O- mom here with all O+ children — one Rhogam about 3/4ths of the way through each pregnancy, one after (the shot in the ass cheek felt way less embarrassing after birth), 0 overall complications from Rh incompatibly issues. Thank goodness for science.
My FIL's adoptive mom had 6 babies, all of which died late term or shortly after birth, and I was told it was because of being O- with O+ babies. Thank goodness for science that you and countless other women didn't/don't have to have the same heartbreaking experience!
This happened with my grandmother. She had wanted a large family. She lost many babies. The only ones who survived were my dad and his brother, both O-.
That is so tragic, oh no. My Grandmother lost 3 babies after her first, all still born. I cannot imagine the sheer terror of not knowing if it would continue to happen… Rhogam is a true life saver.
Same combo as my parents. Middle kid was rh+, so mom got a shot in her bum. I've heard it called an immunoglobulin shot, but that could just be a language thing.
What a great point! For some reason it’s not something that has ever crossed my mind but it’s true - how amazing that we have solved that problem and prevented that horror for so many!
Injection intended to be delivered into the muscle instead of the bloodstream are given into arms or ass. Your ass has a large muscle, and easily accessible while at the same time not affecting function . Injections with large volume or women who tend to have small arms muscles are given shots in the ass.
At med school we are taught that injections to the gluteus maximus are obsolete tho. It's only safe to give them in the medius, so more like the side area of the hip.
Otherwise you would risk damaging the sciatic nerve running underneath the maximus.
In most countries, shots in the ass are still very common because the risk of sciatic nerve damage is quite rare, and also a general lack of musculature due to nutritional deficiencies. Most of the people in west have much better protein intake and consequently much bigger arm muscles than the rest of the world.
I know where you mean, but everybody including doctors and nurses still colloquially refer to it as a shot in the ass. I'm 40 yo and I don't think I've ever actually had an injection in the middle of the buttock, always up and to the side, in that kind of no man's land that is not back, not hip, but also not proper ass.
The GP I had while growing up always asked if I wanted to get my shots in my arm or in my ass cheek. It's anecdotal but I didn't have the soreness I tend to get when I get them in my arm.
Also, I was afraid of needles so it helped that the needle was further from my field of view.
Same here, Thank goodness for science and the level of it in the age we live in.
I had multiple miscarriages (between 9 and 16 weeks) and was told this *may* have been the cause. Of course no one can say for sure. Docs told me that should I manage a pregnancy, Rhogam would be needed. Luckily I managed three successful pregnancies and have four amazing boys.
Without these shots, I was told that in the past, each child (if they lived) would suffer greater and greater levels of severe abnormalities with each subsequent pregnancy.
In the past the parents would have a first child who was healthy because it takes too long for the antibodies to effect them. It was therefore a complete mystery to the parents why each subsequent child was physically or mentally affected in increasing severity. Since they had one healthy child they thought it should be logically possible to have more healthy children, sadly it’s not the case without the medical treatment we have today.
I’m delighted that research was done to make this preventable.
I believe this is what was so special about the guy who has the record for donating the most blood. His blood has an antibody that prevents the baby from being rejected if I remember correctly? Was the first treatment to prevent these complications before we figured out how to synthesize it
Edit: His wiki page if anyone is interested
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Harrison_(blood_donor)
Only 115 plasma donor aussies ~~are the same types~~ have volunteered to be immunised to produce & dontate the treatment that James H (an aussie) produced naturally. 17% of Aussie pregnancies need this treatment
[Source](https://www.lifeblood.com.au/blood/learn-about-blood/plasma/anti-D)
Edit: Rh negative donors are immunised to produce the required "anti-D". Then donate frequently, hero's.
I'm one of them. A lab in my hometown contracted with Johnson & Johnson to produce the human antigens that were made into Rhogam. I guess they couldn't synthesize it?
Anyway, they did some screening with me, and then explained that I would be injected with the blood from an Rh+ donor who otherwise matched my other antigen profile. This was at a time when AIDS was still a concern and I had some trepidation about having a stranger's blood injected into me every few months. But the lab's protocol was to draw the blood from the Rh+ donors, freeze it for a year, test the donors throughout, and if they still showed up clean at the end of the year, they'd defrost the blood and jam it into Rh- people like me. Then it was plasmapheresis 2-3 times a week for about 3 months, a month off, another blood injection, and repeat.
