hi All,

Im new on here and know there have been posts on this previously, but a while ago, so thought I would ask anew.

I have been told that I have anti Cw antibodies in my blood and I am really struggling to get information on what this means for me and baby (first baby and im 15 weeks).

Does anyone know where I can get more information as general obstetricians don't seem to know as this is so rare? I have been told a haematologist would know more, but I don't know where to begin on that front. Currently awaiting titrate results which are taking forever!

Any advice hugely appreciated.

thank you.

They should refer you to a haematologist really. It's basically an antibody against red blood cells which carry oxygen around the body. If it gets into the baby's blood stream it could target the baby's red blood cells for destruction, in a similar way that rhesus antibodies would. This gives an increased risk of the baby having anaemia and also jaundice after birth. It will be vital for the baby to have the vitamin k after delivery. The baby may also need a transfusion before birth in severe cases but in others will need nothing extra. Hth

Anti-Cw antibodies are unusual but not really rare to find from a transfusion POV. They usually don't cause issues during pregnancy but sometimes can, they are not as dangerous as say anti-D or anti-K for example.

What should happen from now is the NHS blood service will issue a report which will state how at risk your baby is depending on the amount of antibodies you have. Depending on that they will give advice saying how often you need to get your antibodies monitored (e.g. every 2 weeks, every 4 weeks etc.) They may change 4th is advice if the antibody increases a lot after one of your monitoring bloods. If they decide their is a risk to your baby then they should discuss options with you then. It's very unlikely but if you where unlucky enough for your baby to be in danger then they will consider things such as intrauterine transfusions to the baby while still in you and/or transfusing your baby after he/she is born. Sourcing compatible blood for your baby will be extremely easy, approx 98% of the population lack Cw so finding compatible blood for your baby won't be hard.

Don't worry too much about it if you can, right now there is nothing your clinical team can do other than watch and wait to see how bad things might get. Transfusion labs will have dealt with antibodies far far more dangerous and rare than anti-Cw so you should be in good hands.

Btw most midwives and obstetricians don't know anything about irregular blood group antibodies other than anti-D and they just generally follow the labs/haematologist/NHS blood and transplants advice on what to do. Not their fault they don't know anything about it, it's not practical for them to understand it all when there's literally hundreds of antibodies out there and being able to investigate antibodies is an entire career in itself.