Anti E!!!?

[babybaby3]

When we were pregnant with our second child (who's a healthy two year old now) we found out that I have anti-E in my blood! Everybody that we tried talking too during the pregnancy didn't know much about Anti E so we are waiting for an appointment at a specialist hospital before I get pregnant again but it is all some what confusing and alienating is or has anyone got any advice for us?? Thanks!

Do you mean anti D?

I'm guessing she means Anti-E, as I have this too. I also had low levels with my second child, and now am being monitored in my third pg (due July). I'm waiting to see the foetal medicine specialist, so I only have the info that we've found out ourselves so far. There is thought to be risk of severe anaemia for the baby but it is VERY SMALL. Most patients with anti-E do not have any problems. I am getting blood samples taken at 2 weekly intervals at the moment, and have another scan booked (at 24 weeks) to check the foetal blood flow. It is likely that they will continue this level of monitoring throughout the remainder of my pg (I'm now 23 weeks). If a baby is identified as having anaemia, they may choose to deliver early, and the baby may need a blood transfusion immediately after birth. Can I emphasise though that, from our reading, this is rare. I do not want to scare you.
BTW, E is another antigen associated with the Rhesus complex, like D, but is not as risky.

I have to go now, and won't be back on-line again today. Try Googling Anti-E and pregnancy. as that can give you some info. You'll see that some obs don't believe that there is any problem with anti-E at all, so it is not an exact science.

Thanks Poledra - In a round about way it's nice to know that someone else is out there with the same problem, great to know that you are now on the right route for a third successful pregnancy as all that we kept being told was about the risk of miscarriage / autism etc.
Thanks again we have an appointment mid April so should know more then too. Good luck hope all goes well, keep in touch...

I had anti C, with my thrid child and experianced pretty much what Poledra has just outlined.

The anti C was discovered straight away, but the levels were of no significance. However, they continued to rise, and when they got to a certain level I had to have my car trasnferred to a larger hospital with a resus unit.

I was scanned fortnightly to check for hydrops (fluid under the skin). Hydrops indicates anemia and or jaundice (can never remember which). All of my scans were always fine.

I also had blood taken very regularly.

In the end I had Ds by c-section at 37 weeks (c-section and 37 not related to the anti C).

After he was born he quickly became quite jaundiced and had phototherapy on a billibed. After a week his levels were low enough for us to go home and thankfully they continued to go down. Unfortunatly he then became anemiac for a while. He narrowly escaped a blood transfusion.

I was told not to get pregnant again, as my levels would start off where they left and could rise agaihn. However when I asked about how high levels effect subsequent babies, I was tols that they cannot tell how a baby will be effected until it happens. The levels could be sky high and baby be fine, or the levels could be low and the baby be poorly, they just cannot tell.

At the end of the day, you will be closley monitered and so shouldn't have any problems at all, and if you do encounter any, they are treatable, so do not let them scare you, it will be fine.

Oh and I think anti E is less risky than anti C anyway.

Wow so many different things out there I bet the medical proffession go home with a headache ? I guess that like you stated it's hard to say what the conclusion will be until you start going down the road... just hope that it's a more straighter road with very few sharp bends!!

Hi there, everything I've read suggests that anti-E is less risky than anti-c (or anti-K) too.

I have anti-D and anti-E, the anti-D is at a low level and the anti-E at 16 (whatever that means) and if it rises to 32 it will be a problem if the baby has a 'certain blood type'.

I am having regular blood tests but I have also got my husband's blood tested and depending on the results (in Thursday), if we can't make the 'certain blood type' baby it doesn't matter how high my levels go apparantly.

If we could of made a 'certain blood type' baby, we could have my blood tests to figure out the baby's blood type (we can't have amino etc because of the blood issue) and again the 'certain blood type' would mean no risk from high anti levels.

I hope my DH's results are good on Thursday that would be a big weight off my mind.

Good luck at the consultant, hope everything goes well for you.

Ta Poledro what sights have you been looking on?

Gosh I didn't realise that you could have both at the same time.

I hadn't even thought of having my husbands blood checked maybe I should mention it to the consultant before we go to see him.

Hope all goes well for you on Thursday, keep us posted...

My partner also had to have a blood test. I am surprised they haven't asked your hubby to do that.

There is very little info around on this, which i found quite frustrating. I did find an american pregnancy site with a section on there about it though, but can't remember the name, will have a think.

Too be honest I'm not surprised we've only got this far by us pushing as I said with our second pregnancy no extra tests were conducted we just spent the whole 9months thinking of all the nightmare stories we'd read...

