Pregnancy is an unforgettable period in the life of every woman. For a long nine months, she carries a long-awaited baby in herself and experiences new, completely unusual feelings.
Unfortunately, at present, a very small number of women can boast of an absolutely unproblematic pregnancy. Regular visits to the obstetrician-gynecologist, often prescribed tests, weighings, taking any medications, as well as periodic screening tests - rare moms are left without any diagnosis.
What is the Rh factor
One of the important issues at the stage of preparing for conception and bearing a baby is the influence of the Rh factor on pregnancy planning. Those women who have a different Rhesus factor with the father of the unborn child should be especially careful about this problem. The concept of "Rhesus factor" can often be heard both in the hospital and on television. Whether it is positive or negative with us does not matter for our well-being. The Rh factor does not affect our health, the work of all vital organs and systems. Of course, any modern person should know what kind of Rhesus he has, just like a blood type. This may be necessary in unforeseen circumstances such as emergency surgery or a blood transfusion. But when you think about acquiring offspring, be sure to make the necessary analyzes, because it is vital to know the Rh factor when planning a child. And this applies to both future parents.
Each person is a carrier of one of the types of Rhesus factor - either positive or negative. In medicine, the Rh factor refers to the presence or absence of protein on the surface of red blood cells (red blood cells that deliver oxygen to tissues and organs).
Rhesus factor when planning pregnancy
Every woman who is worried about the health of her unborn child should do the necessary research as soon as possible in order to know the characteristics of her blood. The course of pregnancy, the health of the baby and the young mother, largely depend on them.
Future mother and father may have various Rh factors. So, if both of them are positive, then the child will get the same. The same thing happens if the parents have a negative Rh. Usually, there are no problems and complications even when the Rh-factor of the mother with the value "+", and the father - the opposite value. But in the event that a woman was “lucky” to be born with a negative Rhesus, and her father is positive, the probability of a Rhesus conflict during the bearing of a child is very high. It poses a certain threat to the condition of the fetus.
The consequences of Rhesus conflict during pregnancy
The whole essence of the problem lies in the fact that in the body of an Rh-negative mother, when a fetus with an opposite factor is born in it, with the contact of the mother’s and baby’s blood, active production of antibodies against Rh antigens of the Rh-positive fetus can begin. If you know your Rh factor when planning pregnancy, you should be prepared for this turn of events. The body of a woman perceives the red blood cells of the child as a foreign object. Antibodies can, under certain conditions, penetrate in large quantities through the placenta and adversely affect the baby. The effects of antibodies on the fetus can be anemia, intoxication, as well as a violation of the formation and functioning of the most important body systems. This influence of the Rh factor during pregnancy planning and bearing a child is collectively referred to as hemolytic disease. In the vast majority of cases, it develops almost immediately after the baby is born and is very difficult to treat. Sometimes a newborn also needs such a complicated procedure as a blood transfusion.
The negative impact of the Rh factor on child planning: how to prevent
If you carefully and deliberately approach such a sensitive issue as preparation for conception, then many problems can be avoided or the probability of their appearance to be minimized. Very many women, only having encountered such a situation when they could not bear the baby and lost him at one time or another, learned about how harmful the Rh factor could be when planning pregnancy and for the entire nine months. The likelihood that you will be among such people is small, but still exists. If you believe the statistics, then the owners of negative Rh are from 15 to 20% of the population of our planet. Therefore, in preparing to become a mother, be sure to find out your Rh factor when planning pregnancy. Reviews of women with such a problem, who successfully became pregnant and successfully endured healthy babies, indicate that the knowledge of their Rhesus status made it possible to avoid the majority of unpleasant complications and even miscarriage.
What to do if Rh is negative?
If you donated blood and found out your Rh factor when planning pregnancy, then you can be sure that the attending physician will do everything possible so that you can endure and give birth to a strong heir. If you find yourself carrying Rh-negative blood, then you will be obligatorily put on a special account in the antenatal clinic. In this case, constant and strict control is simply necessary. Therefore, you should not avoid the tests and studies that your doctor prescribes, because he worries about the well-being of your and your baby. Do not risk your child and go through all the procedures in a timely manner. You will have to donate blood from a vein quite often. In this way, doctors will be able to track whether antibodies to the baby’s antigen are present in your blood, and if there are any, then their number is not growing. Before reaching the gestational age of 32 weeks, such an analysis should be carried out monthly, in the period from 32 to 35 weeks - twice a month, and starting from 35 weeks until the very birth - every week.
Modern medical technology allows you to carefully monitor the condition of the fetus and observe the possible appearance and development of hemolytic disease. In extreme cases, if necessary, even intrauterine blood transfusion is possible. The main purpose of this procedure will be to improve the well-being of the child. Premature or too late birth will be dangerous for him. The optimal period can be called a period from 35 to 37 weeks.
Negative Rh in first and second pregnancies
It should be noted that the influence of the Rh factor in the planning of the child during the first pregnancy is not strong and does not entail the development of hemolytic disease. This is due to the fact that the maternal immune system first encounters hostile red blood cells and does not have time to form antibodies that would harm the baby. They are produced, but in very small quantities. That is why women with a negative Rh factor are contraindicated in terminating their first pregnancy, as this may deprive her of a chance to bear a healthy baby. In the case of repeated and subsequent pregnancies, the prognosis is much worse. Maternal blood already contains antibodies that cross the placenta and can even destroy the fetus.
Measures to be taken in Rh conflict
In any case, if during pregnancy you learned that you and your husband have different Rh factors, you should carefully monitor your blood picture. The attending physician will study all the factors affecting the situation and only then prescribe adequate measures. Now the development of the Rhesus conflict is very often prevented by the introduction of a special vaccine. Immunoglobulin is administered immediately after the first birth or an aborted pregnancy and blocks antibodies.
The prognosis of pregnancy with a negative Rh factor
The first pregnancy in the vast majority of cases proceeds normally and ends successfully. If a special vaccine is administered immediately after the first birth, it will bind the maternal antibodies and allow the second child to be delivered without problems.