Antibodies in blood early blood test

[Milita123]

Hello girls,
I just got a phone call yesterday morning from some midwife, she said that antibodies were found in my blood. She never said what kinda but i think she mentioned Rhesus disease and aneamia in baby bla bla bla. I was too stressed to understand. She asked me if i had blood transfusion in the past and when i daid no she became silent. She could not explain me a thing, a lot of we dont know wr not sure, it just happens. I started searching and i only see the ladies with Rhesus negative or after blood transfusion having it. I am Rhesus positive, so is my husband, i never had any blood transfusions in my life. We do have a 4 years old daughter.and ive never had this while pregnant with her. Anyone had same experience, i am crying my eyes out :(

So sorry to hear how upset and worried you are. Antibodies happen in pregnancy sometimes and are important because some have the potential to affect baby’s blood if the levels get high and others because they would make it extra complex to get the right blood for you if you needed a blood transfusion. most often though there is nothing that needs to be done and no problems occur. Did the midwife say they would repeat the blood test?
More information here nhsbtdbe.blob.core.windows.net/umbraco-assets-corp/15184/inf166.pdf
I am a midwife specialising in things like this so happy to answer any questions

I had this in my second pregnancy too and was also Rh+, no blood transfusion. It can happen that during your previous pregnancy or birth some of the baby's blood mixes with your blood and this causes antibodies to be detected in a subsequent pregnancy. Do you know which antibody it was? I had anti-c. I worried all pregnancy about this but literally nothing happened. Towards the end I had blood tests every two weeks. The level of antibodies was really low all pregnancy and baby had a bit of mild jaundice, that was all. If you are in Facebook there is a very helpful group called "support for antibodies in pregnancy". The woman who runs it really knows her stuff if you have questions.

I am 24 weeks pregnant and going through the same thing. I have anti-D, anti-C, and anti-G antibodies in my blood which is apparently quite rare. My antibody levels are monitored every 4 weeks via blood test, then it will be every 2 weeks after 28 weeks. If they rise to a high risk level then I will go for scans to check the level of anaemia in baby, and if she becomes too anaemic they can do blood transfusions in the womb, or if I'm close enough to delivery they would consider doing that.

Don't worry too much just now, the good thing is they have picked it up and like me you will be monitored closely and any changes will be picked up and dealt with quickly. Don't get too scared reading about rhesus disease either, worst case scenario may be jaundice at birth or blood transfusion after birth, but I know loads of babies who have had these and are completely fine.

Thank you vwry much for quick answers. I dont know what happens next, she was saying that inwill need further tests close to my scan date. Which is only in five weeks. I am panicking so much is it not too long to wait? She also said that my husband may need to be checked too. I dont understand it at all. She could not even tell me which antibodies are those. I will worry myself sick untill baby is born as i have very bad anxiety. It ruined my Easter and left me ceying all weekend :(

Ok well maybe listen to what some of the knowledgeable people on here are saying. This is not a thing to cry your eyes out over

56Stepstepmother i am listening, but when it comes to my baby i will worry its my child.

There is no need to panic, my antibodies were picked up at 8 weeks but not further investigated until around 12/13 weeks. This is where they were specifically looking for which antibodies were present and the titre (measurement) level rather than just identifying that I had some.

It's not the kind of thing that is urgent and needs dealt with as there's really no immediate threat, it's something they will look at and monitor throughout your whole pregnancy. There is really not much they will do at an early stage besides monitor your blood, probably every 4 weeks from when they begin to look at it.

My fiancé had his blood checked and he also has some antibodies present, so then my blood was sent off to determine baby's blood group.

I see its quite common then, i guess the worst part for me was that i wasnt explained properly. And i am panicking for everything all the time anyway. You girls really helped me to ease my mind. Thank you very much. Lets wait then and see what kinda antibodies are those and Sussexmidwife i will ask you more questions then of its ok :)

Yeah I know what you mean, I've found that not many midwives know a lot about the antibodies, I don't think it's something they routinely deal with. Even my consultant was a bit puzzled by it all and speaks to a haematologist to make sure she fully understands it. You might be lucky and have someone in your health board who knows a bit more! I found out about mine a couple of weeks before Xmas and didn't get further investigated until mid January so like you I was worrying a lot until then!

I've had my 12 and 20 weeks scans and baby is growing perfectly, and my antibody levels are rising slightly but still classed as low for now. They do tend to rise slightly as the pregnancy progresses so it's to be expected. Don't worry, they will keep an eye on it all for you.

@milita123 that’s fine with me.
You could ring the midwife ( or the antenatal clinic) and ask them to tell you what antibody it is and to confirm the next steps. If you ask for a copy of the lab report you could share it with me & I can explain it better. When talking about antibodies, a confusing thing is that both capital and lower case letters are used (eg C and c) It makes a big difference which it is so make sure if they tell you on the phone that you get the answer clearly. Healthcare staff refer to them as, for example, big C and little c!

We will be fine im sure :) pregnancy is very very stressful thing :)

A bit of update, just phoned them today and they said its anti K not sure about the upper or lower, is it very bad? I googled it affcourse and it seems pretty serious :(

Just to possibly make you feel better, but my youngest had haemolytic anaemia when he was born. No antibodies found during pregnancy. So he did actually have the anaemia but was fine.

I am Rh- (I know you’re not) and had the injections in pregnancy but still seem to have developed antibodies at some point. the antibodies I now have (and that caused his anaemia) were anti-C and anti-d. It was picked up postnatally from a blood test taken at delivery (normal if you are Rh-) and at around 26 days he had a top-up transfusion which was fine. I now have a card to carry in case I need blood.

There was quite a mix up in my case which led to it taking about 3 weeks before it was picked up thanks to the haematology team dealing with MY results alerting paediatrics to a possible problem with ds.

