Bear with me because I am not a good writer these days or a very creative thinker since I`m busy growing my 4th boy. All of my thoughts feels stunted, but I realized there weren`t many places for isommunized mamas on the web. I will try to give a feel for what you might deal with with an antibody, specifically anti-d, and link or share any new info I might find.
Quick little blurb on isoimmunization: Suppose a woman is Rh-negative and her husband is Rh-positive. Her fetus may be Rh-positive or Rh negative. Suppose she has an Rh-positive fetus. During delivery blood from her D-positive fetus can pass on to her blood. She will develop antibodies against Rh-D antigen. These antibodies can pass from mother to the fetus during next pregnancy. During next pregnancy if she again has an Rh-positive fetus. Anti-D antibodies in her blood will cross the placenta and get into the fetal blood. These antibodies will destroy the blood in the fetus. With each exposure to Rh-positive blood the amount of antibodies formed increases. Therefore the risk goes on increasing to the Rh-positive with each subsequent pregnancy.
4. To avoid this first the Rh-D status of the pregnant women is determined. Her blood is tested. If she is Rh-negative (i.e. does not have Rh-D antigen)the Rh status of the husband is determined. If the husband is Rh-negative no action is taken. Suppose he is Rh-positive, the mother is given anti-D to destroy the fetal cells that may have entered her circulation to prevent her developing anti-D antibodies.
I`m 31 weeks into my 2nd ISO pregnancy, so far so good, I don`t want to say too much until its behind me. I got sensitized when my second son was born, he suffered a severe birth injury (shoulder dystocia) and lost too much oxygen and passed away when he was 7 weeks old. We still think about him every single day. After he was born, I had a horrendous hemmhorrhage and the Rhogam shot I was given to protect me from making antibodies to my rh + children did not work. When a mother loses a lot of blood she needs more Rhogam & in my case it just wasn`t enough. Its nobody`s fault, it could never have been enough, not to mention that Rhogam is not 100% effective anyway.
So here I am, going down the anti-d road again, of course my dear husband is homozygous for anti-d, meaning he only can make an rh + kid & I will only ever have rh- blood. This condition scares the pants off of most obstetricians, but a skilled perinatalogist usually knows what to do and how to get the healthiest possible baby at the end. The good news is that isoimmunized babies (also known as Coombs positive) have great outcomes, once they get past the possible initial anemia.
