rh negative and possible miscarriage

[schu1313]

I am pregnant and rh negative. I have been bleeding for 5 days. I had blood work and also a vaginal ultrasound and both confirmed my pregnancy however they said that they could not confirm if the egg was still viable and told me to come back in one week and to verify growth. But what happens if I miscarried yesteraday and do not get the RhoGAM shot?  Arent I supposed to get it within 72 hours of the miscarriage? Please help me.

[Glenda306]

I'm not certain, but I think 2 negatives are NOT a problem.  I'm assuming your m/cs were all caused because of the Rh sensitivity and not some other issue.

[louloubellethefirst]

what happens if you know you are highly sensitised and have had many miscarriges, is it then possible to have a normal pregnancy with a new partner who is rh negative and the baby is rh negative ?

[Glenda306]

I'm so sorry for your loss.

I'm RH negative and have had 2 m/c.  The first was possibly a blighted ovum which I m/c's naturally around 10w.  The 2nd we saw the hb at 7.5 wk, found the baby had died 6d later, and had a D&C the next day.  I had my rhogam shot with the first after the 1st MAJOR instance of bleeding (I had been spotting for weeks).  With the 2nd m/c I got the shot during my D&C.

Don't be shy about requesting it, but it is only a problem if the dad is RH+.  My DH is + and I'm -; our first 2 kids were +, but the third was neg.  My sister is neg, but so is her DH, so they've never had a problem.

[Sheri1972]

True dat!

Rh certainly shouldn't stop you from getting pregnant, and usually doesn't end in miscarriage provided you're being monitored very carefully if you're sensitized.

I know Rh stands for Rhesus Monkey Factor, but it's funnier to tell people it was discovered by the great grandson of the guy who owns the company that makes Reeses Peanut Butter Cups! LOL!

Sheri

[Sheri1972]

And...umm...pardon my typos in that last tome.  :P   I'm nearly 37 weeks and my brain shut off about 2 weeks ago.

*drool*

Sheri

[Sheri1972]

Here comes the geneticist... (it's so rare I can actually answer a question on here and know what I'm talking about! LOL!)

Here is how it works :

If Mom is Rh negative and Dad is Rh positive, the baby statistically has a 50% chance of being Rh positive.  Now, if this is a first pregnancy, it's usually not a problem because the baby's blood and the mother's blood typically do not co-mingle.  

During delivery, however, the blood can co-mingle and if that happens, mom will produce anitibodies against Rh, because her body does not have it and recognizes the baby's Rh as foreign.  That means she gets "sensitized."

This doesn't really present a problem until the second and subsequent pregnancies, because if the mother has made antibody against Rh, and the next baby is Rh positive, the mother's antibodies can attack the baby's blood cells and cause hemolytic disease.

Having antibodies against Rh should not affect your ability to conceive, but it can affect your ability to carry a baby to term.  If a mother gets sensitized during her first delivery, they have to keep screening the subsequent babies carefully throughout the pregnancy for hemolytic diesase.   Keep in mind that even if you didn't take the Rhogam shot and you have antibodies against Rh, you have a 50% change of no complications in your pregancy because baby will be Rh negative, so the antibodies have nothing to attack.  

If baby is Rh positive, however, you could have a complicated pregancy where the baby goes very anemic and is born early, or an uncomplicated pregnancy where they baby is fine.  It's sort of a toss up depending on how much antibody gets into the baby's blood system if they have Rh.

I do know that another way a first time Mom that is Rh negative can get exposed to Rh and get sensitized is miscarriage, but I'm not sure at what stage they consider the possibility of the blood comingling causing a problem. I did read that 2% of women that are past 30 days gestation can get sensitized to Rh if the baby was Rh positive.  I suppose they typically wait until 20 weeks with a normal pregnancy because at that point, the baby can be stillborn and the blood co-mingling can occur.  And, the risk to getting sensitized raises to about 16%.  It's higher when there is a C-section or some surgical intervention that would promote the baby's blood and mother's blood to come into contact.

Oh yeah, and if Dad is also Rh negetive, nothing to worry about and no Rhogam needed!  Baby must be Rh negetive, so no antibodies, no hemolytic disease!


I can't imagine it would hurt to get Rhogam if you had an early pregnancy, even if the risk is pretty low that you're sensitized.  One thing for sure, once you get sensitized, your're stuck. Rhogam isn't going to get rid of the antibody in subsequent pregnancies and every baby will have to be monitored for hemolytic disease!

Hope that helps!

Sheri

[pinkbelle]

Thats what the RH shot is for.. if you dont get it.. it can make getting pregnant the second time harder.. thats what my ob told me when he gave me the shot with my first pregnancy..

[schu1313]

But apparently in the UK it is not standard that the shot is given before 20 weeks. This is because there is no blood formation yet?  Anyone hear anything about this? US tends to be more "sue" happy so perhaps US does it as a precaution and not necessarily a need. Also, I have been researching and I have found that the Rhogam shot contains mercury and sometimes this is administered to pregnant woman. However the mercury can poison the fetus. Has anyone read or heard about this? So many questions.

[pinkbelle]

Yes.. u have to get the shot if this is your first pregnancy... it can make getting pregnant again really hard...