Mums with negative blood type

[RebeccaMargaret]

Hello there!

I wonder if anyone can advise me about pregnancy and negative blood types.

My husband and I are thinking about trying for a baby next year. I have had one abortion previously and was told immediately after that I needed a vaccination because I have a RH negative blood.

I didn’t understand it at all but later researched it and found that my body could produce antibodies that damage a baby with a positive blood group.

Recently I thought I might be pregnant but in the end my period arrived a few days late. I suppose there’s a small chance I could have been pregnant and lost it (because I really felt like I was) but now I will never know. Anyway, I didn’t go to the doctor, but it occurred to me that if a miscarriage had happened, in theory I should have had this vaccination.

I just wondered if there’s anyone else out there with negative blood type who’s had any experience with this - did you have a vaccination or did any problems arise during pregnancy?

Thank you so much!

Hi @RebeccaMargaret, I have a negative blood type and have had a lot of miscarriages. Generally if the m/c happens before 12 weeks they say you don't need the anti-d injection, so if this happened early on (as it sounds like) then you're probably ok and your blood type shouldn't cause any issues TTC xx

Thank you, that’s reassuring, I hadn’t heard about the 12 week thing. I’m sorry to hear about your miscarriages though.

Two quick questions....

1. does your husband know his blood group?
2. was your terminated pregnancy with your husband?

The reason for asking 1) is it will tell you the likelihood of having a rhesus positive pregnancy and the reason for asking 2) is, if he doesn’t know of his rhesus status and the previous pregnancy was with him, then he is rhesus positive (otherwise you would not have had a previous rhesus positive pregnancy) if it wasn’t with him then he may also be rhesus negative and you won’t need to worry so much.

When you do get pregnant they will check your booking in bloods for rhesus antibodies and you will be advised and monitored in the event of any bleeding during pregnancy.

@RebeccaMargaret they take your blood at your 12 week scan and test what blood type the baby is, if it the same as yours they don't do anything if it isn't they give you and anti D jab at (I think) 28 weeks and after the birth, or if you have a bleed after 10-12 weeks they also will give you the jab. Nothing to worry about xx

I'm A- and i had an anti D injection in the 2nd trimester. My blood type was checked on booking. They tested DDs chord blood at birth and as she is rhesus positive I had another anti D injection. It didnt affect the actual pregnancy but i was told that if I had any bleeding, impact to the bump, falls etc, to call maternity as they would likely do an extra anti D just in case

@RebeccaMargaret i received my letter yesterday saying baby is Rhesus positive so will need the jab!

I'm rhesus negative and have had two healthy pregnancies. Like others have said, I had the Anti-D at 28 weeks.

I'm A-, no issues at all in my first pregnancy and the second seems ok so far at 15 weeks. I didn't have the anti-D jab first time and won't this time as DH is O- . He had to have a blood test as they quite rightly wouldn't take our word: he has to have another one for this pregnancy in case he is a unicorn and his blood group has changed

Not really the same...but can i hijack...anyone found out they have a thyroid problem in pregnancy?...Im 13 weeks and my 9 week booking bloods showed low thyroid function?...had more blood tests today to look further into the result?...Dont feel i have any symptoms of the underactive thyroid?Bit on the chubby side...but a healthy size 10?...Bit worried?Would any damage have been done?

I am B RH- and had the Anti D injections in both pregnancies and afterwards - I will have it for this one also although I don't understand a great deal about it!

HJWT that isn't a routine test in most places I believe.

Hi OP I am rhesus negative & currently 28wks preg. So far so good! Don't think blood type has any connection to MC. Good luck hope you catch soon x

Certain hospitals do offer a screening now that looks into whether your baby is rh neg or pos, Liverpool women’s are one of them that have started running it.

Most women In pregnancy have their blood type checked at booking and then offer the shot of anti d if the woman is rh neg, regardless of whether baby is rh neg or pos before they are born just in case baby is rh pos.

Im A- and I had my anti d injection at 28 wks, haemorrhaged after birth but baby was rh neg anyway so didn’t need another injection. Had a bleed with baby 2 and they said they only offer it after 12 weeks if you have a bleed

@Prequelle yes its quite a new thing I didn't have it with DD, they are trying to roll it out to most hospital ! X

I hope they do missing! I'm r- and would like to have known.

In my area if a rh- pregnant woman in early preg has some sort of trauma to her bump she has to come to our clinic/ward to get anti-d in case the incident has caused a blood transfer. Would be great to be able to prevent that

I cant remember having the anti D after giving birth but i was pretty out if it after my PPH 😬

It's so interesting to hear they are starting to test blood groups earlier now! When I was pregnant with my youngest (now 8) I was asked to took part in a clinical study where they were trying to assess how early they could reliably determine the baby's blood group from the mother's blood samples. They took additional bloods every 4-6 weeks from what I remember to test. They wouldn't tell me what they'd determined my baby's blood group to be until after the birth in case it was wrong, but they'd got it right from about 20 weeks I think.
I feel like I helped!

@BrillyPribble they took my blood at 12 weeks, baby is Rhesus positive x

They haven't even begun rolling that out here sadly. A shame.

They dont check baby's blood group here yet either. They did with my 2nd but only as it was part of a study, I wish they'd have checked this time as is last baby and I really didn't want the 28wk anti d but I also read of slight chances of it causing issue with current pregnancy not just subsequent ones so I agreed for baby's Sake. You'd have thought checking baby's blood group would be cost effective for the nhs rather than giving more unneeded shots of anti d 🤷‍♀️, unless the ratio of babies that are negative is very low I guess. x

I'm rh d neg and I didn't get the anti d injection until 28 weeks and was told that if baby is positive blood I'm 35+5 atm then I will need another injection I hope this helps

I'm rhesus negative and currently 36 weeks pregnant, I've had a few bleeds throughout my pregnancy and as a result have had the anti-d vaccination every time, as well as the routine one at 28 weeks. Throughout I have been worried about how this and being rhesus negative as a whole will affect the baby, however the midwives have assured me I have nothing to worry about, just extra precaution needs to be put in place if there is a bleed/fall or any 'damage' to the bumo :) hope everything goes well with you xx

I'm
O negative and baby could be o negative too or o positive like DH, I had a bleed (I'm 17+6) on Friday and the hospital didn't know my blood type (despite me having ivf there and 6 blood tests since) they called me st 11pm the next night to go in immediately for an injection

All's I know is basically every time I bleed I need an anti d injection because my blood can attack baby's blood and this can cause him to be aneamic and effect the future pregnancies I'll have if I'm lucky enough to have any.