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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

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Original poster

Really confused about blood groups/antibodies etc...

11 replies

LostLauren · 04/12/2008 10:16

Hello, I'm 9 weeks pregnant and feeling a bit confused.

I'm 22 and when I was 20 I had a termination. I had the medical termination and when I come to have it the nurses said she needed to inject me because something about antibodies between me and the foetus.

I am feeling really anxious about this as I didn't really pay much attention and didn't ask last time as I was just wanting everything to be over and done with so I could go home.

Does anyone know what it is I had/or have and how it will affect my pregnancy this time round?

I am still with same partner so I guess it will be the same this time?

Very confused...

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

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EightiesChick · 04/12/2008 10:22

Hi Lauren,
You will need to check this but one thing I have that could be the same is that I'm a negative blood group and my husband is positive. That means my baby could be positive and if so, you are recommended to have something called Anti-D that stops your system and the baby's reacting antagonistically to one another. You don't have to have this till 28 weeks so there is time to find out.

Supposedly it is more likely to be a problem with a second pregnancy because there can already be antibodies in your system, so I would definitely ask more questions. However, if you don't want to go into the whole story, you could say that you think you are your partner might have positive/negative blood groups so could you be tested as someone has told you this might be a problem?

Having said that, I think it would probably be better to tell your midwife the whole story as it might be something else, and s/he will have all the facts then. They must deal with these situations all the time. Good luck.

hattyyellow · 04/12/2008 10:24

Lauren can you ask the GP to look at your medical notes? I am rhesus negative blood group which is fairly rare and my partner is rhesus positive. I'm wondering if you're rhesus negative as well and this is what they are referring to.

They can't tell what blood group your baby is so if you are rhesus negative and your partner is positive, they give you a couple of injections during pregnancy and also if you have any bleeding/lose the baby/have a termination just in case your blood gets mixed with the baby's.

If your blood did get mixed and the baby was rhesus positive, then your body would try and reject that blood and would produce antibodies. Any further pregnancies might then be at risk because if there was bleeding in this pregnancy and your bloods crossed, your body would detect that the baby's blood was positive and would try and reject the baby with the antibodies built up last time.

From the sounds of it, they gave you the right injections to stop this happening so you should be fine - but do ask your GP/midwife to explain it to you further.

arena · 04/12/2008 10:24

I think you was injected with the anti D. You must be a rhesus negative blood group, they gave it to you so it does'nt effect your this pregnancy.

At your 12 week check when you have your bloods done, they should tell you if you are a rhesus negative.

arena · 04/12/2008 10:25

sorry did'nt see the other two post

Original poster

LostLauren · 04/12/2008 10:29

Is it dangergous? I am negetive so my boyfriend must be positive but they didn't do a blood test on him when we had the termination so not sure how they would tell unless they could tell from the baby?

So can I have more than one pregnancy having opposite blood groups if it is so dangerous?

OP posts:

Pantofino · 04/12/2008 10:31

LostLauren - I had exactly the same thing and yes, it is because of the Rhesus Negative issue. In my second pregancy, I had to have 2 anti-d injections later on. The midwife will explain it all to you. It's nothing at all to worry about.

Pantofino · 04/12/2008 10:34

They do it routinely if you are Rhesus neg. I think for susequent pregnancies, they will give further injections unless you definitely know your partner is also rhesus neg.

Pantofino · 04/12/2008 10:36

In my case I'm A-, DH is O+. DD subsequently turned out to be O-, so injections weren't really necessary (damn) .

Original poster

LostLauren · 04/12/2008 10:39

Oh thank you you've made me feel so much better, I've been really stressing over it because I haven't got a single appointment with anyone until my 12 week scan which is actually at 13 weeks so a month off yet.

Thank youuuu

OP posts:

misdee · 04/12/2008 10:46

i am rh O- anmd have 4 dd's all RH O+ nor pronlems for me or them

have had loads of those jabs though, they hurt.

SoupDragon · 04/12/2008 10:48

"unless you definitely know your partner is also rhesus neg"

No, sometimes the "insist" on doing it anyway, just in case the partner isn't the father!

I'm a rh+ baby with a rh-ve mother and rh+ve older siblings from before the days of anti-D so I see it from the other angle so to speak

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