[mother83]

I am Rhesus Negative and my husband is Positive, we have two children and I have been given the anti-D injection with both of them.
We would like to have another child, abroad, but I don't want to have an injection where its not safe to have one, if we wanted to have a fourth child I, then, would be at risk,is it possible to have an injection during pregnancy or do you normally have to have it after 72 hours? I am just wondering if there is something I could do if I am not going to have the injection with my next child and be safe for a fourth... please help! :confused:

[ang8318]

I know with my pregnancy (I am negative and my husband positive). I had to have one while I was pregnant and another I think it was 2 or 3 days after having my son.

[ISneezeFunny]

To answer your question, you have a 50% chance your child will be Rh+

With that said, you cannot have the injection during pregnancy... the injection is so that your body's antibodies won't attack the baby's blood, and during the pregnancy, your blood and the baby's blood don't come into contact with one another, it's only during birth, hence, the injection right after the birth.

By "abroad" how abroad are we talking about? Most developed countries are fully capable of giving you the injection

[mother83]

I am going to be living in India, where I would not want to have an injection, I could not trust enough the doctors to be having blood by someone else.
At this point I really don't know what to think, I read a leaflet and it said that if you do not have an injection after birth its best not to have another child... and I don't want that.
Thank you for the information anyway...

[J_9]

With that said, you cannot have the injection during pregnancy

Sneezy, check your sources again. The RhoGAM shot is given at 28 weeks of pregnancy and again within 72 hours after birth.

Now, back to the OP. Yes, you need the shot if either of your other children are Rh+.

You see, it works like this, and I will try to put it in the simplest of terms. Since you are negative, if either of your other children were positive, your body has recognized their blood as a foreign invader. Thus, with each subsequent pregnancy, your body has a tendency to "attack" the fetus as if it is an illness/virus and your immune system recognizes the fetus as something foreign and dangerous to your system. This results in something called erytroblastosis fetalus, which, in turn, ends up that your body fights the fetus as an illness and attempts to destroy it as if it were a virus.

The RhoGAM shot stops the immune process from attacking the fetus, thus a healthy baby is born.

Again, RhoGAM is given at the 28 week of pregnancy and again within 72 hours after birth.

[ISneezeFunny]

Ah, that's my bad.

To redeem myself, I have to mention that I believe the OP simply wanted the shot before the birth and then get it over with.

[J_9]

You are redeemed, but there's really no need to redeem yourself, Obstetrics is not your specialty Doc. LOL

The RhoGAM shot is not given if the baby is negative as is the mother. It is not until the baby is determined positive that the shot is given. Therefore, at least one of the OPs children is positive.

Having said that, I agree with Sneezy that you cannot take the shot to get it over with. You cannot get it before the 28th week unless there is an incidence of bleeding. In which case, you will get the shot with every incidence of bleeding to lessen the chance of baby's blood mixing with mom's.

[ISneezeFunny]

No, you're absolutely right, it's not. :(

Spent a week in a ob program... got the heck out of dodge.

I'm sticking with ortho. :)

[mother83]

So if I am not having the injection after having the third child, being pregnant a fourth time it could be risky for the child.
Still very confused on what is best!

[J_9]

If you are negative and any of your children are positive, you will ALWAYS have to have the shot with every pregnancy after that baby that was born positive.

Have any of your children been born positive? I don't understand why you are not having the shot after having the 3rd child. But yes, if you do not take the shot after the 3rd child, you will risk losing the 4th child. It's not worth not getting the shot if you want a healthy 4th baby.

[mother83]

My two children are both positive... I do understand what you are saying now,I will have to have always an injection. The problem is that we were planning to have a baby abroad,in india, but I could'nt and would'nt trust the health system there because I think that as the shot is from others blood I don't think they make so many checks like they do here.
And we are not so sure if we want a third child but I was just thinking in case it happened,that I got pregnant with a fourth...
I think you made your point there, thank you for the advice, been very honest.

[mother83]

I made a mistake saying that we are not sure about having a third child, but I wanted to say a fourth child, sorry about that.