[Baby] My blood comes from monkeys!

[ailbhe]

I'm Rhesus negative, in other words. So strictly speaking my blood has nothing to do with monkeys, but never mind. I have to go get the Anti-D injection (yes, the one that spread HepC all over Ireland a while ago) in 7 and 13 weeks. However, I am assured that there are no side effects whatsoever and that the blood is screened for everything. Plus, I know my blood type - it's O-, which is fab, because I didn't have one before.

I'm going to get the Anti-D because really the risks are very small and the risk of my antibodies rejecting my baby is slightly higher (though still about as much risk as that, say, I'm going to get trampled by a runaway elephant while on my way through Regent's Park in February). I'm also going to change my GP clinic; there's one local to me that is taking new NHS patients and my own clinic is awful beyond measure; it's possible that the only doctor there I haven't yet seen is perfectly good, but since the receptionists really hate letting me make appointments to see her (I didn't get to make a 16/17 week checkup appointment, for example), I can't find out.

Tomorrow I will go to the other clinic and fill in their forms and if possible make an appointment to see a GP in 4 weeks time. I hope they're better; I'd hate not to have found a decent GP by the time the little frog gets out.

We saw the frog again, by the way - the doctor who spoke to me about my RhNeg status and my history of depression had a scanner in her office and used it to check the heartbeat. It's beating :)

Comments

[clanwilliam.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised you're O, actually - to the best of my knowledge, with your genetics, you'd have a far better chance of being A. Which Rob probably is too.

[ailbhe]

I have zackly the same blood type as cher papa. Rob has no idea what he is.

[hfnuala.livejournal.com]

[I'm not offering advice, just curious]

So why do they decide to give you the Rh treatment without checking what he is?

[ailbhe]

Coz two brown-haired parents can have a blond-haired child (or five, as in Rob's grandparents), and two Rh- parents can have an Rh+ child. If he's Rh- there's no guarantee the child is too, and testing the child is difficult and dangerous.

[sashajwolf.livejournal.com]

Anti-D is definitely worth getting unless you're sure you will never want another child - the risk to this baby is minimal, but the risk to the next one would be higher. It's one of the reasons I'm an only child - my mum is Rh- and had me before anti-D was developed. I'm also Rh-, as it turns out, but for some reason they didn't know that at the time. I had anti-D in all three pregnancies with no ill-effects.

[ailbhe]

I'll be incredibly surprised if I don't want at least two more kids. I'm open to the idea that we may find we hate it in practice, but I don't believe it.

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

How interesting.

Because I'm Rh-, DH had to get a blood type check. It turns out he was positive.

In New Zealand they don't do anything until the baby is born, then test the baby's blood type at birth. If the baby is Rh- then nothing else needs to happen, as there are no antibodies. If the baby is Rh+ then the mother gets a shot of Anti-D.