Should I be worried?

[LocaHijabi]

I am 36 weeks, and am Rh-.  I declined the Rogham, since I know it's unnecessary and only important if my baby is a Rh+. 

Anyway, I had read up a lot about it, and had done the same during my first pregnancy, but since my son was O- i didn't take the later shot.  I know that the mother's and baby's blood don't mix, unless there was a major trauma or an accident etc. 

Today, however, I accidentally got kicked on my belly, by my cousin's daughter who was playing and was trying to do a hands stand and even though it was NOT that painful or bad, it did cause me soreness and I have been worried for a few hours now, wondering if that would have caused blood mixing, and if I should go in to take the shot. =(

Any suggestions?

[BaileyB]

Is the father's blood +? If he is - then it won't matter but if he is + there could be a risk if the blood mixes. Also, once your blood mixes with the baby's blood, if the baby is +, then your body will make antibodies against + blood and any future babies you carry that have + blood will be attacked by your body's immune system as a foreign substance. It can cause the baby to be anemic and the baby could have to have Intrauterine Blood Transfusions. I have also seen one statistic that only 80% of babies survive if the mother has built up antibodies against her baby's blood.

Just an FYI.

I didn't know any of this until about a week ago when they thought I had antibodies in my blood. Turned out to be nothing in my case but it really opened my eyes to the Rhogam shot, which I always thought was stupid, too.

Please anybody correct me if I have wrong info!

[devilish]

I am O-, DH is A+. We did get the first shot, but the second was unnecessary as DD turned out to be A-.

HOWEVER, my family's neighbour growing, also had that issue. However she didn't have the shot, and both pregnancies were very high risk pregnancies and as I recall very hard on the mom.

So, I did get it.

[LilyTiger]

There's no way to tell how hard the kick was, so I would go ahead and get the shot if your husband is Rh+.  If you want to have more children, it should be a high priority to make sure you're not sensitized.  But my advice is coming from someone who got the shot at 28 weeks because I don't see it as unnecessary.

[LocaHijabi]

Lily Tiger, even though you saw it as something necessary and got it, I appreciate your advice, because it makes sense.  The whole idea of not taking it is well and good, if everything went fine and normal, becuase then the blood wouldn't mix and I would have taken it after birth had the baby turned out to be positive.  But all that goes out the window, now since the kick (trauma) to the stomach changes things.  Even though it was not that bad a blow, it was still a kick which shocked me enough to sit down.  And even though I have only 4 more weeks to go, I cannot say that the blood didn't mix, so will be taking the shot now, in case it did to save my baby and next pregnancies. 

Thank you all for your non judemental, yet supportive response.  It helped me decide that taking the shot is the best option I have now, for the health of my child(ren).
 

[augustashley]

In your instance I would get the shot rather than worry for the remaining 4 wks if things were okay.

I am (-), my husband is (+).  I got the shot at 28 wks during both of my first two pregnancies, after as well for my 2nd son because his type was (+), and I declined it for my third.  My OB(who just happened to be a very natural friendly, high-risk maternal/fetal medicine specialist) for the third said (and I looked it up, it is true) the chance of blood mixing in the right time frame from the shot was very minimal, and that many countries in Europe don't even do the routine shot during pregnancy, only after if the baby is positive. 

That OB moved, and for my fourth, I had a different OB who was not at all comfortable with my declining the 28 wk shot, but after what my prior doctor had said, with more experience, I did not want it and refused. When my youngest was born, there had been a small undiagnosed abruption and for several weeks I had been bleeding out into the amniotic fluid.  Thankfully, she was rh(-), but it was a scary few hours until that was determined after her birth.  If she had been (+) wecould very well have been one of those rare statistics.  I am on the fence about it this time, I would like to try to consult my former doctor as he was more educated for his opinion.  I'm trying to understand the speculation about how long it is effective after 28 wks, and speculation about how injecting the antibodies could actually harm the fetus in the event of a blood transfer-and in that case, if I'm not planning on having more children, I'm unsure as to how important it would be to get it.

I'm also in an odd subgroup that I have had 3 (-) children and 1 (+) child, because it would be much more likely for them to all be (+) being that it can be a dominant trait (or so I was told by the neonatologist at my DD's birth). 
 

[Eresh]

Btw, if you get the shot now at 36weeks, you should not get a shot after the birth regardless of baby's Rh. The shot is effective for 12 weeks.