![]() ![]() This chart helps determine the fetus’s risk for Rh incompatibility: Who is at risk for Rh incompatibility?Ī person who’s Rh-negative is at risk for Rh incompatibility if they become pregnant with a fetus who is Rh-positive. Rh disease can be life-threatening for the fetus. Once your body realizes the fetus is Rh-positive, antibodies can pass into the fetus’s blood and attack its red blood cells. These antibodies put the second fetus at risk for complications. In this case, your body will produce antibodies. ![]() Rh incompatibility becomes a problem if you become pregnant a second time and have another Rh-positive fetus. However, your provider still tests your Rh factor even if it’s your first pregnancy. This is because it’s unlikely that your blood will mix with the fetus’s blood until delivery, which means antibodies won’t form until after the fetus is born. After external cephalic version (ECV), a maneuver to turn a breech baby.Ĭomplications don’t usually happen during a person’s first pregnancy.Early pregnancy complications like miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy.Any type of vaginal bleeding during pregnancy.Tests like amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling (CVS).However, a small amount of blood from the fetus can mix with your blood during labor and delivery (either vaginal or cesarean). Your pregnancy care provider can prevent this from happening by giving you a shot (injection) of immune globulin.ĭuring pregnancy, you don’t share blood with the fetus you’re carrying. These antibodies drive an immune system attack against the fetus’s red blood cells, which your body thinks are foreign objects. With Rh incompatibility, your immune system reacts to this difference (known as incompatibility) and creates antibodies. Rh incompatibility occurs when a person who’s Rh-negative becomes pregnant with a fetus with Rh-positive blood. Your Rh factor doesn’t affect your overall health, but it’s important to know your Rh status if you’re pregnant. It only becomes important when blood types are mixed together, like during pregnancy and childbirth. Your Rh factor doesn’t cause problems or hurt your health in any way. The positive or negative next to the blood type is your Rh factor. Each blood type also has a positive or negative factor. The protein on the surface of your red blood cells determines your blood type. Treatments are available to prevent complications of Rh incompatibility. This is called Rh factor incompatibility. The majority of people, about 85%, are Rh-positive.ĭuring pregnancy, complications may occur if you’re Rh-negative and the fetus is Rh-positive. If you don’t have the protein, you’re Rh-negative. If you have the protein, you’re Rh-positive. You inherit the protein, which means you get your Rh factor from your biological parents. Rh factor (or Rhesus factor) is a type of protein on the outside or surface of your red blood cells. Complications can occur during pregnancy if you’re Rh negative and the fetus is Rh positive. ![]()
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