‘That's not for me. The result is most definitely wrong!’😨😰😱
Yeah, that was the ignorant me arguing with the medical laboratory scientist when he told me, my blood group🩸. Don't get me wrong, I've lived my whole life before that day thinking I was O+ve. After much resistance and trying to convince me that it was correct, he agreed to rerun the tests🧪🧪🧪 and did it in my presence explaining the A-Z of how it was done. It still turned out as B-ve. I immediately started crying 😭 because I knew before then that there were peculiarities with the Rhesus negative blood group especially in pregnancy 🤰and fetal safety. I was sad 😔 for a while but after I gisted a bit with the Medlab Scientist and the Physician👨⚕ they were like it'll be fine so long as I'm now aware and take proper precautions during pregnancy. I had just concluded year 1 then in uni🏫. Fast forward to when I encountered a patient who had pregnancy complications due to both the ignorance of the couple👩❤️💋👨 and the negligence of the medical practitioner👨🏻⚕. I then realized that a lot of people 👪👪👪are ignorant of this.
Sooooooo....before I go on.....🧏🏻
If you're an unmarried female or rather a female 👩that hasn't had a child before or had any need for an evacuation of the fetus or a miscarriage, and you don't know your Rhesus status, make sure you find out what it is!!!!! 🧏
It's generally important for a lot of reasons aside from pregnancy alone. It’s necessary, to avoid incompatible blood transfusions🩸 as much as possible, especially from a Rhesus-positive person to a Rhesus-negative person.
I know you're wondering why all this fuss right? 🥺A lot of things are avoidable when proper precautions ⚠️ are taken.
The blood types of humans consist of the ABO group (A, B, AB, O) and the Rhesus factor (Rh+ or Rh-), and an individual can have either combination. As of 2021 in Nigeria🇳🇬, statistics showed that only about 3.1% of the population has Rh- blood group (Yeah we're a minority, but we exist!)💯. So females 🤵♀️👱♀️that are Rh+, can carry a fetus of either Rhesus factors cause it's dominant, but negative females, can face pregnancy complications due to something called Rhesus sensitization. Sensitization occurs when a Rh-ve woman is pregnant 🤰 with a Rh+ve fetus (occurs when the father👨 is Rh+ve). This causes her immune system to produce antibodies against the fetus's blood cells because it sees it as strange 🚫. However in a first pregnancy, the Rh-ve mothers' immune system takes time to produce antibodies against the Rh+ve fetus blood cells, allowing it to escape the attack, so the first pregnancy normally goes well and it's spared from complications. Subsequent ones, however, if caution is not taken, can lead to stuff like anemia, jaundice, and even miscarriage of the fetus❌🤰. It also tends to get worse 😑 with every subsequent Rh-positive pregnancy.
To be honest, when I first confirmed my blood group🩸, I made up my mind then to marry a Rh-ve person to avoid all these. (We may be the minority, yes but we exist!!)
The good news though is that these complications can be well avoided once ignorance has been effectively managed. Diagnosis🔬, however, needs to be routinely done during pregnancy🤰🏼, as well as monitoring of the antibodies🧫🧪. Administration of Anti-D injection 💉 after the first Rh+ pregnancy is crucial , as her immune system will have already produced antibodies against Rh+ blood cells and in subsequent Rh+ pregnancies as earlier stated, these antibodies will quickly attack the fetus's blood cells...leading to complications 🥵. So it is imperative and recommended that the injection 💉is administered at 28 weeks of gestation and less than 72 hours⏰ immediately after delivery if the baby 👶is Rh+ve. Nowadays new stuff like ffDNA 🧬 can help determine the baby's Rhesus state allowing for targeted Anti-D administration💉. If the baby is Rh-ve there's no problem. Planned deliveries like intrauterine transfusion and planned caesarian section might have to be considered instead.
I know you might be wondering ‘Why all this information?’ 🤷🏽♂️Well, early detection 🕵️and expert management 👨⚕help improve outcomes. Unfortunately many are negligent about this🤦🏽. The percentage of persons affected might be a minority, but, I'll still say it, we do exist and we matter!!!🗣️
So be informed 🧏🏻♀️and take caution. Most complications are avoidable with the right care. Pregnancy 🤰🏼should be planned and should include confirming where Anti-D can be purchased (because it may not always be readily available) and putting money 💰 aside for it in addition to the delivery charges💵💵. It should also include close monitoring, ultrasound surveillance, specialized care, and psychological support.
🧏🏻♀️Know your Rh status!!!!
🧏🏻♀️Avoid the avoidable!!
🧏🏻♀️Not all miscarriages are from village people!!
No comments:
Post a Comment