Antibodies, specifically anti-c

[EveMoneypenny]

Hi, is there anyone with experience of antibodies in pregnancy? This is my second pregnancy and I have anti-c (small c) detected at booking in bloods and all bloods since. I must have got it during my first pregnancy/delivery. My husband has given a blood sample, and this has shown that this baby definitely is small c positive, as will be any future children we (may or may not!) have. Luckily up until my 20 week bloods my levels have been very low at 0.2. I'm 25 weeks now and haven't heard my latest results. I will get fortnightly blood tests from 28 weeks.

I'd just like to know from anyone who's had this, what happened to their anti-c levels as the pregnancy progressed, when did they deliver, was the baby affected by jaundice/anaemia after birth, and did it worsen in any subsequent pregnancy?

Bump, anyone out there who knows about this?

I have anti-M and after an initial panic and frantic reading i've discovered it isn't really anything to worry about. My last titre was so low they didn't put a number on it, i've stayed midwife led and consultant doesn't want to see me. Only irk really is that the lab has insisted I am on labour ward so that a couple of bags of my designer blood are in the fridge should I need a tranfusion. Midwife has fought my corner and the compromise is that I am on midwife led unit on the floor above so at least the blood is in the same building! I'm currently 27 weeks and i'm sure they will check the titre again at next appointment. No one has even mentioned a risk to the baby so I am going with the flow and not worrying. I don't know if anti-c is any different but that is my experience thus far. Good luck x

I have anti-m as well. It appeared on the first blood test after my first c section 12 years ago and sometimes shows up sometimes doesn't ever since. I'm now on my 5th baby and the only thing that's been different is they make sure they have anti-m blood ready for my deliveries.

No one has ever been concerned about it and it's never even been mentioned in regards to any of my babies.

Thanks for the replies. It's good to know you've had 4 other pregnancies without issues @outnumbered4.

Anti-c is a bit higher risk than anti-M, I think. The 3 that are higher risk for causing HDN are anti-D, anti-c and anti-Kell. So they will monitor me quite closely, and I have to deliver before 40 weeks (probably elcs due to previous cs). I did freak out a bit before I learned that my anti-c level has stayed at 0.2, and 7.5 is when they start calling it moderate risk of HDN. So hopefully it will stay low and not cause any problems, although apparently you can have low levels and baby is affected, or high levels and it's not.

What do these antibodies mean ? With my last cs the consultant shouted at me about the effort they had to go to to get 10 units of blood suitable for me and that I was selfish. I never understood what he meant by antibodies what do they cause ?

Selfish, wtf? What a bizarre and unprofessional comment!

My very basic understanding is that antibodies can develop following your blood mixing with someone else, so either a blood transfusion or your baby's blood in pregnancy or during birth. So my first baby was c positive, I am c negative and my body reacted by producing the antibody anti-c. There are two main effects: if you need a blood transfusion they must give you one without the substance you have the antibody against. So as well as needing blood suitable for my A+ blood group, I would need blood from someone who was also c negative, or else I might have a reaction to it. The other effect is on the baby. If my antibodies are passed onto this or a future baby during pregnancy or birth, it can attack the baby's red blood cells and put them at risk of haemolytic disease of the newborn (HDN). Rising antibody levels during pregnancy can be a sign of this happening, which is why they monitor it.

It was because it was my fourth cs and I had complications and they had said to me that I should have stopped at 3

Thankyiu for the explanation. At then time o didn't wake and hadn't thought anything about it till reading this thread

Wake-ask

Still, that's a shocking comment. I would have complained!

In hindsight I should have but it never really clicked till now ! I also had more serious things to complain about sadly (they sterilised me without informed consent) but looking back their attitude in general towards me was abominable. Glad to finally understand what the whole antibody issue was about though it's always puzzled me

Just updating this thread with what happened in my pregnancy. I had monthly blood tests until 28 weeks then fortnightly after this. My anti-c level stayed at 0.2 throughout, apart from a couple of the tests which came back as 0.3. Despite this being much lower than 7.5 (when the risk of HDN becomes moderate instead of low) my consultant advised delivery by 40 weeks. So I had an elcs at 39+6 and DS was born completely healthy. They sampled the cord blood when he was born to check and results were back within a couple of hours. He had been put under the lights beforehand as a precaution (thankfully they had a mobile device so this was done at my bedside in recovery) but it was stopped when the blood results showed it wasn't necessary. He developed a bit of mild newborn jaundice later, but not caused by the antibodies.

I'm thankful for the good care I received and that DS is completely fine. The only downside was not getting a VBAC as I would have liked, as I didn't go into labour myself before my due date. However he had the cord wrapped around his neck 4 times so who knows what would have happened there - a good reminder of the unpredictability of pregnancy and birth!

I have anti e. The midwife took my bloods and my partners. Got the results and spoke to a special consultant about what would happen if mine and my partners blood didn't match, which it didn't. I twas told baby could be anemic. The results came back that my abit bodies had stayed the same very low and week. Myself and baby have to get bloods taken after the birth.

Glad all went well for you. I had anti jka. Thankfully levels stayed low also and baby only had mild jaundice also. I was told if levels had risen could ended up with in womb transfusions to baby