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Discouraging 1st Appt. (REALLY LONG)

CTJourneyCTJourney
in 1st Trimester

I had my 1st prenatal appt today, and I'm feeling slightly discouraged.  Over the weekend I had chills at night and in the middle of the night Saturday I had very light spotting.  No spotting since Saturday, but it still increased my anxiety level. 

Given the weekend episode my midwife encouraged me to have an u/s today, and I decided it would be best to relieve my anxieties and/or confirm my fears.  She was able to detect a heartbeat, however, she was completely honest in saying that the heart rate is much slower than what is normal, and that is a little discouraging to her.  She said a slow heart rate does increase the risk of miscarriage.  

They drew blood to check my HCG, and they will check the numbers again on Thursday.  She also drew blood to check my antibodies, which I did not think to ask questions about, but my mind started wandering on the way home. 

My blood type is O Negative, and my first son has O Positive blood.  I did not know or understand much about the RH factor until later in my pregnancy with him, and they explained I needed the Rhogam shot at 28 weeks.  This was all with a different medical group then the one I am seeing now.  

On the ride home I remembered that in my pregnancy with my first son I had two subchorionic bleeds in 1st trimester.  It was NEVER mentioned to me about the RH factor, and I'm now questioning if my body built up antibodies to the positive blood type in 1st tri with my son due to the subchorionic bleeds?  If you read up on Rhogam, they give it at 28 weeks, after birth, and anytime there is bleeding in pregnancy.  In which case, they should have given it to me in 1st tri with my son when I had the SCH.   

In a nutshell, if my blood work comes back that RH disease was not prevented when pregnant with my 1st son, then there is a high probability that I built up antibodies and it will attack my current (and any subsequent) pregnancy in which the baby has + blood type.  There's not much I can do now but wait and see what the blood results come back as.

I guess this is a good PSA to everyone out there too.  Find out your blood type early, ESPECIALLY if you have spotting/bleeding in early pregnancy.  And if you have the Negative RH factor, accompanied with bleeding, make sure you question your medical professional on the Rhogam shot.  

 For anyone that made it through this long, long ramble, I hope I made sense and thank you for reading.          

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Re: Discouraging 1st Appt. (REALLY LONG)

  • jessicada76jessicada76
    To give you a little hope - my Mom went through this exact same thing with me.  She didn't get the rhogam shot and so when she got pregnant with me she was killing my white blood cells (just like you said you would attack your baby).  The doctor told her the latest she would carry me would be 6 months and that I would more than likely not survive.  I am here to tell you that she carried me to term and I was healthy! :-)  There is hope!!!!!
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  • CTJourneyCTJourney

    imagejessicada76:
    To give you a little hope - my Mom went through this exact same thing with me.  She didn't get the rhogam shot and so when she got pregnant with me she was killing my white blood cells (just like you said you would attack your baby).  The doctor told her the latest she would carry me would be 6 months and that I would more than likely not survive.  I am here to tell you that she carried me to term and I was healthy! :-)  There is hope!!!!!

    Thank you for giving me hope!  I am trying to stay positive about all of this, but it is not easy to do right now.  And the waiting game to see how my blood work comes back is awful.  I hate the waiting game Sad

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  • learning2liveagnlearning2liveagn

    CT, 

    You had the shot @ 28 weeks so you should be fine.  I might be a little lost but that was how I understood it.  That pregnancy with your son was also when you had the SCH, correct?  I honestly don't think that that is what is going on but I'll be praying for you till your next appt.  Prayers, Sweetie and try not to think to much about it.  As if!  =)

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  • CTJourneyCTJourney
    imagemomma_again:

    CT, 

    You had the shot @ 28 weeks so you should be fine.  I might be a little lost but that was how I understood it.  That pregnancy with your son was also when you had the SCH, correct?  I honestly don't think that that is what is going on but I'll be praying for you till your next appt.  Prayers, Sweetie and try not to think to much about it.  As if!  =)

    I guess my concern is that I had two SCH's from 7 weeks until about 20 weeks with DS, and I wasn't given the shot until 28 weeks.  Wouldn't my blood already have built up the antibodies prior to 28 weeks since I had the SCH's?  I don't understand all of the science behind it, and I hope I am wrong!  Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.  It is going to be a long week!  

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