Hi there, I too have Anti E antibodies which were discovered in my first pregnancy after the first blood test. Have they tested your partner yet for his blood antigens? Essentially your antibodies will react to blood antigen 'E' (there are a whole rake of blood antigens, E is only one of these) so if your partner has this blood antigen there is a chance your baby has it too, and if your maternal blood was to mix with the fetal blood (the placenta stops this happening directly, at least up until late in pregnancy) your blood antibodies could attack your baby's blood which can cause serious problems (called Haemolytic Disease of the Newborn- HDN. Less severe manifestations of this are jaundice). Normally your blood won't mix with your baby's unless you have a bleed e.g. from placenta praevia or trauma e.g. a bad bump to your bump, but it sometimes starts to mix in the third trimester. To check that your blood isn't reacting to the baby's blood antigen- just in case it has mixed- the docs should re-check your antibody levels usually every 4 weeks from 28 weeks. You will hear the term "antibody titre" in the blood test results- titre essentially assesses the amount of antibodies in your blood- so hopefully they will stay the same (ie. your blood is not reacting to your baby's). If the levels do start to rise they will increase monitoring by taking more frequent blood tests and possibly more scans. They usually have a threshold that once the antibodies go over calls for action (i.e. your blood is reacting to the baby's to an extent which could cause problems for the baby). In severe cases they have to do a blood transfusion in utero to your baby. BUT this is VERY rare. I have had two pregnancies, in my first my antibody levels did start to rise (my partner has the blood antigen I have antibodies to) so it seemed my blood might have been reacting with the baby's somehow (i.e. the baby had my partner's antigen E), but my antibody levels didn't reach the threshold for further action- saying that DS was born at 30 weeks due to pre-eclampsia (completely unrelated) so the antibodies didn't have much chance. He did have severe jaundice though which was in part due to the action of my antibodies on his blood.

With my second pregnancy my antibody levels didn't rise at all and I had a healthy girl at 36 weeks.

There's some more info at:
www.clinicalanswers.nhs.uk/index.cfm?question=3344

and

www.bloodindex.com/haemolytic_disease_newborn.php

Please try not to be scared by all of this, it is RARE that anti-E antibodies cause HDN but the docs are doing the correct monitoring just in case.

Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy- hope it all goes smoothly!

xx

Sorry I was re-typing an answer I'd given before on this and only just realised that of course babybaby3 isn't actually pregnant yet! But Good Luck for getting an appointment with a consultant and making baby #3! And Good Luck to BabiesEverywhere too for the rest of your pregnancy!

Thanks madmumNika for the information, it is worrying when you don't know what is going on.

Thanks madmumNika that's really helpful, yea I was told told when anti E presented in my second pregnancy I was told that it was due to my husbands antigen in my first pregnancy!!!

Wish me luck - off for the scan to check foetal blood flow this afternoon, and to see if my titre has risen.

Good Luck Poledra.

Good news here, my titre level for Anti E has dropped from 16 to 2 and they are no longer worried about it. Plus my husband results came back and he is negative for Big E so we can't make and Big E baby. That means even if the Anti E levels rise again it can not affect the baby I have my 20 week scan on Friday so hopeing we get good news at that one too (fingers crossed)

Great news on your results, BabiesEverywhere. Doing well here too - titre has stayed the same, and foetal doppler cerebral blood flow is normal. All her measurements are in the right range too. Back in 4 weeks for the same again....

Thats great news too you both, hope babieseverywhere scan went well Friday??!
Good luck poledra for 4 weeks time

Well, it's 4 weeks since the last post, so I've been back for another scan and titre levels. So, the titre is down to 1:16 - hurrah! However, doppler reading was higher than last time (though still in normal range) so they're wanting to scan me again in two weeks. All the baby's measurements are above average so she's doing well - 2lb 11 already. The consultant is pretty confident that she's doing just fine
Back in two weeks!

Hello all, not sure if you're still watching this thread but I just found out today that I too have Anti-E antibodies (plus some anti-C as well...) What made me mad is that the hospital never sent my 12 week blood results to me (from back in March - I am now 20w +4) and when the midwife checked my records she spotted the anitbodies results and also found out that they had not taken any further action, even though they should have!

Anyway, reading your messages above has calmed me down a bit and I'm going in for some more bloods to be taken tomorrow. Hopefully they will check DP too (I will ask them to after reading what you have had to say) and we can see what the real picture is.

There's always something to worry about isn't there?! I am totally au fait with anti-D as my mum and dad are Rh- and Rh+ respectively and she had the injection back in the 60s. Anti-everything else is news to me!!!

Thanks for your support on MN and well done Poledra on your good results, I shall follow this thread and keep you posted.

Hi jennylindinha

At least it's been spotted now - like the consultant told me if they are aware of it they can monitor it

Good luck

Hi I had anti e's and this was not picked up until later on in my second pregnancy. DH was tested but it was not from him but i did have a transfusion after DD was born.

Was told subsequent pregnancies could be a prob as it gets worse each time. Escaped needing transfusions and DS was fine when he was born.

I did have bleeding early on with DS and that was prob the anti e's in my blood making me reject the baby.

Good luck, you have alot of info to take in !