Obstetric Cholestasis & RhD Factors Rhesus

[icey35]

I'm 13 weeks pregnant with my third child and am rhesus negative. When I was 34 weeks pregnant with my youngest child, i had placental abruption, so had to get a c section.

Had my first antenatal app at 10 weeks and just received a letter from the hospital saying I had antibodies in my blood, and to go for a repeat blood test to confirm antibody status.

Anybody had antibodies this early in pregnancy?

 

[izzlesnizzle]

All i know is my sister had antibodies when she was pg with her 2nd baby and she had to have regular blood tests to check the levels. Sorry cant be much more informative than that!

My question is i am O negative and my OH is B +. I had a mc at 4.5 weeks and didnt get the anti D injection. Should i have had it? Or with the pg ending so early does that mean that it didnt have its own blood stream yet, that could cause a problem for this next pregnancy? I am seeing the midwife soon for the first time so will ask but just wondered if anyone knew the answer?

 

[motherof3soon]

I am also rh- and you should get the rhogam shot as soon you find out that you are pregnat, if you have never had it before, it doesn't matter what stage of pregnancy you are. Yes, being rh- does cause miscarriages.

 

[poppykat]

Hi there,

I am currently 7+5 weeks pregnant with out 2nd baby. Very excited but also completely petrified! I developed Cholestasis with my daughter at 31 weeks, they were unable to control my bile acid levels and due to severe fetal distress she was born by crash section (under general anesthetic) at 34+6 weeks. It was the most terrifying day of my life and I am so scared it is going to happen again and I will miss another of my children being brought into the world.

There is a 80% chance I will get cholestasis again, which would mean no chance of a VBAC and maybe another premmie baby.

Just wondered if there were any other mums out there who have had previous cholestasis and their experiences with it. Also if there are women who have had cholestasis more than once or didn't get it in other pregnancies.

Thank you in advance for any replies. xx

 

[sar89]

im O-
my doctor hasnt mentioned how this could be a potential problem so should i be saying something??
oh im 9 weeks and this is my first pregnancy x

 

[bananapancake]

When I was pregnant with my daughter at 6 weeks I had terrible cramping and bleeding, went to the er and the ultrasound tech said I could possibly be miscarrying a twin, so a few hours later I got a rhogam shot and then again at 28 weeks and again after my daughter's birth. So for me I think it helped to keep my pregnancy with her

On my third pregnancy now and will be asking for blood work a lot sooner this time!

 

[sailorsgirl]

Poppykat, have you developed oc again? I've just started ttc and I'm terrified about how early my oc may set in this time. Sorry to hear you had such a rough time of it last time. Fingers crossed you get a better birth experience xxx

 

[natty1985]

Poppy I had it in number 1 and 3 x. Number 2 was mildly elevated lfts all pregnancies resulted in induction at 37 weeks xxx

 

[sexysmurf]

You Your Baby And THe RhD Factor

Ive typed this because i thought it would explain to mothers about the Rhesus Negative as ive had it but never really understood until i read this leaflet

A Rhesus Negative Red Blood Cell is just the blood cell

A Rhesus Postive Red Blood Cell has proteins covering it

MOTHERS AND BABIES

sometime during pregnancy a small amount of the baby's blood crosses over into the mothers blood stream. There are a number of ways by which this can happen including normal delivery and c-section or when an amniocentisis is undertaken.

This is quite unusual and causes no harm because the mothers immune system recognises the baby's blood being different from her own and quickly cleans it out of her system.

To do this, the mothers immune system produces special proteins called antibodies. These attach themselves to the baby's red blood cells which are in her blood stream and destroy them. This immune response occurs in a similar way when any microbe or foreign body enters the circulation.

From then on .the immune system remebers that it has been in contact with the baby's red blood cells. So if the same situation occurs again the mothers immune system will be ready to act swiftly and eliminate them.

However, when a mother is a Rhesus Negative and is carrying a baby that is Rhesus Positive there is a small chance that a problem may arise.

Reasons why baby's blood can cross over into the mothers blood stream :
Amniocentisis
CVS
Injury to the abdomen
Vaginal bleeding during pregnancy
Miscarriage
Termination
Child Birth
C Section

GIVING BIRTH

A Rhesus Negative mother gives birth to a healthy Rhesus Positive baby, During birth the baby blood crosses over into the mothers bloodstream
the mothers immune system gradually responds a destroys the positive blood.

From now the mothers blood will always remember the positive blood cells

Suppose the mother came pregnant with her second child who again is rhesus positive. There is a real risk that the RhD factor anitibodies from the mother can cross the placenta and enter the baby's blood stream.

These antibodies which were produced in the first place to protect the mother, now have the ooposite effect on the baby. They can damage the babys red blood cells. If this were to happen , the bay can suffer a number of life threatening conditions, collectively knows as HDN = Haemolytic Disease of the Newborn.

