Rhesus Negative Mum, positive baby

[CookMummy]

Hi all, I have just found out at 17 weeks that I am Rhesus negative but baby is Rhesus positive. I'm booked to have the Anti-D injection at 28 weeks. My concern after reading up on the Internet is that I had miscarriage last year and didn't have an anti-d given then. I'm worried that I might have already got the anti-bodies that can cause Rhesus. Should I phone my midwife back again and make sure she is aware of the miscarriage part? She told me it wasn't something to worry about and that the anti-d was to protect future pregnancies but we didn't discuss my miscarriage. Help please

It's only a problem if the miscarriage was after 12 weeks.

I'm Rh- had a miscarriage and then 2 low risk straightforward pregnancies with Rh+ babies afterwards.

Your booking bloods will have checked for anti bodies as standard so if you had any you would know. This test will also be repeated at your 28 week bloods.

Thank you, miscarriage was 12+6 so after the 12 week mark.
Ok, I wasn't sure if they checked for antibodies at the 12 week blood test. I am glad they will have, didn't want to wait for 28 weeks to find out if I had them.

I was told early on out of the blue that I had antibodies and my extra scans started at 16 weeks. So I don't think you need to worry. Just out of interest how do you know if the baby is rh positive?

Thanks, apparently you can find out from the genetic make up of the baby in the mother's bloods. Pretty clever!

Yes it is! Thats what I had done but it was new then and only one small lab in the country that could do it. Interesting to see how it's changed in seven years! Best of luck with the pregnancy

I hope this helps. I had the anti D after my first but it didn't work (it doesn't fit 1%). They found antibodies at 34 weeks of my 2nd pregnancy. She was induced, treated in hospital for a week and then on folic acid for 6 months.

That 2nd baby is now nearly 17 and doing her A levels. The point of my post is that the worst scenario (which is NOT you) is still survivable.

For 1% not fit 🙄

@crossstitchingnana thank you, that's reassuring. I was worried they hadn't tested for antibodies and that I might have them from my miscarriage. It's one of those things that they seem to know in advance so baby can get the treatment they need ASAP.

Hello all, I am 16 weeks pregnant and was told at my 12 week scan that one of my blood tests came back positive for anti-c antibody. They also sent me a card stating my blood type which is B RHd positive. From reading everything I can find about rhesus etc, im starting to get confused because some sites say there isnt anything to worry about if im Rh positive but then im now worried about what anti-c actually means and how it will affect my child...!? any help would be great!

Hey, I'm rhesus negative and from all my reading being rhesus positive wouldn't be an issue. I'm unsure about the anti-c though. The anti-d is the thing needed if rhesus negative. Might be worth a separate post about the anti-c so someone picks up on your question.

Hello, i did create a new post and got some extra info on anti-c but i think ultimately i need to speak to a specialist to understand what impact this could have on my little one.

So to update you all, I had my dd a few weeks ago and we ended staying in hospital for pretty much all that time due to a few issues caused by the antigens. Basically two week before I was due (on a Wednesday) I went in for a final scan to check the blood flow to the brain was all fine and on the way to the hospital I got a call regarding my last blood test to say that the antigen level which was hovering around the 1.00 mark (very low on the scale) had sky rocketed to 66.0!! All this time their monthly blood reports stated that there would be a minimal effect on the baby and a low chance of haemolytic disease of the newborn. But due to the sudden increase they summoned me in ASAP. I had the scan as planned and they asked me to come in again later that day for a chat with a consultant. This was on a Wednesday and then they gave me a letter saying I was going to be induced on Thursday. The next day!! Which was two week early but they didn't want to risk the impact on the baby.
So I went in Thursday and started the induction process. Saturday morning dd was born. They took blood from her umbilical cord as planned. We then went to the postnatal ward and they took her bloods again from the heel. Her jaundice/bilirubin levels were very high, more than normal babies so they put a blue photo therapy light on her. 6 hrs later they checked the bloods again and she was on the 'exchange' line which meant they would have to exchange her antigen filled blood for clean blood which was a dangerous process. But before that they took her down to neonatal and placed her on a light bed to give her more phototherapy. 6 hrs later her bilirubin levels came down a little. They kept her in neonatal for 3 days until her level was below the phototherapy line. We were both moved the transitional care where they kept only one set of lights on her but this lasted for 5 days. It was tough to feed because the moment she was taken off the lights I knew her level would go up so she was tube fed for basically the whole week. She was kept blindfolded for that whole time too.after 10 days we were allowed to go home for one day as her bilirubin levels had gone down a lot but then the next day her level had risen high again. This cycle went on and on for another 5 days until eventually it began to stabilise. We thought were finally at the end but then they revealed that her haemoglobin levels were dropping so prescribed iron and folic acid. 2 days later they were still dropping so they increased the dosage. They told us to go home but to come in every 3 days for blood checks. 3 weeks later her level has dropped to the point they would do a blood transfusion but they're holding off as they can see her bone marrow is also producing more healthy red blood cells so they're hoping this also stabilises. This will be an on going issue for several months and we may end up having to give her some clean blood via a transfusion but at this point it's fair to say we've gone through so much that if that's what it comes down to then so be it.

This is a long post because I was looking for these answers when I was searching for other people's experiences in having antigens so I hope this helps anyone who is wondering what haemolytic disease is, how it will impact your baby and what the procedure is to help you little one fight it. Be prepared for a lengthy stay in the hospital!!!