re: The Rhogam Shot for Rh- Mothers

I'm O neg and I got the shot. The shot prevents any antibodies you currently have and will develop from attacking your current baby and any other children that you have. If the antibodies attack the current child because of sensitivity, there is a chance of miscarriage as well as severe problems with the baby once it is born. If you don't get it, then any future children will be attacked by the body because your body sees the fetus as a foreign object and you will miscarry.

as far as the autism, there is no proof or legitimate research to show that it can cause it, same thing with vaccines.

JMO, get the shot

Quoting mshell:“ hmmm... that's very interesting! the doctors told her it's because they were boys, and she would never be able to carry a boy, needless to say i have 2 uncles!”

lol.. me too! She never had a girl..

the problem is that in short your blood will mix with the babies during delivery and can harm your baby( if the baby is positive and you are negitive)...i think the positives out way the negitives in this case! I had it with both my pregnancies so far and have been fine...there will always be risks with anything you do...it is up to you but that is what i have learned in short...I am going to school for nursing and learned that in some of my classes...i am not a doctor by any means, that is just the best info i can give with out going into details

Quoting Blissful Mama:“ lol.. me too! She never had a girl..”

awww my grandma had 2 girls also. i think everyone should have a girl but i'm a little biased 

Quoting A♥E:“ Thanks for the correction. I was always thought that if the mother had the RH- Antibody it didn't matter what the husbands blood type was.”

I came across it in my research during my first pregnancy.. apparently they would commonly type the father's blood to see if the shot was needed, but now they don't bother and just give the shot to all rh- moms.

Found off Web MD


What Is Rh Disease?
Rh disease occurs when an Rh-negative mother and her husband conceive an Rh positive child. When a few of the baby's Rh positive red blood cells cross into the mother's system via the placenta, either through a fall or accident, an amniocentesis, during a miscarriage, elective abortion, or ectopic (tubular) pregnancy, or after delivery when the placenta is removed, the mother's immune system identifies these Rh positive fetal RBCs as foreign and sets out to immediately destroy them, as well as form long-term antibodies to fight them off at a later time.
If you are an Rh negative woman and you are carrying an Rh positive child during your first pregnancy, the chance of becoming sensitized and causing a problem for the baby is small. If the baby's RBCs pass into the mother's system, her body responds by producing antibodies and she becomes "Rh sensitized." As a result, she will always carry these antibodies in her immune system.
If you carry an Rh-positive child in a subsequent pregnancy, the antibodies created by the immune system during the first exposure respond more quickly to the foreign red blood cells from the baby. These antibodies attack and destroy the baby's RBCs in the mother's circulation, but more importantly, they also cross the placenta and begin destroying the baby's red blood cells circulating in the baby's body. Remember, we all need functioning red blood cells to carry oxygen and carbon dioxide, even a baby in its mother's uterus. There are no complications for the mother in these circumstances, but there may be minor to serious complications for the baby. This is called hemolytic disease of the newborn.
Prevention: a Very Important Point
There are very few places in health care where a problem has been so clearly identified and a method of prevention has been so effective. Rh disease is one of those rare opportunities to really make a difference for many mothers and their babies. If you are an Rh negative woman who is considering pregnancy, or you are currently pregnant for the first time, or you are pregnant for the second or third time, you may still benefit from the following method of preventing Rh disease during pregnancy.
Early in pregnancy a standard group of routine prenatal blood tests are done on nearly all pregnant women. Included in this panel of tests is a blood test to determine your blood type (A, B, or O), your Rh status (positive or negative), and your antibody status. In this simple test, the laboratory is looking for a reaction by specific antibodies that might be present in your blood, specifically, if you have an Rh antibody, and if you do, what is the antibody exactly. If the antibody screen is negative then you are considered "unsensitized." If it is positive, the lab goes on to identify the exact antibody. The risks for potential problems with this pregnancy are then addressed. Prevention is only necessary and effective if you are Rh negative with an antibody screen that is negative.
In this circumstance, sensitization can be prevented by giving the Rh negative woman an injection of Rh immunoglobulin (RhoGAM™) during and after pregnancy. Rh immunoglobulin is an antibody derived from human blood products, which is injected into one of your muscles, usually an arm or buttock. With this specific antibody, your immune system is fooled into thinking it has already made these antibodies and blocks your immune system from producing any more.
So if you are Rh negative with a negative antibody screen, it is considered standard prenatal care to give you injections of RhoGAM™ to prevent Rh sensitization. You will receive two shots, one at twenty-eight weeks gestation and then again within seventy-two hours after the birth of your baby, if your baby is Rh positive. This method of prevention seems to block sensitization for a period of about twelve weeks, which is why you need two injections during the course of your pregnancy. For this reason, it is important that RhoGAM™ be given with all of your pregnancies, even those which may result in miscarriage, elective termination, or an ectopic pregnancy.
RhoGAM™ is given any time the placenta is disturbed due to an accident or blow to the stomach, which could cause the placenta to pull away from the wall of the uterus. It should also be given after an amniocentesis and after an episode of vaginal bleeding.
Hemolytic Disease of the Newborn
Hemolytic disease of the newborn, or HDN for short, can actually be one or a group of symptoms exhibited by the baby. HDN is also termed erythroblastosis fetalis. The most severe symptom, which can be seen on ultrasound examination, is an accumulation of fluid throughout the baby's body, also called hydrops. After delivery, other symptoms may include severe newborn jaundice (yellowing of the body and skin), and a low red blood cell count (anemia).
These symptoms develop as a direct result of a mother's antibodies attaching to and destroying the baby's red blood cells, or hemolysis. Thus the name hemolytic disease of the newborn. Each subsequent pregnancy can result in more severe disease in the baby. The baby begins to compensate for the decreased number of RBCs by attempting to make lots more RBCs in a short period of time. But in the baby's bodily efforts to fix the problem it creates more problems, primarily in the liver. The baby's liver becomes enlarged and unable to handle the increased work of making new RBCs and cleaning away the debris of all the dead blood cells. At this time the baby begins to accumulate fluid in its belly, lungs, and around its heart, which can be seen easily on ultrasound. The dead red blood cells form bilirubin and result in moderate to severe jaundice in the newborn. Additionally, the baby will be anemic because the mother's antibodies have broken up so many of the red blood cells.