PROTECTION FOR THE BABY

During pregnancy
When a Rhesus Negative mother is pregnant the hospital can inject a small amount of ready made antibodies at 28 wks and 34 wks of pregnancy.Then if any of the blood has entered the mother circulation during pregnancy the injected antibodies are there to remove the positive blood cells immediately. The injection is known by medical staff as Anti-D Anti-D Immunoglobulin is made from a part of the blood called plasma that is collected from donors. The production of anti-d is very strictly controlled to ensure that the chance of a known virus being passed from a donor to the person receiving the anti-d is very low it has been estimated to be 1in 10,000 billion doses

After Childbrith
Hospital will test the baby's blood after birth. If the baby is found to be positive and the mother is negative the mother will be given a dose of anti-djust incase any of the baby's blood had crossed over into her bloodstream just before birth. The injection will removed any of the positive red blood cells. If the mother who has had any of these injections of anti-d gets pregnant again there will be no danger to her baby since her own immune system has not produced anti-d antibodies which might cross over and harm her unborn baby.

Incidents During Pregnancy
Sometimes a rhesus negative pregnant woman may need to be given anti-d if there has been an incident during the pregnancy that may have caused a small bleed from the unborn baby into the mothers circulation e.g seat belt injury or vaginal bleeding. It is important that the mother reports any such incident to her midwife as soon as it happens

i hope this explains about RhD Factors and make some sense about being rhesus negative .

spunky xxxxxxxxx

i know this is an old post but i wanted to thank you for posting it. Im rhesus neg and my first pregnancy resulted in miscarriage because i wasnt aware i was neg in the first place. It was only after this fact it was discovered, I had the anti d after my second pregnancy as well so i am covered for this one, its really important to any one who knows they are rhesus neg to get checked out if they have any bleeding, thanx again for this post x

 

[Kahlan83]

I'm RH neg as well but I was lucky enough that my son has neg blood as well.
I'm glad to see this posted though....I was a little scared when I found out I was negative and pregnant the first time. (I donated blood and got my blood donor card a few weeks before I found out about baby)

Thank you!

 

[angels330]

I have rhesus neg blood and my daufther was pos, I also had ob cholestasis which was awful. I still have scars from where I scratched so much. I'm happy to.answer any question anybody might have xx

 

[jj-rabbit]

Spunky Cupkake i just want to thank you for posting about the RHD factor. When my son was born he developed jaundice by the morning and was taken to intensive care (nearly needing a blood transfusion) he was there for 5days before being well enough to leave. It was very overwhelming for me and my hubby and all i remember is they couldn't understand why he was jaundice as he was healthy in all other ways, i remember the midwife saying they were baffled and she asked if they could take my blood to runs some tests. I then remember her saying it was to do with my blood and the babies not getting on and they were really surprised he had grown because usually the fetus just would't have grown, that was about as much of an explanation we got and we didn't pursue it we were just so worried about our son. Anyway it's always worried me what it was and obviously for further pregnancies. I'm currently pregnant again and so have started hanging out here again in the last few days and i have just seen this post and i am so made up i know what happened, so thank you! x

 

[tinltl]

I am also rh- and you should get the rhogam shot as soon you find out that you are pregnat, if you have never had it before, it doesn't matter what stage of pregnancy you are. Yes, being rh- does cause miscarriages.

For my first I got my shot at 28 weeks and didn't receive a shot after the birth.

I just found out I'm expecting again and told my Dr. I was rh- and all he said was "ok". Next time I see him is at my 12 week scan.

Did you get this info from a doctor... or google?

 

[ongy1]

I am rh- and neded the anti D after my last pregnancy but not my first, hope all goes well with this pregnancy...xx

 

[inkdchick]

i am Rh D neg and my partner is Rh positive would this be the reason for our 14 emmc over 5 years

 

[sugarplumbum]

Thanks for posting about OC, it is still not that well known. I have had it with all 3 of my little ones (now pg with twins) so no doubt will get it again.

I first got it in 2002 and hardly anyone knew about it, I was just very lucky that I had a switched on midwife that told me to come in to have tests.

xx

 

[Jchihuahua]

I had it in my last two pregnancies and was induced early. I only knew anything about it after reading on here!! I will have consulatant led care again this time as it is very likely I will get it again. It comes much later on though.

 

[surprisedmama]

I am Rh negative as well. Don't they test the baby's blood if you're negative? If my first baby was negative, that would mean my husband is Rh negative, correct? And if that is the case, I wouldn't need the shot this time around like my doctor is saying, right?

 

[missbabes]

I am Rh negative as well. Don't they test the baby's blood if you're negative? If my first baby was negative, that would mean my husband is Rh negative, correct? And if that is the case, I wouldn't need the shot this time around like my doctor is saying, right?

It may not be the case at all. You can still have a Rh negative child even if the father is Positive.

 

[surprisedmama]

I am Rh negative as well. Don't they test the baby's blood if you're negative? If my first baby was negative, that would mean my husband is Rh negative, correct? And if that is the case, I wouldn't need the shot this time around like my doctor is saying, right?

It may not be the case at all. You can still have a Rh negative child even if the father is Positive.

If this is the case, I will have my husband typed before getting this shot. Actually, I think he's been typed for surgery before. Much safer for him to get a poke than me to get a shot.