Rh Negative

I happen to have the blood type of A-.

Usually this just means that I have a slightly rare blood type, but when pregnant it means that I am lucky enough to need a shot in the butt at 28 weeks and then again after labor.

Yesterday was my lucky day, and I received the only shot in the butt that I can honestly remember receiving. Leaning over the bench in the doctor's office made me feel like I was in a movie and was weird, embarrassing, and funny all at the same time!

Anyways, I thought that some people would like to know why I had to get the shot, especially if they have a negative blood type and have not had babies yet.

Rh-factor is a protein that is carried in the blood. About 85% of the world's population has this protein and are considered RH positive. Those who don't, like myself, are considered RH negative. This would not affect my current pregnancy, but antibodies would be created that would attack any Rh positive babies I were to become pregnant with in the future. To prevent this the pregnant mother receives a shot at 28 weeks, the shot is of Rhogam. The Rhogam prevents my body from creating antibodies, so in the future if I were to be pregnant with a baby that was Rh positive, my body would not attack it.

Now, if the baby's father is Rh negative as well, then there is no chance that the baby would be Rh positive and no shot would have to be given or received. In our case John wasn't sure what his blood type was so it was better to be safe than sorry (or else he just really wanted me to get a shot in the butt!!).

Anyways, now that I have gotten the shot I can tell you that you barely feel it and it really ends up being no big deal.