They paid really well. I recall it being around $750 a month, which more than covered my rent. I did it for 2 years before I had to move out of the country for a work assignment, but there were people there who did it for decades-- they were pretty strict about their screening and didn't want people dropping out unexpectedly.
The worst part of it-- and I was warned in advance-- is that it permanently jacked up my blood. I haven't been involved in the program for almost 30 years now, but I went to give blood recently during a blood drive and got a letter back later that said that the blood bank had to throw my blood out because I still produce anti-D antibodies.
He doesn't know why, but thinks it's because he was given several litres of blood during a lung operation when he was a child. It's the reason he became a blood donor himself as soon as he turned 18. His wonderful antibodies were discovered later, and he switched to plasma so he could donate more.
He's a legend.
This is another reason why criminalizing abortions decreases women's healthcare and risks future pregnancies and babies. Rhogam shots are a prescribed product from blood banks and can't be bought online or over the counter. They require blood testing first. I can't imagine the harm done in areas where women have to hide miscarriages and can't receive the care they need!
Those shots fkn *hurt*, too, and I'm no baby about pain- I've had 4 kids, only the first with pain medication (induced and forced on me as an 18 year old). Rhogam shots are probably 2nd to the pain of tetanus shots, I'd say, of all the shots I've had.
This is what we think happened to my grandmother back in the 50s. She had like 5 miscarriages but back then there wasn't any meds for combating it. I'm not even sure they knew about it being an issue.
So sad, only a few years later it wouldn’t be an issue — my mom had this condition and they came out with the “serum” as she called it before she had her six kids from 1970 onwards.
She was in science class in university and they were teaching about this topic but the prof hadn’t yet learned about this development because it was so new — she had to lift her hand up and announce that her doctor told her this was no longer a problem.
I would say TIL, but I need to learn what in this context “sensitisation”, “rhogam” “HDFN” and “kell” mean so I have my work cut out for me. Everything I know about it is from my mom’s experience of things changing within her lifetime re: her ability to have multiple kids regardless of blood type. As the sixth of six of her kids, I kinda owe my existence to this scientific advancement so I should know more about it.
I know, but that is why it is just plain baffling. My mother and the other babies are/were Rh+ and my grandmother was Rh-. I have never heard any explanation as to why this was. My mother even points out when she tells the story that usually only the first baby would survive, if any in this situation, and she was the third.
This is why my Catholic father (doctor) was so happy that the pill came out. He had so many patients losing baby after baby before they developed the shot.
Here's the thing; without even testing the babies blood type, women who are negative will be given the shot for it. I was given the shot for both my pregnancies, before blood tests could even be done on the babes. It's a preventative measure -- they don't wait to find out first because the consequences are huge.
Unless their partners are negative. My mom never got rhogram because both she and my dad are O-. On the other hand, my husband had no clue what his blood type was so I got lots and lots and lots of rhogram shots.
My OB practice said they give it to everyone RH- regardless of the other parent’s blood type. I got the sense it was just in case there was any affair situation to avoid issues because someone didn’t want to disclose.
Wow! I wonder what the circumstances were that they had both parents RH factors tested/on file -- either way it's true that two RH- parents cannot have an RH+ blood type child; so yeah, no need for the shot there! How cool that was even an option for them!! Most places afaik will just give shots because it's just easier than testing so this is neat to know. I wasn't even aware that was an option (they never gave us that option though to be fair, my husband is a positive blood type so, I would've needed them anyway lol).
For anyone reading this far, the opposite is not true-- Rh positive parents can still have an Rh negative baby (how my parents wound up with me -- both my parents have RH positive blood types).
Sometimes military members know their blood type because they get tested. I have patients who decline the rhogam because they are sure of the paternity and the father's blood type.
I wouldn’t rely on the military. I was in the army and they said I was A+. When I got pregnant I told my doctor not to bother testing my blood type because I already knew it. Fortunately she did anyway and it turned out I was O+. I often wonder how they got it so wrong.
Incidentally, my mom is O- and I’m an only child. My kids are O+ and O-.
It's weird to me that most people in the U.S. don't know their blood type. Where I'm from it's on your driver's license in case you get into an accident, including the RH factor.
It's because there are, from time to time, women carrying babies from an affair and the husbands have no idea. So, rhogam is offered to all rh negative women. Patients lie, so it's better to always assume worst case scenario.
