RH Negative Factor...I'm very nervous.. Help

[danielle72007]

Hi,
I have a question about the RH Negative Factor.  I'm posting everywhere I can that has to do with pregnancy so I can get as much info as possible..
I am currently 11 weeks pregnant and my OB does not do any blood work till your in your 16th week, they do it all at once, or that was the reason they gave me for this.  Before this pregnancy I gave blood and was told my blood type.  My blood type is A Negative, with that said and the research I have done I believe it is a pretty high if not a for sure thing that I carry the RH Negative Factor.  I do not know what my baby's father's blood type is either..   My question is after researching I have read that they say you should get a shot after a miscarriage if you had one to protect future pregnancies, I had a miscarriage in Feb and was around 4 weeks, from what I understand they thought a chemical pregnancy but never confirmed that.  I never recieved the shot, my question is should I be worried about this and contact my dr asap or could it wait till my next appointment on the 29th, I am very concerned with this pregnancy.  I had very light spotting one morning and went to get checked and was told my cervic was closed and there was no evidence of blood.. any information you could give me would be very helpful, I'm very concerned..

[cpatow]

Hi,
If you are "negative" and your baby is "positive" then the RH factor is a concern not with this pregnancy but future ones. I'm "negative" but both my kids so far have also been "negative" so there hasn't been much to plan for so-to-speak.When you have a bleeding episode in pregnancy you should get a Rhogam shot. This Rhogram shot counteracts your bodies desire to "attack" anything that is not also "negative". This may not be entirely accurate, so definitely check it out, but this is what I recall. Nonetheless I would ask your doctor about it definitely before your next appointment, but just over the phone. Talk to a nurse, a doctor but  not the receptionist :0). I'm also not clear on the timeframe for delivering the Rhogram shot and it's limitations, but I believe it may be only effective for a certain period of time after the bleeding episode. So even if your doctor can't give you a Rhogam shot now to help you with the post-miscarriage RH factor issues, it is important that they know of this history in case you have any future bleeding episodes.

[danielle72007]

Thank you for your comment.. do you think this puts me at an increased risk of miscarriage??? I believe that you have to have the shot within 72hours of a bleeding episode.. this happened at around 5am Thursday morning..so I believe I've already passed that time frame up.. the spotting was very minimal and I have not had any problems since..
Im not sure if my dr's office will be open tomorrow or not bc of the holiday, would you suggest that I call the OB floor and talk to a nurse there??
Im not sure if there is much I can really do Im just very concerned..

[tahariel]

To ease your mind, you may want to give your doctor's office a call. Even if they do not have regular business hours because of a holiday, they will usually always have staff on call to answer your questions, and they can have you come in if you need something.

My blood type is A negative. I had a miscarriage at 17 weeks and I'd have to check my records, but I do believe that I did have a Rh shot afterwards. Although, I'm not sure if the number of weeks pregnant makes a difference. Mine was considered a late term because it was in the 2nd trimester.

With both of my successfully pregnancies, I received 2 shots each. One around 28 weeks and another after delivery. Give your doctor's office a call. They will be able to answer your questions. Good luck.

[cpatow]

Hi again, I have no idea on the risk associated with not having a shot following a miscarriage, sorry. But I do agree  with Tahariel to call the doc tomorrow just to clarify and put your mind at ease. I also read that (and I'd forgotten this) if the father has to be blood-type positive for the RH Factor to exist b/c that allows a baby to be born w/ positive blood. Good luck and don't worry...I'm sure your docs are watching out for you!!