Without enough red blood cells, your newborn baby won’t get enough oxygen, could suffer from mild conditions, such as anemia (low blood count) and jaundice (yellowing of the eyes and skin caused by too much yellow pigment in their red blood cells), or more serious conditions, such as brain damage and heart failure. Your baby’s red blood cells die faster than his or her body can make new ones. Red blood cells are filled with iron-rich protein (hemoglobin) that supplies oxygen to your baby. Without that preventive treatment, Rh incompatibility destroys your baby’s red blood cells (hemolytic anemia) during pregnancy. Once a Rh-positive baby’s blood enters a Rh-negative mother’s bloodstream, a mother’s future Rh-positive babies are at risk for certain medical problems (unless the mother received a Rh immunoglobulin injection). Or if she experienced a blunt trauma injury to her abdomen during her pregnancy.Had to have the baby manually rotated from a breech position before her labor started.
AAFP recommends retesting between the 24th and 28th weeks of pregnancy. According to American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) clinical guidelines, all pregnant women should have blood typing and Rh testing on their first visit to their doctor for pregnancy care. These are all cases in which the mother and baby’s blood could mix. You receive the injection after a miscarriage, an abortion, or an amniocentesis (a gene screening test done during pregnancy), as well. If you have Rh-negative blood, you will be given an injection of the medicine, Rh immunoglobulin, around week 28 of your pregnancy and then again within 72 hours of your baby’s birth. When you are pregnant, one of the first things your doctor will do is check your blood type during your first visit. In most cases, Rh incompatibility is avoidable with preventive care. Doctors treat the condition by injecting the mother with a Rh incompatibility medicine that protects the baby’s red blood cells. However, it can cause mild to serious medical problems for the baby. Rh incompatibility isn’t harmful to the pregnant mother. This is because the mother develops antibodies to attack Rh-positive blood types in future children. It poses a greater risk in later pregnancies. Typically, this is not a concern for a live birth with a first pregnancy. If a Rh-positive baby’s blood passes to its Rh-negative mother during pregnancy (or delivery), the mother’s body will attack the baby’s red blood cells. You inherit your blood type from your mother and father. People without the protein are Rh-negative. People who have that protein are Rh-positive. Rh factor is a protein located in red blood cells. Today, Rh incompatibility rarely is serious or life threatening, thanks to early diagnosis and treatment during pregnancy. It once was a serious medical problem for the baby. Rh incompatibility is a mismatched blood type between a pregnant mother and the baby she is carrying.