Rhesus negative

[BAIL08]

Hi all, hope you can help.

My last pregnancy ended in a miscarriage at 8 and a half weeks. During that pregnancy I found out I had O negative blood type. Earlier in the year I also at a miscarriage at around 6 weeks (I didn’t know what my blood type was back then).

When I was 21 (many many years ago) I unexpectedly fell pregnant and had a termination just under 9 weeks pregnant. At no point was I ever offered the anti-d injection. I know that my partner has a positive blood type so this could lead to an issue where the baby has a positive blood type.

My concern is I am now pregnant again and completely worried that I may have developed antibodies which will effect this pregnancy. After going through two previous miscarriages I can’t imagine going through another.

I’ve spoken to my doctor and fertility clinic and no one can give me a straight answer, and I think this may be left until my midwife appointment, which I’ve not booked yet. I’ve got an early scan this week so was waiting for that before I do.

Does anyone have any experience on this and if this could be a serious issue?

I believe the anti-D is not given for miscarriages before 12 weeks.

My first pregnancy highlighted my negative status. I had anti-D at 28 weeks (not after birth since my baby was also rh-). I then had 3 miscarriages. I enquired about anti-D and was told it's not necessary for miscarriages before 12 weeks. I'm now pregnant again and passed 12 weeks but all seems to be going OK.

If you have come in contact with positive blood I forget what this is called, but I don't think it causes early miscarriages. I looked into this because of the 3 miscarriages I had and the fact that they hospital (which had awful post-natal care) said my child was rh- and didn't give me the anti-D post birth.

I'm not an expert, but this is all based on my own experience.

Is there any way you can get in touch with the clinic where you had your termination? I had a termination at a similar age and much later when ttc I got worried I hadn’t been given anti d. I got in touch with the clinic and they had a record of me being given anti d (even though I had never been told about it).

If this isn’t possible, then I would imagine it is possible to get a blood test to check if you have developed antibodies?

So sorry about your MCs and hope this one sticks for you.

Hullo! So I had this issue too and was worried. I think the answer is something really simple like the baby shares your blood until it's about 16 weeks, so it's irrelevant.

I don't know if that's helpful- but whatever answer they gave me was so reassuring i forgot about the issue completely!

Thanks everyone for your replies. @minipie I had a termination in a completely different country and I have no way of getting into contact with them. I think I would have recalled getting an injection at the time, but who knows it is such a blur and such a long time ago.

I’ve read mixed things online, some say if you’ve had a miscarriage before 12 weeks you don’t need it, but then if you’ve had a termination at any point you do?!

Does anyone know if a midwife would offer an antibody test? I’m with a fertility clinic and one of the nurses said antibody tests aren’t done which I know isn’t the case and my GP told me no one had ever asked them this question, which I find very odd! So I feel like all I have left is the midwife left.

Hi @BAIL08, yes, your midwife should take your routine blood grouping test at your booking appointment. If you've formed any rhesus antibodies previously, they should show up from this test so you hopefully should get your answer soon 🍀

I distinctly remember being given anti-D after a D&C that took place at 10 weeks. That was how I found out about it. This was the NHS, but about 13 years ago. If it helps, I've also had multiple losses around that gestation since (none later than 8 weeks), but because I had that jab once upon a time, I haven't put them down to issues with blood type.

Early last week my midwife left me a voicemail about my blood results... nothing to be concerned about she said, but for the life of me I have not been able to get hold of her since. It might be the anti-D thing, though.

I don't specifically remember having an anti-d injection after my termination (16+ years ago) but I think I must have because I knew I had rhesus negative blood since then so they must have told me for that reason!
They definitely test for antibodies throughout the pregnancy - I had a bleed at 18 weeks in my current pregnancy so was given anti-D before my routine 28 week injection. When I had my bloods done again at 28 weeks, they picked up antibodies in my blood that was a result of that early injection. (And they've done further antibody testing on me since - i know get it checked every 2 weeks to check it's the injections I've had skewing the results, rather than other antibodies)

Hi

BPAS says that:

"All rhesus negative women having a surgical abortion or medical abortion over 10 weeks’ gestation are offered an anti-D injection."

I hope that helps...

www.bpas.org/abortion-care/anti-d/

I'm Rh negative. I've had 5 miscarriages between 8 & 12 weeks, I was not offered anti-D after any of them (had many more chemicals that ended by 6wk but never even spoke to GP about those). Also had 5 term pregnancies resulting in 6 healthy babies, only had anti-D at 28wks with them as not needed after birth.

Hi I know this is an old post but i am in an almost identical situation, did you ever get an answer to this?