Our Sweet Baby and Isoimmunization

I went for my normal check up on December 22nd and my midwife, Carrington, shared with me that they had found antibodies to the E antigen in my blood. At first I was terrified but Carrington assured me that it was something that could be monitored and that they would go ahead and set up an appointment with a Maternal Fetal Medicine specialist. We also listened to sweet baby's heartbeat and that made me feel a little better.  So they set up an appointment for December 24th. Christmas Eve. And asked if that would be ok. We weren't doing anything until that night and I was eager to know what was going on so we said that we would.

So I took to googling of course. I found several articles and several pregnancy boards that helped me really get an understanding of what I was dealing with. This is what I have learned:

The development of the anti-E antibody in my blood was most likely a result of one of my previous pregnancies (Grayson or the baby I miscarried back in May). It is most likely that Brandon is a carrier of the E antigen and he passed it to one of our babies. When the baby was born - our blood mixed and my blood (since I do not have the E antigen) started producing an antibody to fight off that E antigen. The problem with this pregnancy is that there is a chance that this baby could also have the E antigen (passed from Brandon) and now that my body has produced the anti-E to fight off the E, my red blood cells could break down the baby's red blood cells and cause the baby to become anemic or jaundice. Apparently the anti-E is one of the milder anti-RH antibodies. With proper monitoring, the outcome is usually good.

So, we drove to Hickory on Christmas Eve morning. My appointment was for 10:30. We went in for our scan first (which I wasn't sure if they would do or not) but they did a full anatomy ultrasound and WE FOUND OUT WHAT WE'RE HAVING! (Yes, that was a little Christmas Eve surprise). We then met with the doctor and she said everything looks great right now but that I would come back again in 4 weeks to finish our anatomy scan (since they couldn't quite get pictures of everything at only 15 weeks). They said that I would also continue to get my blood drawn every four weeks to make sure that my titers don't rise. Basically that is the ratio of the amount of anti-E in my blood. Right now my levels are only at 1:8 but if they rise to 1:16 I will be going more frequently for scans and they will start doing Doppler scans of the baby. The doppler scans can show the rate of flow of the blood in the baby and if the blood is flowing too quickly- that indicates anemia. If the baby does show signs of anemia or hydrops, they can do an intrauterine blood transfusion (which is super freaky but also kind of amazing). We are really praying that my titers stay low and that it never becomes a concern. There is also a chance that this baby doesn't even have the E antigen. If that were the case - there would be no reason to even worry because my anti-E would have nothing to fight. But the only way to tell that is an amnio and I would rather avoid that procedure if possible.

So - here we are. I guess I have a lot more appointments in my future. Please pray for our baby. Pray that this baby does not have the E antigen at all, that I will not worry, that my titers will stay low and we will just be able to enjoy being pregnant!

My big gender reveal party is forced to be more of a last minute get-together because there is no way I can wait until late January to spill the beans. So next Saturday (January 3rd) we'll let you know! :)