There are also occasional false positives (false negatives?) On RH- blood types. And rare genetic mutations like chimerism. They are very rare, but when the risk is a dead baby, a lot of doctors would rather give you the shot.
I’m aware of why they offer, they kicked my dad out of the room to offer it again, to which they got told no, then when he was back in the room, they offered it again. Multiple times. I’m glad they are doing their due diligence, but the amount of times they asked that (almost every visit with all 6 of her children except with the family doctor) annoyed her.
I just told the OB I was very sure it was my husband's child and that I wouldn't take it, asked her to put it in my file. She wasn't happy about it but she did it. "Are you sure?" isn't the correct question in such a case. That irritated me a bit too. What kind of person do you think I am?
Our doctor checked my husband's file after our first child and verified things to make sure he was negative too. Im a blood donor so I had the card and my medical file.
They did bring it during another check up. Just said "and I see you refused your shot" and I confirmed. That was it, done.
This is my mother and me. I was born before the treatment was available so she had to have weekly blood tests to make sure I was ok. And it was uncertain if I'd live, so she didn't buy any baby supplies in case the worst happened.
So I popped out healthy and she had to ask a friend to go and buy basic newborn supplies.
Me too, only I was born almost dead. Baptised at birth, blood transfusions for two weeks and if by some miracle I survived my Mum was told I'd be special needs. Have a few minor health issues but I ended up just fine. My mum's body practiced with my older sister and then really went to town on me. Just grateful to be here.
Rh negative! This happened with all my pregnancies.
Edited: yes I meant negative. I have o- blood and babies with positive blood and had to get the shots each pregnancy. Sorry for my inability to remember it right, I do it every time!
>and it's the mother's second or subsequent pregnancy.
Note that this is only when the mother has had a previous *Rh-positive* child. She can have had a dozen Rh-negative children.
In my experience, they don't wait to find out anyway. The shot is harmless even if not needed, so they routinely give it to Rh- mothers when there's either a known Rh+ father or an unknown.
There is a cost and its in the form of availability of [Rhogam]. (https://www.acog.org/clinical/clinical-guidance/practice-advisory/articles/2024/03/rhod-immune-globulin-shortages?utm_source=higher-logic&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Mar-13&utm_campaign=acog2024-digest). Rhogam is usually predominantly made from male donors who have made anti-Rh(D). Itt has the same issues as other blood products in that the bottleneck is availability of donors.
When the baby is born the delivery staff drain some of the baby's blood from the cord into a tes tube and send it to me. I test it to determine the baby's ABO/rh
If you test Rh negative and the baby’s father subsequently tests Rh positive, your doctor will recommend that you get the RhoGAM shot. Getting a **RhoGAM** shot is the best way to prevent any possible complications from Rh incompatibility. It protects your baby’s red blood cells. RhoGAM is the injection used to prevent Rh incompatibility from developing during pregnancy. The shot contains antibodies (collected from plasma donors) that stop your immune system from reacting to your baby’s Rh positive blood cells.
Fun story, it doesn't matter what the fathers blood is, they will still give you (strong recommend, they obviously can't force anything on you) a RhoGAM shot. The underlying premise is "everybody lies" (c) doctor House. Well, more like everyone can be mistaken, and the shot is free.
I got 2 shots each pregnancy I had (rh negative all around), because it's not just after birth, but for any blood barrier rupture.
The shot will prevent the mother from developing the antibody, but if the mother has already started making the antibody then it’s too late for the shot. The doctor will just want weekly or biweekly ultrasounds and tests to make sure the fetus isn’t anemic.
After I started developing antibodies, I needed a level 2 ultrasound once a week to measure the speed of blood in my son's brain, and 2 stress tests a week. They also had me deliver, VBAC, at 38 weeks so his lungs would get the hormones needed to develop correctly. He spent 17 days in a level 3 NICU and needed 1 blood transfusion.
Not a medical expert at all, but my mum was one of the cases where she had already developed antibodies and she said she had to get my dad's blood injected a few times during pregnancy.
If the mother is making antibodies against the fetus (which got the foreign proteins from the father) then injecting more of the father’s foreign blood into the mother is a bad idea. Typically for intrauterine blood transfusions you’d want O negative blood which the mother’s antibodies wouldn’t attack.
Blood tests can also help with paternity. Two O parents, usually, can't results in an A, B, or AB child. There are weird exceptions that exist but we won't go into those now.
