Taking a baby. To my wife or baby?

Rh incompatibility is a condition that occurs during pregnancy if a woman has Rh-negative blood and her baby has Rh-positive blood With prompt and proper prenatal care and screening, you can prevent the problems of Rh incompatibility. Screening tests allow your doctor to find out early in your pregnancy whether you're at risk for the condition. If you're at risk, your doctor will carefully check on you and your baby throughout your pregnancy and prescribe treatment as needed. Injections of a medicine called Rh immune globulin can keep your body from making Rh antibodies. This medicine helps prevent the problems of Rh incompatibility. If you're Rh-negative, you'll need this medicine every time you have a baby with Rh-positive blood. Other events also can expose you to Rh-positive blood, which could affect a pregnancy. Examples include a miscarriage or blood transfusion. If you're treated with Rh immune globulin right after these events, you may be able to avoid Rh incompatibility during your next pregnancy.

The goals of treating Rh incompatibility are to ensure that your baby is healthy and to lower your risk for the condition in future pregnancies.

Rh incompatibility is diagnosed during your pregnancy, you'll receive Rh immune globulin in your seventh month of pregnancy and again within 72 hours of delivery. You also may receive Rh immune globulin if the risk of blood transfer between you and the baby is high (for example, if you've had a miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, or bleeding during pregnancy). Rh immune globulin contains Rh antibodies that attach to the Rh-positive blood cells in your blood. When this happens, your body doesn't react to the baby's Rh-positive cells as a foreign substance. As a result, your body doesn't make Rh antibodies. Rh immune globulin must be given at the correct times to work properly. Once you have formed Rh antibodies, the medicine will no longer help. That's why a woman who has Rh-negative blood must be treated with the medicine with each pregnancy or any other event that allows her blood to mix with Rh-positive blood. Rh immune globulin is injected into the muscle of your arm or buttock. Side effects may include soreness at the injection site and a slight fever. The medicine also may be injected into a vein.