anyone else had Big E anti-bodies?! help needed!!

[mumtodylan]

been told that i have big E anti bodies in my blood, which basically means that i have built up anti-bodies to a protein that was present in the blood type of my first child but that i didn't have. i'm now 19weeks with number 2 and have been told that having this anti-body means i can't have a home birth, although nobody has been very clear about why (when i asked about risks to the baby i was told there was teeny chance baby could get anemic and also chance of neonatal jaundice). has anyone else experienced this, i have a meeting with the consultant next week and don't know if i should still be pushing for a home birth or not iyswim!
help!!

errr no, go for hospital birth.

I thought it was usually D antibodies? No - I agree about hospital birth. Baby needs to be monitored more closely.

i just thought that flossam.

thats why its called Anti-D isnt it?

I had a low count of anti-e with my ds (2nd pg, 1st child) towards the end but they still haven't explained what the implications are for a 2nd baby. With ds it meant that he had jaundice at birth, although didn't look jaundiced but his SBR (serum bilirubens (?sp)) level was high.

So, I'm afraid I can't help all that much, but do let me know what you find out!

One word of warning, if you're wanting to breastfeed from the start, get all the information you can and possibly talk to a bf counsellor before you have your dc as I didn't get all the info and had to wing it, telling the hosp that there was no way he was having formula and various other things, but it all turned out all right in the end.

Good luck

I have anti c antibodies.dd1 became anaemic and jaundiced and needed phototherapy. dd2 was ok'ish but still needed to stay in hospital to have her bloods checked few times a day (starting with cord bloods).
Also had regular blood tests during pregnancy and scans and (worse) needed to be induced at 40 weeks. Unfortunately wasn't able to find that much information about it on the internet.

Must be wrong then - I don't know an awful lot about it [blsuh].

only advice I can give is to make a full list of questions before the appointment with the consultant (even follow up q's, if A then . . .) and don't leave til you have gone through all of the questions to your satisfaction. That helps me a lot - I get 'blank' syndrome - 'Any questions Mrs Morocco?' 'er, no that sounds fine' duh!

thanks, i think consultant is prob right about hospital birth i just hate it when then don't explain everything properly

Message withdrawn

I have type c antibodies. They were discovered during my 3rd pregnancy.

Basically it can be a problem and i'm afraid you probably can't avoid a hospital birth now.

Mine started off at quite a low level but once the level rose to over 4, I had to have my antenatal care transferred to a larger hospital.

I had to have weekly blood tests and fortnightly scans to check hydrops which is water under the skin. This is a sign of anemia iirc.
Thankfully all throughout the pregnancy my baby was fine and didn't need any treatment. In severe cases sometimes the baby needs a blood transfusion whilst still in the womb.

Ds was born at 37 weeks and was very jaundiced but thankfully only needed treatment on a billybed so stayed with me. He was jaundiced for about 2mths and then once that cleared up he became anemiac and narrowly escaped a blood transfusion.

Since then though he has been fine and is a perfectly healthy nearly 4 yr old.

I was told that your level of antibodies can be really high and baby not be affected or that it can be really low and baby can be really poorly, apparently it depends on the baby.

I think that by the end of the pregnancy my level was 5. something and with any further pregnancies (not advised) the level starts off at where it finnished at end of last pregnancy.

It is very hard to find out info on the net that doesn't scare you half to death tbh, but all I can say is that my experiance of it was that you are monitered very closely if needed and would be treated very quickly if needed and that it's not such a BAD thing as some doctors make it sound.

Hi to you all.I havn't been on hear for a while but have found myself pregnant once again i must find the cause as this is number 6 lol.I am a anti E and so is my husband which is very rare for both in a couple to be it apparentley.All my children are anti E carriers so if anyone would like to quiz me at any point please feel free and yes breastfeeding is fine whith this condition i have fed all 5 of mine.alot of midwife's dn't no much about this condition as they are no trained to as they dn't come across it very much but all of us on hear prove other wise.I will answer as much as i can from my own experiences so feel free to ask.xx

I am 26 wks & have anti e antibodies & another antibody that they are still trying to identify. I agree it is so hard trying to get info, my mw didn't know anything about it nor did the mw's at the hospital. So far my levels are low so it's just a case of regular bloods to check. Personally I would be much happier with a hospital birth just in case there are complications. It's hard when you don't get many answers though isn't it. I'm finding it almost impossible getting the results from my blood tests, every time involves many many phone calls, it's so frustrating.

I am 14 weeks pregnant and have anti-E antibodies but not sure how high the levels are yet as waiting for up to 2 weeks for the tests to come back from a special lab in Bristol Very worried and scared what all this will mean for my baby would like to hear from anyone who can reassure me on this or provide further information. A lot of what you read on the internet is so scary