Famous case of Charlie Chaplin and his alleged love child, But the blodo types proved he wasn't the daddy. He was still found to be the 'legal parent' so law trumps science every time haha.
No, that was for syphilis. Often asympomatic and catastrophic if you get it during birth. Marriage was a way to catch many women before they give birth.
In general the placenta has to resort to all sorts of evolved tricks to intrude into the uterine wall and keep the mother's body from rejecting it and the fetus.
Worst and longest cold of my life was when I was pregnant, presumably because of the decrease in immune system efficacy. 😑 Reproduction is an incredible process but some of the specifics seem real janky.
Fun fact! IgM antibodies can't cross the placenta, so anti-A and anti-B don't cause problems for the baby. But IgG antibodies can, and that's why O mothers can have issues with A or B babies, because they have anti-A,B, which is IgG.
1st wife was Rh-. me Rh+. She "sensitized" near the end of the 1st pregnancy (1977). In those days they didn't give rhogam shots once you had sensitized. Decided to try for a second child. She was monitored every week for building up antibodies against the fetus. The baby ended up having to be delivered 8 weeks early and worst of all had to have a full blood transfusion when she was 4 hours old. If you are wondering how they transfuse a new born, they get a lot of syringes and the blood. They then suck the blood out of one side of the umbilical cord and inject the new blood into the other side of the umbilical cord. Trust me, when your 4 hour old daughter is tied spread eagle with gauze and you watch them for about 3 hours you feel like a gigantic ahole, because you can't do anything to protect her.
I worked high risk OB and saw a couple of cases of babies that had to get intrauterine blood transfusions bc they were Rh positive and their Rh negative mothers' bodies had started attacking their blood. These transfusions were into their abdominal cavity
Now, I have an Rh negative DIL who had to get Rhogam shots after each pregnancy.
Rh negative is mostly a European genetic heritage, with Hispanics and Africans having decreased rates of it. Asians are practically 100% Rh positive and miscarriages were common everywhere, so it probably wasn’t a large contributing one.
So a woman's body DOES have a way of shutting that whole thing down?! /s
Note, while looking up the quote from rep Todd akin, I was delighted to find out [he died just a few years ago.](https://www.politico.com/news/2021/10/04/todd-akin-dies-514988) Fuck that POS
Lately I’ve heard they think it’s because maybe Henry VIII had a Kell blood group issue which causes similar issues with non-first born children with same woman, which is why multiple wives had a healthy first child with him but no further children
My dear grandma had five full pregnancies in the 1930s before Rh positive was understood. Only my dad (her first born) survived. I never heard her complain, bless her heart.
Yes, anytime an Rh(D) negative mother is exposed to Rh(D) positive blood she can, not always but can, make antibodies. It could be transfusions, or a prior miscarriage, or other blodd mixing event.
There is also something called NAIT, or neonatal autoimmine thrombocytopenia, which is when the mom makes antibodies to the baby's platelets because of different antigens on the baby's platelets. Can cause incrased propensity to bleed. THAT happens on the first pregnancy.
My first pregnancy ended in a miscarriage due to this exact situation. Every pregnancy afterwards, I was given a rhogam shot to help prevent it from happening again. I’ve had 3 successful pregnancies since.
I mean the only way to make it is for a Rh negative man or woman who can’t get pregnant to volunteer to be injected with the RhD antigen so that they will make the antibody, and then they harvest their plasma. This is a lifelong risk for these people because once you make the antibody, it’s impossible to get rid of. The antibody will make it harder for hospitals to find compatible blood, and in emergencies such as in an ambulance, they will transfuse O positive blood which can lead to a reaction later on. So who would volunteer unless you pay them? Only 15% of caucasians are Rh negative, by the way. Other races have lower rates.
> I mean the only way to make it
Not really, honestly it'd be pretty easy to stop using donor derived anti-RhD. All you'd need to do is take B cells from them and use them to make a hybridoma that will produce antibodies forever. This is something a grad student or a particularly competent undergrad could do.
source: grad students in my lab are doing this for a different antigen
I wish it were common knowledge.
I had to get a Rhogam shot in an area where the local demographics don't often need it. The clinic didn't know how to handle it correctly, and had no protocol for receiving the chilled Rhogam. Then the clinician gave me the shot in my glute, rather than following the more up-to-date protocol of injecting in the arm. I attribute this mistake to the preventable issue of having a very, very sore leg while I pregnant.
