Unsuitable blood type combination for pregnancy

Many couples who are preparing to have a baby have heard that if the blood types of the couple are incompatible, the fetus may suffer from hemolytic disease. So will incompatible blood types affect pregnancy? Let's take a detailed look at this issue below.

If the blood types of the couple are incompatible, the fetus may indeed inherit the blood type antigens that the mother lacks from the father. Once the blood cells with these blood type antigens enter the pregnant mother, the pregnant mother will produce antibodies, and these antigens can enter the fetus's body through the embryo, causing the baby's blood cells to be destroyed and hemolyzed, manifested as jaundice, anemia, etc. Severe symptoms may cause cerebral palsy; if severe hemolysis occurs in the uterine cavity, it will also cause miscarriage or fetal death.

The most common ones are ABO blood type incompatibility or RH blood type incompatibility. If the husband is type A, B or AB blood and the wife is type O blood, there may be ABO blood type incompatibility during pregnancy; if the husband is RH positive and the wife is RH negative, there may be RH blood type incompatibility during pregnancy.

Although not all couples with incompatible blood types will cause neonatal hemolytic disease, in order to minimize it, the couple must conduct blood type tests when planning to become pregnant. Especially for those who have had repeated miscarriages in the past, it is necessary to get checked to rule out whether the cause is blood type inconsistency.

Once a couple finds that their blood types are incompatible when they are preparing to have a baby, they need to conduct additional testing during pregnancy. Three months after pregnancy, a serum antibody titer test can be done. If the wife is type O blood and the husband is type A, B or AB blood, the mother and baby may have an ABO blood type incompatibility; if the wife is RH negative and the husband is RH positive, the mother and baby may have an RH blood type incompatibility. These two categories of pregnant women need to take medicine to prevent the occurrence of neonatal hemolytic disease.

For most patients, the antibody titer will gradually return to the normal value after taking Chinese herbal medicine. If the pregnant woman does not get better, she should also be assisted by intravenous drip injection of glucose, vitamin C, etc.