"Cathy" wrote in message
...
Hi everyone, My nearly-15 month old has decided to wean herself, so I am
hoping that this will mean the return of my fertility, so that we can
really
TTC in earnest. But in the meantime I want to get some answers to my
quesions. I am Rh -, my husband and daughter are Rh +. After DD's birth,
I
had the Rhogam shot (or the equivalent) about 2 days after the birth. I
was
surprised at this - I thought it would be almost immediate. Anyway, what
is
the likelihood of complications with no. 2 - any one with experiences both
postitive and negative? And would this preclude me in any way form having
a
home birth? I'm sure it would depend on the midwife, but again, I'm just
after experiences. I had a hospital birth with no. 1, and although it was
probably the best place to be, as I couldn't get DD to latch till the 4th
day, it may have been easier at home, as the midwife may have had more
time
to spend with me (I am guessing here). With no. 1, I hated the fact that
DH
had to go almost immediately -he got no sleep, I got no sleep, and he
didn't
feel the baby was his till we got home 5 days later. So I'm just looking
at
my options really, as I've got oodles of time to make decisions!


If you are not sensitized -- makes no difference in birth location.

Probably even if you did have a freak sensitization but your titer stays low
throughout the preg -- makes no difference in birth location. Very low
titers do not cause overt disease. You get low titers from prenatal Rhogam
itself, which is standard of care in the US.

Typically what a homebirth midwife will do is check the baby's rhesus status
using cord blood on these little testing cards. Then if the baby is
positive she'll give the rhogam shot. My kid's blood never showed positive
on the cards, but I had some prenatal testing done that indicated that the
baby was Rh+. Now that may have been wrong and my baby really is Rh-, but I
went ahead and had some Rhogam anyway. We'll see what her blood type
actually turns out to be later I guess.

As to prenatal Rhogam (antenatal Anti-D), it's controversial whether you
need it or not. I would not take it during pregnancy unless I knew I had
fetal cells in my blood, and even then, I would look hard at the benefit I
anticipated having.

Sometimes the hospital environment impedes breastfeeding -- stresses baby
out. Or mom had drugs during labor.

-- Dagny