Beanonorder
Mom and expecting #2
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- May 6, 2012
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Hi ladies
I have been meaning to post this for a year now but you know how life just runs away from you with a baby!
When I was five months pregnant I was diagnosed with ABO incompatibility. I came on here for help and advice and didn't really find anything so I thought I would share my story in case it helps anyone else. Sorry if its a bit long.
I had routine blood tests done but my IgA count came back off the charts. Its supposed to be 1:<64 and mine was 1:256. Because of the langauage barrier they weren't really able to explain to me what the problem was. Basically I got told there was some kind of infection and I had to take medicine otherwise the baby could end up deformed. It was a terrible time for me because I had no idea if I had done something wrong, been exposed to something or what. So I dutifully took this medicine and hoped for the best. After a month I went back for blood tests and my count had come down to 1:128. They decided I should take a second round of medicine in the hope of bringing it down to the acceptable level. About two months later I had more blood tests but my count was still the same. As I was 8 months along by then they said that taking more medicine wouldn't make any difference and that the baby was showing no signs of abnormalities. I had weekly NST from about 34 weeks. All was fine.
Due to various reasons I delivered at a different hospital than the one I had originally been going to. I was not at all prepared for what was to come but at least I got an answer to what the problem was. I was told that because of the ABO incompatibility diagnosis they would take my daughter straight to the NICU when she was born. I was a little shocked ( I was already in labour when I was told this) but accepted they were doing the best they could. Sadly I didn't even get to hold her first before they took her away. Thank goodness in this hospital there was actually a doctor who had studied abroad and knew what he was talking about. He explained more about what it was and gave me a book to read to help answer some of my questions.
So... what is ABO incomatibility? Most people have heard of Rhesus negative, well this is similar except it happens to O positive moms and it is more common in first pregnancies. Unlike rh- you don't need to get any shots and having it in one pregnancy does not mean there is any greater chance of it occuring in future pregnancies. I am O positive and my dh is A positive so its almost certain my dd is A positive. Sometime during the pregnancy blood must have crossed the placenta and this triggered the problem.
Now what I found interesting was that getting a diagnosis doesn't mean your baby will actually be born with the incompatibility. They take the baby to the NICU to run tests to confirm whether they actually have it and because most have some degree of jaundice. Its something like 1% of diagnosed babies will actually have it. Unfornately my daughter was in the 1%. She was severly jaundiced so was under the lights for 36 hours. Because she had it she had to have an immunoglobulin transfusion. Thankfully she tested negative after the first transfusion. She was allowed out of the NICU after three days. She was still very jaundiced (a level fo 15) so we had to watch that carefully. Anemia can also be a problem that babies get but we managed to avoid that.
Four weeks later we had to go back for another heel test because her original one indicated a thyroid problem. Again, we were lucky there was no problem. It seems like due to this incompatibility some false positives are reported on blood tests.
After the birth I had to take some medicine to ensure I didn't get any kind of infection.
My daughter is now a very healthy, happy 13 month old with no residual problems. I wish someone could have told me this during my pregnancy to save me from a lot of worry.
I have been meaning to post this for a year now but you know how life just runs away from you with a baby!
When I was five months pregnant I was diagnosed with ABO incompatibility. I came on here for help and advice and didn't really find anything so I thought I would share my story in case it helps anyone else. Sorry if its a bit long.
I had routine blood tests done but my IgA count came back off the charts. Its supposed to be 1:<64 and mine was 1:256. Because of the langauage barrier they weren't really able to explain to me what the problem was. Basically I got told there was some kind of infection and I had to take medicine otherwise the baby could end up deformed. It was a terrible time for me because I had no idea if I had done something wrong, been exposed to something or what. So I dutifully took this medicine and hoped for the best. After a month I went back for blood tests and my count had come down to 1:128. They decided I should take a second round of medicine in the hope of bringing it down to the acceptable level. About two months later I had more blood tests but my count was still the same. As I was 8 months along by then they said that taking more medicine wouldn't make any difference and that the baby was showing no signs of abnormalities. I had weekly NST from about 34 weeks. All was fine.
Due to various reasons I delivered at a different hospital than the one I had originally been going to. I was not at all prepared for what was to come but at least I got an answer to what the problem was. I was told that because of the ABO incompatibility diagnosis they would take my daughter straight to the NICU when she was born. I was a little shocked ( I was already in labour when I was told this) but accepted they were doing the best they could. Sadly I didn't even get to hold her first before they took her away. Thank goodness in this hospital there was actually a doctor who had studied abroad and knew what he was talking about. He explained more about what it was and gave me a book to read to help answer some of my questions.
So... what is ABO incomatibility? Most people have heard of Rhesus negative, well this is similar except it happens to O positive moms and it is more common in first pregnancies. Unlike rh- you don't need to get any shots and having it in one pregnancy does not mean there is any greater chance of it occuring in future pregnancies. I am O positive and my dh is A positive so its almost certain my dd is A positive. Sometime during the pregnancy blood must have crossed the placenta and this triggered the problem.
Now what I found interesting was that getting a diagnosis doesn't mean your baby will actually be born with the incompatibility. They take the baby to the NICU to run tests to confirm whether they actually have it and because most have some degree of jaundice. Its something like 1% of diagnosed babies will actually have it. Unfornately my daughter was in the 1%. She was severly jaundiced so was under the lights for 36 hours. Because she had it she had to have an immunoglobulin transfusion. Thankfully she tested negative after the first transfusion. She was allowed out of the NICU after three days. She was still very jaundiced (a level fo 15) so we had to watch that carefully. Anemia can also be a problem that babies get but we managed to avoid that.
Four weeks later we had to go back for another heel test because her original one indicated a thyroid problem. Again, we were lucky there was no problem. It seems like due to this incompatibility some false positives are reported on blood tests.
After the birth I had to take some medicine to ensure I didn't get any kind of infection.
My daughter is now a very healthy, happy 13 month old with no residual problems. I wish someone could have told me this during my pregnancy to save me from a lot of worry.
