How the RH factor affects child birth!

Dear Ladies,

My blood group is B-ve while my husband is B+ve. We have a son who is now 5 years old. When I was pregnant with my son, the Doctor told me that she will have to give me an injection named "Immuno-Globin" soon after child birth to avoid complications in the second pregnancy..

But when my son was born, his blood group was O-ve and the Doc said that since he is also negative, there is no need to give that injection...

So, now what happens if I try for another child? What effect will this have on my second kid? Will anyone be able to throw some light in this matter?

Thanks in advance
Cheers!
Sylvia

Dear Sylvia,
Rh incompatibility is usually seen in cases when the mother is Rh negative and father is Rh positive. The baby growing inside the Rh-negative mother may have Rh-positive blood, inherited from the father. Rh incompatibility usually isn't a problem if it's the mother's first pregnancy because, unless there's some sort of abnormality, the fetus's blood does not normally enter the mother's circulatory system during the course of the pregnancy.
However, during delivery, the mother's and baby's blood can intermingle. If this happens, the mother's body recognizes the Rh protein as a foreign substance and can begin producing antibodies against the Rh proteins introduced into her blood.


Rh antibodies are harmless until the mother's second or later pregnancies. If she is ever carrying another Rh-positive child, her Rh antibodies will recognize the Rh proteins on the surface of the baby's blood cells as foreign, and pass into the baby's bloodstream and attack those cells. This can lead to swelling and rupture of the baby's red blood cells. A baby's blood count can get dangerously low when this condition occurs.


But in ur case, your son was also Rh negative. So there is no fear of encounter with Rh positive blood in ur system. That was the reason your doctor did not give u the injection after your son was born. In case he had been Rh positive, she would have definitely done so.


There is no harm if you try for ur second child and if the next one is also Rh negative, there is no problem again. But if the child is Rh positive, the doctor may insist on giving you the injection, in case u decide to have any more kids in future. So don’t worry about it!!!



Hope this clears ur doubt!!

Dear Asha,

Thanks soooo much for the quick and elaborate reply.. my doubts are almost gone..

Lately I see many familes having special needs kids and I get very worried.. But from your statement, i think that such incidents do not occur due to RH mismatch..

What a lot of thoughts were going on in my mind before I read your post.. you have saved me a lot of trouble.. thanks again!

Would you be able to answer another query?? How much of the child's mental and physical development be detected in scan? Is it possible to ensure delivery of a healthy child? Can a scan tell the Doc that the kid is mentally and physically sound?

You have been really helpful..

thanks sooo much
Cheers!
Sylvia

Dear Sylvia,

Am happy that ur doubts are cleared. Glad to be of help.

As for ur next query. An ultrasound scan does show a clear picture of the baby's physical features (even the fingers, toes, eyes, nose...), so any physical abnormality can be seen using the scan, so can the brain development (am sure u must ve seen all these with ur first kid). In case the physician feels there could be any abnormality, am sure they ll suggest for additional tests. There are many of them available now a days!!!

Cool and stop worrying unnecessarily. Have faith and go ahead with ur plan for the next one. Am sure everything will work just fine.

Cheers,
Asha

Dear Asha,

Thank you once again for your prompt and detailed explanation.. I did go thru the entire for my son but I wasnt this nervous.. I used to pray and go ahead with everything.

But off late, i have been seeing sooo many dyselexic and autistic kids and otherwise affected kids and also there is sooo much talk going on about the same subject in Oprah Winfrey and movies etc... this is worrying me.. If a scan can reveal all the mental and physical development of the child.. What is the problem? especially, developed countries like US are facing this problems too..

I will take your advice and relax and go ahead but this query has been troubling me a lot..

Thanks for your patience!
Cheers!
Sylvia