Desert Storks

Rh Negative

hen you first find out you are pregnant, your doctor/ obstetrician may prescribe some routine tests. If you don’t know your blood group or if you’re unsure whether the doctor is testing it or not, just ask and this can be easily done.
If you are rhesus negative and your partner is rhesus positive, then your unborn child may inherit negative or positive blood – you wont know until birth. However if the mother is negative and the fetus happens to be positive (positive being dominant, negative recessive), this may cause problems for the fetus as well as any future pregnancies the mother may have.
Problems can occur if the fetus’ positive blood manages to find it’s way into the mother’s bloodstream, either during pregnancy or labour, mixing with her negative blood. If this happens and it is not treated, the mother’s blood can create antibodies to attack the positive blood containing a ‘foreign’ component, causing anaemeia or in a worst case scenario, death for a fetus. This means that any future pregnancies the mother has where the fetus is again rhesus positive, her antibodies may cross the placenta and attack the fetus’ blood cells.
Your obstetrician may organise a couple of blood tests throughout your pregnancy to monitor antibodies in your blood. It is important that the hospital where you birth your baby is aware of your rhesus negative blood, so they can test baby’s blood after the birth (from the placenta) to discover baby’s blood type. Should your baby have positive blood, you can choose to be given an “anti-D” injection within a couple of days following the birth. This prevents antibodies from forming.
Some Obstetricians are now routinely giving Rh- women Anti-D injections without any blood tests to detect antibodies.
With each pregnancy the risk still exists of antibodies forming, should positive and negative blood become mixed. It is therefore important to make sure you continue to communicate your blood group with your future medical carers if you decide to become pregnant again.