Pregnancy & Antibodies in Blood

J.,

I, too, was told that I had antibodies in my blood when I was pregnant. After they ran tests, it ended up they were from an illness I likely contracted while in daycare/school as a child. I was told it would pass to the baby, but my little boy is now 15 months and healthy as can be.

J.,
I would guess your sister is O Rh negative blood type? Antibodies against the baby can develop if she had a previous pregnancy and did not receive a Rhogam shot after the birth.. or if she had a miscarriage and never received it as well. (The father's baby is probably not O-) I am O RH-.. and my son was born O +.. but I had all the shots at the proper times and never had a problem. One of my best friends was O RH negative and had a pregnancy before they started doing the shots, and they didn't know as much about it... and she had an AWFUL pregnancy, but her son was born healthy and is a brilliant successful 24 year old today.

J.,

I didn't have this issue, but a couple of friends have. I don't believe it's ever an issue--they just have to give the woman a vaccine to prevent whatever it is that can happen when Rh type blood of the mom is different from the fetus'. Both my friends had no pregnancy complications and have happy, healthy kids. Try not to worry--the tests they are running are probably just to see if your sister needs the vaccine. Good luck--I hope all goes well!

J., there are all sorts of antibodies that are in our blood - they are simply defenses that have been built up against some disorder, disease or condition. In pregnancy, they need to be analyzed because there are some dangerous ones, but there are some innocuous ones also. I Googled "antibodies in pregnancy" and came up with lots of valuable advice so I encourage you to do likewise. It is better to be armed with too much information than to go blindly along not knowing even what to ask the doctor. I wish you good hunting and your sister a great, uncomplicated pregnancy.