Anti D injection

[Kafryne]

Anyone chose NOT to have anti D injection and turned out fine?

Why would you choose not to take it?

@dementedpixie

Why would you choose not to take it?

It's a blood product

Well you will be fine. Any other baby you have might die or have heart failure though. And there are not really any negatives

If you don't have it, you are at massively increased risk of your future pregnancies ending in stillbirth.

You would be insane to turn it down.

The thought of not having it terrified me. What if you experienced bleeding in current pregnancy, it could put baby at risk

It's incredibly important

In a rhesus sensitised pregnancy, you could be looking at (multiple) fetal blood transfusions and the baby needing blood after birth as well. That would be much more blood product exposure!

@Kafryne

Anyone chose NOT to have anti D injection and turned out fine?

Please don’t do this. Babies routinely died before they invented this treatment. I’ve had it twice and had no ill effects.

I had a rhesus sensitised pregnancy (the condition that the Anti D jab protects against - but I already had antibodies so it was ineffective for me) and my baby had to be delivered 3 weeks early and spent a week on lights treated for severe jaundice, she was anaemic for 12 weeks, and needed weekly blood tests. They can become quite ill but she was thankfully ok in the end. Please get the jab.

@Kafryne hi Op, I have not had it this pregnancy as my hospital can now do a blood test to check babies blood group, might be worth asking about this? X

@toastjam

I had a rhesus sensitised pregnancy (the condition that the Anti D jab protects against - but I already had antibodies so it was ineffective for me) and my baby had to be delivered 3 weeks early and spent a week on lights treated for severe jaundice, she was anaemic for 12 weeks, and needed weekly blood tests. They can become quite ill but she was thankfully ok in the end. Please get the jab.

I had the jab with my first pregnancy. Can you ask them to check if you're sensitised in that case having the jab again will be useless I guess if you have antibodies already?

[quote tobeornottobe1]@Kafryne hi Op, I have not had it this pregnancy as my hospital can now do a blood test to check babies blood group, might be worth asking about this? X[/quote]
They did the baby blood test and it's RH positive that's why they advised having the anti D injection but they haven't for antibodies which would mean the injection will not be effective I guess... I need to chat with them next appointment to find out more I suppose

I think you are picking a strange thing to avoid. They will probably test if you have antibodies anyway. But I am confused why you are even contemplating not having it. This isn’t like deciding whether to have group b strep testing where there is mixed evidence, this is something really clear and important

Just get the jab and help protect your baby

Yes you can but it's not a routine test in some areas. I had the test done around 17 weeks which showed baby had a different blood type to mine. Results took a couple of weeks to come back. I think if she had the same blood type as me, then things would have been ok. It's worth asking if they can do the test, and in the meantime be careful not to have any bumps etc which could cause mixing of blood.

I had mine last week, once I knew I needed it the thought of not having it didn’t cross my mind. Thank god things like this are available thanks to people donating their blood.

Are you a Jehovah’s Witness?

Anti-D comes from blood plasma that is donated from willing people, a lot of the donors have lost babies in the past from not receiving the injection and do not want others to go through what they did.

So I hope this would alleviate your concerns if they are vegetarian/vegan based. If religious based, then idk. I guess the question is, would you permit your baby to receive donated blood if their life depended on it? Because if you would, then you should get the injection.

As the others have said, this pregnancy will probably not be affected by not having it, but future pregnancies will, and may result in the baby dying. And if you don't get the injection in this pregnancy, then you can't change your mind and have it during the next pregnancy as by that time it will already be too late.

Altho have you had the blood test to determine whether your baby is rhesus negative or positive? Because if the baby is also negative, then you won't need the injection as your body won't produce any of the antibodies.

@toastjam

Yes you can but it's not a routine test in some areas. I had the test done around 17 weeks which showed baby had a different blood type to mine. Results took a couple of weeks to come back. I think if she had the same blood type as me, then things would have been ok. It's worth asking if they can do the test, and in the meantime be careful not to have any bumps etc which could cause mixing of blood.

I had the test done already the baby is RH positive. But now I'm wondering if they can test if I have antibodies of not so in that case the injection will not be effective I guess

OP already said her baby is Rh positive and that's she's had the injection in a previous pregnancy.

They do check your blood for antibodies in pregnancy too.

@SmidgenofaPigeon

I had mine last week, once I knew I needed it the thought of not having it didn’t cross my mind. Thank god things like this are available thanks to people donating their blood.

Are you a Jehovah’s Witness?

I'm not looool. I just don't like to have unnecessary stuff put in body if there's no need for it. Like if I'm already sensitised and have antibodies the injection will have to effect and so having it or not will make no difference

But they will check you for antibodies first

@dementedpixie

But they will check you for antibodies first

That's what I want to know before having the injection. If I have antibodies the injection will have no effect then so having it or not will make no difference. But having it anyway will it protect future pregnancies or once you have built antibodies it's for life ?

I turned the post birth one down after my last birth as I’m not having anymore children.

I took all the other ones though.

We are both Rh negative so all our children have been. I still have the anti-D at 28wk as the medical staff ask me to "just in case". Never had any negative side effects from it.
I am a blood donor when not pregnant, my blood is throughly checked before they offer all or part of it to people in need.

If your baby is Rh positive then the anti-D is needed for your baby. Unreasonable of you to turn it down imo.

You always have a blood sample taken before anti d roughly a week before.
Do you plan to have more children?