Quoting mshell:“ awww my grandma had 2 girls also. i think everyone should have a girl but i'm a little biased ”

Haha.. me too.. My other grandma made up for it.. she had 5 girls and 1 boy  

Quoting Blissful Mama:“ Haha.. me too.. My other grandma made up for it.. she had 5 girls and 1 boy  ”

oh no, 5 is too many! haha maybe 2, but no more than that!!

Quoting A♥E:“ Found off Web MD What Is Rh Disease? Rh disease occurs when an Rh-negative mother and her husband ... [snip!] ... newborn. Additionally, the baby will be anemic because the mother's antibodies have broken up so many of the red blood cells.”

good looking out! I have read this s few times...just too much too put in to my own words and i didn't want to get it all screwed up

Quoting ambcarlson:“ good looking out! I have read this s few times...just too much too put in to my own words and i didn't want to get it all screwed up”

I just wanted to give her as much info as possible. Just like the article says the shot is made up of blood products and I doubt it will affect the childs learning abilities in the future.

you know its crazy too...not sure if this is really true but when I had my daughter 5 1/2 years ago I got the shot at 28 weeks then they forgot to give me another after birth so when i got home from the hospital the nurses called my house freaking out and told me that if i didn't go back up there and get the shot that i may not be able to carry another baby....so i had to go back...that sucked!

Quoting A♥E:“ I just wanted to give her as much info as possible. Just like the article says the shot is made up of blood products and I doubt it will affect the childs learning abilities in the future.”

yes true and that was very nice of you!  

Quoting A♥E:“ I just wanted to give her as much info as possible. Just like the article says the shot is made up of blood products and I doubt it will affect the childs learning abilities in the future.”

It probaby stems from the whole children's vaccines controversy....

find out your hubby's blood type & tell your doc. I am RH- but my hubby is too (rare!) so I don't have to have the shot. They did give it to me after my m/c though, cuz I didn't know his type at the time. But if your hubby is pos, I would definitely get the shot. They gave me something to read about it, and the thought that your body could kill your child is horrible. I have a cousin with autism, and I'd much rather face that than have my own body kill my child.

I don't know much about the RH thing but just as an FYI they don't actually have proof of what causes autism. They don't know yet. They are just making hypothesis' and studying things. They have not figured it out exactly yet. If I were you, I would get the shot. Really it's either you take the chance of your baby getting autism or your baby possibly not making it? I would just take the shot.