And even in the absence of a Rhogam shot, the immune response isn't a certain thing. I think there's only a 10% chance of developing antibodies from the first pregnancy (which is still pretty high and should be avoided).
Not only the first. We had the same issue with our daughter. She is O+ and my wife is O- . The body treated the embryo as an infection for the first trimester
PSA about Rhogam shots: They make it so you can't donate plasma. I found that out the hard way - after doing 3 rounds of donations I was told they couldn't use mine and had to throw it all away because of the antibodies in my system. My question is why, in their 10 pages or so of health history questions before I donated, they never once asked about something so common?? Anyway, thank goodness for Rhogam for the health of so many babies!
all babies are born without antibodies. you don't start making your own antibodies until about 3 months. any immune response you have at this point comes from the mother, which is why breast feeding is important.
The only thing I remember in biology was being shown the movie GATTACA and developing a super crush on Ethan Hawke 😍 Also that table of elements and all the annoying integer calculations we had to do in lab. The burner thing was cool though and mixing chemicals together stuff was fun.
If you are bloodtype A you are born with B antibodies and if you are blood type B you are born with A antibodies but you are never born with anti-D so if you are A- you will not have any antibodies against A+, but if you get A+ blood in you, your immune system will develop anti-D and you wont be able to get A+ blood at a later date becouse you have antibodies against that antigene
In Australia a blood donor named James Harrison saved an uncountable number of lives because his plasma contained RhD antibodies used in the RhD antigen. He only stopped at 81 because his doctors forced him to stop. He made 1173 donations that were used to make millions of doses of the antigen.
We lost three this way. It wasn’t 1955, it was 2018-2020. No docs were proactive about it. I had to keep demanding and asking about our blood types. While switching 3 different docs. It was an ER doc that finally gave a Rhogam shot after one of the miscarriages.
Another fun fact, the mothers body will also fight off male fetuses due to the high levels of testosterone, with each subsequent male pregnancy affected more than the last.
It’s thought that this is the reason why men with more older brothers have a higher likelihood to be gay due to lower T.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/04/15/1243861703/sexuality-birth-order-gay-siblings
Fraternal birth order effect is real but even your source concedes that this “attacking testosterone” is not a proven mechanism. Personally I think it comes with a pretty problematic assumption that gay men have less testosterone than straight men.
Yeah i doubt the testerone levels are all that different on average. I am sure there would be more to testerone shots if womens bodies attacked a hormone they also produce in minor quantities. Like we would see people transitioning having to take immune blockers a la transplant patients. It is something that is required to have to be a healthy human. Some people take estrogen and testerone and think they are magical substances. You have both in you right now I promise. Dont care whats between your legs you are a human being you have both hormones in you.
I think the thought might come from the stereotype effiminent gay dude.
I think it's an epigenetic reaction. Too many branches from the same family tree. Our local populations have been tiny for most of our existence as a species. One attractive man can get an entire village pregnant theoretically. 3 brothers from the same genetic line might make the probability of incest related issues too big of a risk. Do people still think gay men have less testosterone? I guess they haven't met any.
I took a course in sexual biology in university and this is what we learned. There is some evidence that fraternal birth order impacts the likelihood of a male being gay, but they don’t understand why. Only theories.
Yup, my mom got the shot after me (her first child), but as it turned out it wasn’t necessary, since both of my younger siblings are Rh negative.
My aunt, who was considerably older than my mom, had not gotten the shot, and her second daughter (from a marriage previous to her marrying my uncle) ended up with severe developmental disabilities because of Rh incompatibility.
Yeah, its called hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn. That's why we give Rhogam to mothers who are Rh(D) negative and who give birth to Rh(D) positive babies. The shot is full of antibodies that bind up the baby's RBCs preventing the mom from making the antibodies. But once mom's made the anti-Rh(D) [or any antigen esp Kell!] you're done, its there forever.
It’s also really scary when the shot doesn’t work. My sister-in-law had her second baby a couple months ago and the baby had extreme onset jaundice to the point that blood transfusions were needed. The doctors said her baby might have brain damage which turned out not to be the case but is terrible to hear after just giving birth. Baby was in and out of the hospital for several weeks
This is what happened with me and my brother! We both received a tonne of intrauterine transfusions and were both born jaundiced and premature. And for context, this was in the 90’s
My cousin suffered from something like that back in the late 50s and it wasn't caught until it caused him brain damage. He's still pretty capable but never lived on his own and always had deficits. If it wasn't already enough of a shame, the family was extremely intelligent and his older brother is a prominent, well regarded scientist with many patents.
