When I became pregnant with my first child, I definitely was on a roller coaster ride of education. Of course, I bought a ton of books, read the materials the doctor gave me, and listened to all of the stories and incidents my friends and family filled me in on.
One of the interesting things that I learned about myself was that I needed a Rhogam Injection. I was like “Well what is wrong with me now?”. Well, nothing was really wrong with me, but because my blood type is O Negative (Rh-Negative) as a precaution they gave me this Rhogam injection just in case my baby happened to have Rh- Positive blood.
According to the Rhogam site, “When a Rh-negative woman carries an Rh-positive baby, small numbers of the baby’s red blood cells may get into the mother’s bloodstream… the mother’s immune system sees the baby’s Rh-positive red blood cells as foreign and goes to work to produce antibodies against them…the antibodies attack and destroy the baby’s Rh-positive red blood cells, causing anemia (low red blood cell count), jaundice, and in severe cases, heart failure. This condition is known as hemolytic disease of the newborn, or HDN”.
And since I am not a medical professional and don’t have all the answers, CLICK HERE–>Offical Rhogam Site for more information.
I realized that this was what caused “Blue Babies”, which was a common occurrence back in the old days. A little scary needless to say. Thank goodness though for scientists and modern medicine because otherwise I may not have had my little guys with me today.
So a couple weeks ago I went for my 1 hour glucose test and my RH test. Everything was fine, but I did need to go ahead and have the Rhogam injection again. I made an appointment at the hospital, they gave me a shot in my rear (fun for a big pregnant mommy and feels great by the way ), and then I was good to go.
So had you ever heard of this before? And, have you had the shot and how did you feel when they told you that you needed it? I would love to hear your thoughts.
FFM
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