Anti-D antibodies present in blood from booking appointment

[YourCoralPoster]

Hi all,

I'm feeling very anxious right now.

I haven't had the best of luck pregnancy-wise so far. I had a missed miscarriage at 9 weeks last year (baby measuring 7 with no heartbeat), and then an ectopic in December/Jan just a few months ago (discovered at 6 weeks and resolved itself).

I have A- negative blood. I was told I didn't need the anti-d injection after the miscarriage, and I suppose this turned out fine as when I had bloods taken for the ectopic a few months later I had no antibodies.

However, I did ask for the anti-d injection after the ectopic as I'd read online it should be given. They initially said it wasn't necessary but then a week or so later called me and said to come get it. At this point, I felt it was too late since you're supposed to get it within 72 hours of a potentially sensitising event but I got it anyway as I thought it can't hurt.

Now, I'm 9 weeks pregnant again and had my booking appointment yesterday. My blood test results came back today and I can see that anti-d antibodies are present in my blood. There's a note on the system saying it could be due to the injection I had in Jan. It's been exactly 12 weeks and 2 days since I had the injection, and according to Google the very max it can be detected is 12 weeks so I'm panicking. I'm terrified that I was sensitised from the ectopic.

There were no details about how much was detected, whether I need further tests, or anything but I know that if I've been sensitised this is serious for the pregnancy/baby.

Nobody has called or contacted me. I tried to call today and only got through to a woman who didn't seem to know much.

I'm unsure of what to do/who to contact/what the chances are that this could be from the injection.

Anyone with any advice or experience?

Thanks! xx

Hi, I understand your anxiety.
I believe I was sensitized after a miscarriage and anti bodies were detected at the 28 week test.

I was monitored with blood tests every two weeks. The levels kept rising and I had to have special doppler ultra sounds. DD was delivered 4 weeks early. Severely jaundiced followed by severe anemia. But absolutely fine after a few weeks.

Step away from Google... But do persist in getting some response. I was referred to the consultant straight away.

I am Rh- and from my understanding the antibodies are a good thing. They give you anti-d to basically put antibodies in you to stop your blood cells attacking your babies blood cells in the event of a bleed in utero. So if you already have them, they likely won’t give you another injection at how ever many weeks they usually do. It doesn’t sound like the most scientific answer sorry 😂 I recall little bits from my pregnancies.

Hi - understand your concerns, but try not to panic too much just now. The majority of pregnancies with antiD antibodies do just fine. You should be referred for additional testing - usually the lab will check the antibody “titre” to see how much you have, and go from there. If you have had anti D injection, then this can create “passive” antibodies and you are right, those will disappear, usually in less than 12 weeks. It might be advised to recheck your levels in a few weeks to be sure whether the antibodies are passive or whether they are true antibodies which will continue to circulate. Typically if you have antibody levels over 1:16 or 1:32 then you would be advised monitoring by scan throughout the pregnancy as PP says. I am not in the UK but I’m fairly certain it would be common practice there to offer a non invasive blood test to check what blood group baby is, which can help decide whether antibodies might be a problem or whether you don’t have to worry.
Do you have an appointment with your midwife within the next few weeks? It would be reasonable to just discuss with her at that time regarding referral onward, as nothing different needs to happen right now anyway, and the scanning monitoring for this doesn’t start until 16 weeks.