Basically - what’s good here is that they’ve flagged a potential issue, can be monitored and addressed if needed.

DS by the way was very anaemic - really low, and it looks like the transference May have happened in labour which is why he became so anaemic. He was a homebirth and I think there was a
Communication issue at the hospital between haematology, gynae and paediatrics which led to the delay - it was actually 27 days before paediatrics contacted me and 28 days to the transfusion. The intervention came at the right time, thank goodness and he’s absolutely fine. In your case they know there might be an issue and it can all be fully monitored.

Does it mean that baby will be healthy, my husband got so scared and he asked me if we should keep the baby. I burst in tears i am not going to kill my child. If he doesnt want i will go though it alone.

Gosh yes. It’s just a question of seeing if anaemia develops and if it does, treating. So ds had a tiny transfusion and then folic acid supplements for a month. Done as a day case - the transfusion.

Blood cells are constantly being generated and have a relatively short life cycle of about 28 days ish I think, so it’s not a permanent thing. That is my understanding at least, borne out in ds being absolutely fine and totally discharged from paediatrics about 6 weeks after the transfusion (only had 2 blood tests in that 6 week period just to check that iron levels were on the up).

18Janleverton thank you. Jesus i think i will end up in hospital from stressing so much. I have such a palpitations all day. Doctor phoned me from hospital because my midwife told her im stressing too much. I geel like phycho :( burst in tears for everyrhing.

@Milita123, I really feel for you - I was frantic with worry too. I used to stress so much before my appointments that one time I actually got sent for an ECG in case I had some sort of heart condition because the doctor couldn't believe how high my heart rate was! The worst part was the unknown because there's not much out there about this type of thing. Even most midwives didn't know anything about it. Honestly, the facebook group is so reassuring. There are people who have multiple pregnancies with this issue (it does tend to get more significant with each affected pregnancy I think). There are all sorts of interventions that can be done, and hopefully you'll be like me and have a boring, bog standard pregnancy without any drama in the end. All that worry and then it was absolutely fine. He's making up for it big time now he's in the terrible twos though!

The group is helpfull with info but they freaked me out too. I dont know what to. Think. How can it happen out of nowhere i dont understand.

Lol yes it is a little information overload!

OK my basic understanding is that was all have different antigens in our blood. We are all familiar with the usual blood group types, A, O etc, but there are all sorts of other "things" in our blood too which are given letters. If your blood mixes with someone else's blood, then you can react to the "things" in their blood that are different from yours, which means you produce antibodies against these specific things. This is most common after a blood transfusion, but it can also take place in pregnancy or during birth, if both mother and baby are bleeding. Remember our babies inherit some antigens in their blood from the father and some from the mother, so there are things in their blood that are incompatible with our blood. This is most likely what happened to both of us. I don't know exactly the mechanism by which it happened to me, but my first baby had a scalp clip attached for monitoring during labour before I eventually had a section, so he did bleed a little from the site of that - maybe that mixed with my blood somehow? It doesn't cause an issue with that pregnancy or baby, but as you've found out these antibodies are then detected the next time you become pregnant.

Same with me. I was induced and after very long and traumatising induction she wad taken out by ventouse. She also had a clip, i was cut and i was bleeding like crazy. Some fluids were given to me iv. So does it mean that ive got it frim my forst baby, does it mean that my husband will have it and theres no escape 😪 is there a point checking my husband then?
Ive git a phone call again. They want to see us on friday.

My husband had his blood checked too. I was told by the consultant to book him in with the midwife at my GP surgery to get the sample taken. It caused quite a stir at the surgery when I phoned to make a midwife appointment for a man.

They like to check partners because some people have a baby with a different partner, and the blood thing may not cause an issue depending on the blood type of the new partner - also I guess a small minority of people aren't truthful about the paternity of the baby. As well as this, people can carry either one or two copies of these antigens. My husband's blood showed that he has two copies of c in his blood, so any baby we have together will definitely be a "small c baby" as the consultant put it and so my anti-c antibodies will always be relevant, because they are definitely incompatible with the "c" that we know for definite is in the baby's blood. If he had had only one copy of c, then there was a chance that he wouldn't pass this on. If this is the case I believe they can then do a test to determine the baby's blood type, and they can rule out any issues with the antibodies at this stage depending on the results of this. I think it will be a similar story for your anti-K. I hope all that is roughly correct, anyone who actually knows what they're talking about please do correct anything there that's misinformed!

So basically its to find outif im lying about the father :D i thought its to see wether its dangerous or not. Lets say if my husband is K negative then it can be a good news. But apparently i dont understand it at all. And it makes me panic. I think i am scared of what i cant understand. Anyone has any advise on how to stop palpitations its too much.

There are 3 outcomes:

1. Your husband has no K in his blood. That's not going to happen if you've ruled out any other way of someone else's blood ever having mixed with yours, other than your first baby, and he's the father of both babies. They're not really checking if you're lying, I am sure they believe you.

2. He has one K in his blood - then they won't be sure whether or not your baby has K in his or her blood and may do a further test to determine this.

3. Your husband has two copies of K in his blood. This means your child definitely has it too, and so they wouldn't need to do a further check to determine this.

Once they work out whether your child has K in his or her blood they will know whether your anti-K antibodies pose a risk or not. But I had option 3 and it was all absolutely fine. Please try not to worry - the overwhelming likelihood is everything will be OK.

Yes he is a father of both so it means ive hot it from him through babies isnt? Where did he get it from? Strange...
Also i am a bit worry about that they said yhey not going to do scan now because its too early. Isnt thay with ant K it needs to be done immediately as its very dangerous? What if they dont know what they are doing...drives me nuts