A Public Service From the Jet Set Chick
This is a little personal, but I still thought it was important enough to share.
As I posted earlier, I got an amniocentesis done this week. There was something that got messed up that could have been very serious (but fortunately easy to fix).
After I had the amnio, me & my husband were driving back home. I remembered reading something about Rh negative women needing a Rhogam shot any time they get an invasive procedure done involving their pregnancies. If an amnio isn't invasive, I don't know what is....
I decided to call the office to make sure what I had read was correct. Sure enough, after the receptionist checked, the doctor came on the line and told me to come back immediately for a Rhogam shot. (The Tsar almost took out two other cars with the U-turn he executed, but that's another story...) Even though it's all over the place in my file, they still missed it and didn't give me the shot right after the procedure. They might not have ever caught it if I hadn't said anything.
Got the shot, and got a little ID card to carry in my purse in case of emergency. It says when I got the shot and who the manufacturer is. It also says that in the future, if I should have a miscarriage or abortion, or if my baby is born with Rh positive blood, I need to get another shot within 72 hours.
I don't know if any of you know much about Rh incompatibility, but without that shot, I could develop antibodies to my baby's blood. (About 15 percent of the population has Rh negative blood.) There is no way to tell if our little girl is Rh positive until she is born.
They've pretty much stopped testing the guy the woman says is the father to see if there will be a problem. That's how my mother got out of having the shot....my dad was Rh negative, too. They just assume all women with Rh negative blood will need the shot nowadays, and give it to them. The Tsar hates getting his blood drawn, so he was relieved about that. ;)
Chances are, even without the shot, our little girl would be ok if she were Rh positive. However, any future little brothers or sisters that might have Rh positive blood could be born very sick or even die before birth because my immune system would attack them.
I think part of the reason hubby was so worried was that when he was growing up in Russia, he knew two sisters who were affected by Rh incompatibility. The older sister was fine, but her younger sister required a transfusion at birth and was kind of sickly growing up.
Be careful....and spread the word to any lady you know who is expecting or may be in the future!
As I posted earlier, I got an amniocentesis done this week. There was something that got messed up that could have been very serious (but fortunately easy to fix).
After I had the amnio, me & my husband were driving back home. I remembered reading something about Rh negative women needing a Rhogam shot any time they get an invasive procedure done involving their pregnancies. If an amnio isn't invasive, I don't know what is....
I decided to call the office to make sure what I had read was correct. Sure enough, after the receptionist checked, the doctor came on the line and told me to come back immediately for a Rhogam shot. (The Tsar almost took out two other cars with the U-turn he executed, but that's another story...) Even though it's all over the place in my file, they still missed it and didn't give me the shot right after the procedure. They might not have ever caught it if I hadn't said anything.
Got the shot, and got a little ID card to carry in my purse in case of emergency. It says when I got the shot and who the manufacturer is. It also says that in the future, if I should have a miscarriage or abortion, or if my baby is born with Rh positive blood, I need to get another shot within 72 hours.
I don't know if any of you know much about Rh incompatibility, but without that shot, I could develop antibodies to my baby's blood. (About 15 percent of the population has Rh negative blood.) There is no way to tell if our little girl is Rh positive until she is born.
They've pretty much stopped testing the guy the woman says is the father to see if there will be a problem. That's how my mother got out of having the shot....my dad was Rh negative, too. They just assume all women with Rh negative blood will need the shot nowadays, and give it to them. The Tsar hates getting his blood drawn, so he was relieved about that. ;)
Chances are, even without the shot, our little girl would be ok if she were Rh positive. However, any future little brothers or sisters that might have Rh positive blood could be born very sick or even die before birth because my immune system would attack them.
I think part of the reason hubby was so worried was that when he was growing up in Russia, he knew two sisters who were affected by Rh incompatibility. The older sister was fine, but her younger sister required a transfusion at birth and was kind of sickly growing up.
Be careful....and spread the word to any lady you know who is expecting or may be in the future!
posted by KoryO @ 9:24 AM
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