[mooliette]

I'm RH negative, my last two births I opted for the shot of Rhogam at 28 wks and 3 days after birth.

This time I'm thinking about not getting the shots. DH and I know this will be our last baby, but a little part of me inside is saying what if his 'V' doesn't work. I don't want to risk the health of a future child even if we didn't plan on a 4th.

Just wondering if anyone declined the shot if the RH factor comes into play for you and why if you don't mind asking do you feel it's safe to decline it.

 

[mom2mimi]

Well I'm sure you have read all about my situation so I'm just going to go on record and say get the shot. I would still decline the 28 week one because I'm just not comfortable injecting a blood product into baby, but there is no way I would decline the postpartum one again. What if that V doesn't work, as you said. I know my two friends who recently had babies, one after a tubal ligation and one after a vasectomy...nothing besides abstinence is 100%. And neither is Rhogam, but the dangers of an rh sensitized pregnancy are very real and scary and nothing I would wish upon anyone...especially us mothering mamas who like to remain hands off and trusting in our bodies. Just my 2cents, FWIW!

 

[DreamsInDigital]

Wow, Julie, do you have any sources for more info? Everything I've ever read suggests it's not that big of a deal.
I'm O+ so I'm not even worried about the whole thing I just happened to be browsing and nosy.

 

[EmilyS]

I didn't have the one during pregnancy (which my midwife gave me hard time about) but I did have the one post pregnancy. I was O- and my daughter is O+.

 

[raeinparis]

here they don't do one during pregnancy. i'm a- and dh is o+, our ds is a + but i don't what his type is. they tested his blood after he was born and then i got the shot. which reminds me...i need to get another blood test done to confirm (for the fourth time) that i am indeed a-.

i did find a letter a while ago that said i should have had another shot at around 6 months but i didn't do that. i hope this one is ok!

 

[appleseed]

i am, but dh and i are both a- so it's not an issue with us. however, i got the shot with dd and when i miscarried due to pressure from the doctors, meaning that they were insinuating i might have cheated on dh

: this time i'm not planning on getting it but we are going to double check dh's & dd's blood type just to make sure because i'm paranoid!

 

[LEAW]

Rae, lol, docs can be really dumb some days, eh?

I am a-, dh is a+, I declined the 28 week shot, but had I had any bleeding I might have considered it a bit more seriously, esp, if it had been from a placenta problem of some sort.

Dd is a- so I did not have teh pp shot. This time I will again refuse the 28 week shot, and we will test cord blood and I will take it if this one is a+ though I hope it's a-. We plan on more kids, so I'd much rather be safe than sorry.

In hindsigght, being negative, I wish my mother would have explained it to me waaaay back when we had the teenage sex talks... because who really knows if I would have even bothered to get one, or learn about it, had I gotten pregnant in college or something... so knowing what I know now, dd and I will talk about what it means long before there is a chance of her getting pregnant, I'd hate for her to spend her life sensitized and wanting children and dealign with all the medical stuff that comes along with it.

So, OP, I'd still get the pp shot if baby is + just in case...

 

[butterflymum]

I am O- and DH is O+. I have done both the shot in pregnancy and the PP shots with both previous pregnancies. Both my boys are O+. This time after doing a lot of reading I think we will decline the shot at 28 weeks but we have a little question about what to do PP. My MW likes to leave the placenta/cord attached for about 3 hours after the birth before clamping (I'm still doing reading on why this is beneficial) therefore making it very difficult to get enough cord blood (at 3 hrs pp) to do blood typing on the baby. She said we could opt to have the RhoGam shot anyway postpartum just in case the baby is O+ like his/her brothers are.
Does anyone one have any experience using an Eldon card for blood typing? I've only used it a couple times and that was several years ago (I'm a nurse) but I seem to recall it didn't take much blood to do.
Anyone here planning to keep the cord/placenta attached for a while after birth or doing a lotus birth? If so, can you tell me a little about why you are doing this? I'll move that question to a new thread so as to not hijack this one...

 

[mom2mimi]

For anyone wondering about the Eldon card or why I am recommending anyone Rh negative get the shot, here is an answer I gave in the spotlight thread. I will also post a couple of link to information about Rh sensitization.

are you just rh- or is it more complicated than that? i know i'm rh- and have to have rhogam at a certain point in the pregnancy.
It is more complicated...I am rh- and when I had my last baby instead of just taking the rhogam I asked that my son be tested to see if he was possibly negative also. (meaning no need for rhogam) My midwife tested him on an eldon card (an unreliable way of blood typing at home, found out the unreliable part later though) after his birth and declared him to be negative like me, so I did not get rhogam. As I answered earlier, I found out during my mc that I had developed antibodies to rh positive blood, meaning at some point it had mixed with mine. It is thought that it was too early to be that babies and after further checking it was discovered my son was indeed positive. Although I did not have a traumatic birth and it is unknown how our bloods mixed, they did. My OB thought it was wise to try giving me the rhogam, just in case the baby I mc caused the antibodies. Then he told me to wait three months and we will check again. Well just about three months later, we find out we're pg again. My blood was checked and it did have antibodies however they were extremely low and we are hoping that it could've been from the rhogam still. The likelyhood is that I am sensitized meaning rhogam won't do a thing for me now, and if my numbers go up baby will be at risk for anemia and jaundice. I hope that clears some of it up, you can always google rh sensitization or isoimmunization for a clearer more medical definition of it.

 

[mom2mimi]

These pages explain Rh sensitization pretty well.

http://www.webmd.com/hw/being_pregnant/hw135945.asp

http://www.healthwise.net/hillhealth...CHWID=hw135982

Hope those help someone, I sure wish I had known the severity of Rh sensitization before I trusted in the Eldon card.

 

[DreamsInDigital]

Thanks Julie, that's exactly what I was looking for.

 

[elmh23]

They forgot to run that test (lab messed up) when I had my blood drawn at 8 weeks, so we're not sure yet. My midwife wrote it down on my chart to do at 28 weeks since they'll draw more blood then anyways. I'm O though I don't know if I'm negative or positive and dh has no clue what his blood type is, so we really do need to know eventually.

 

[mom2mimi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by elmh23 They forgot to run that test (lab messed up) when I had my blood drawn at 8 weeks, so we're not sure yet. My midwife wrote it down on my chart to do at 28 weeks since they'll draw more blood then anyways. I'm O though I don't know if I'm negative or positive and dh has no clue what his blood type is, so we really do need to know eventually.

You would probably already know from baby #1 if you were negative because you would have gotten the shot or made the decision not to get it...unless you went totally UP/UC!

 

[LEAW]

In order to be negative your parents either have to be a -- or -+ and you got the - of the -+ parent.

My dh is -+ (his dad was negative) and my parents (adn all my grandparents) are all negative. So I can safely say that all of my aunts, uncles, and such are all negative too.

 

[elmh23]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mom2mimi You would probably already know from baby #1 if you were negative because you would have gotten the shot or made the decision not to get it...unless you went totally UP/UC!

Good to know, but I had such crappy care last time, they didn't tell me anything (which is why I'm going to a midwife this time

) I'm probably positive then. But they never did test dh. Are they supposed to?

 

[mom2mimi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by elmh23 Good to know, but I had such crappy care last time, they didn't tell me anything (which is why I'm going to a midwife this time ) I'm probably positive then. But they never did test dh. Are they supposed to?

No, because if you are positive then it really doesn't matter if dh is negative OR positive. You only need the shot if you are negative, although you might check to see what your daughter is so someday you can inform her if she is negative. I, for one, am so glad my daughter is positive and will never have to worry about all this!