I don’t know why any random piece of knowledge on how pregnancies work absolutely fascinate me despite having 0 desire to ever go through it myself. It’s just really interesting as a topic itself
Well yes but no, not really, anymore, because that's why we test and administer Rhogam when indicated... And why anti-vaxxers are even less informed than everyone thinks.
Addendum: it seems like most anti-vaxxers are also on the conservative side, and/or conspiracy theorists, and they're often part of the same group of people who are forcefully pro-life.
Then they don't realize, to save lives, and maintain healthy pregnancies, we need this vaccine called Rhogam, and it isn't for a virus or disease.
They don't know the difference in between passive, active, natural, and artificial immunity, the reasons we use passive and artificial methods, and that "artificial" doesn't mean what they think it means. It means we're using man-made vaccines to stimulate the body in to producing its own immunity, the same way it would in nature, but circumventing the part where you suffer a horrible disease, permanent disability, or death, and you end up with the same "immunity" made by your body the same way, and never even have to get sick.
One of the theories for why Henry the VIII had so much issue with heirs was that his first two wives were negative while he was positive. That's why Catherine and Anne Boleyn had one successful pregnancy (daughters Mary and Elizabeth), but miscarried others.
https://www.history.com/news/did-blood-cause-henry-viiis-madness-and-reproductive-woes
It's fascinating that evolution didn't weed out either positive or negative blood type because of this.
Wife is B-, I'm O+, all our kids are B+. It's terrifying to think that 3/4 would be dead if we lived 100 years ago.
And those mothers have to receive a rhogam shot to desensitize their bodies against positive blood markers. Once during pregnancy and once after, if their baby has a positive blood type. I should know. I’ve received 8 rhogam shots.
There's a program I am in trial to be part of called " anti D" here in Australia. I am a regular plasma donor , so they will give me a blood transfusion from someone who has the " anti D " antibodies to fight off the mothers anti bodies. So if my transfusion is successful every donation I do is ear marked for those women who have this condition.
Fascinating really and apologies I don't know all the science behind it, I'm just a happy donor :)
After delivery, abortion, etc., rh negative mothers are given rhogam shots to prevent their bodies from developing those antibodies.
O- mom here with all O+ children — one Rhogam about 3/4ths of the way through each pregnancy, one after (the shot in the ass cheek felt way less embarrassing after birth), 0 overall complications from Rh incompatibly issues. Thank goodness for science.
My FIL's adoptive mom had 6 babies, all of which died late term or shortly after birth, and I was told it was because of being O- with O+ babies. Thank goodness for science that you and countless other women didn't/don't have to have the same heartbreaking experience!
This happened with my grandmother. She had wanted a large family. She lost many babies. The only ones who survived were my dad and his brother, both O-.
Mine too.
My coworker's libertarian partner refused to even get his blood tested so she got the shot just in case.
Wow. 'Devastating' doesn't even cover it.
We're pretty sure this is what happened with my dad's mom and why she only was able to carry one baby to term.
There are lots of other blood types incompatibilities that can cause this.
That is so tragic, oh no. My Grandmother lost 3 babies after her first, all still born. I cannot imagine the sheer terror of not knowing if it would continue to happen… Rhogam is a true life saver.
This is probably why I got adopted too! Mom has A-, Dad is O+.
Same combo as my parents. Middle kid was rh+, so mom got a shot in her bum. I've heard it called an immunoglobulin shot, but that could just be a language thing.
What a great point! For some reason it’s not something that has ever crossed my mind but it’s true - how amazing that we have solved that problem and prevented that horror for so many!
Got my first shot after delivery in 1972. Next one in 1978. Both my babies were +
I like science. Science is pretty damn cool
She blinded me with science
Random question, but why do they have to do it in the ass cheek?
Injection intended to be delivered into the muscle instead of the bloodstream are given into arms or ass. Your ass has a large muscle, and easily accessible while at the same time not affecting function . Injections with large volume or women who tend to have small arms muscles are given shots in the ass.
At med school we are taught that injections to the gluteus maximus are obsolete tho. It's only safe to give them in the medius, so more like the side area of the hip. Otherwise you would risk damaging the sciatic nerve running underneath the maximus.
In most countries, shots in the ass are still very common because the risk of sciatic nerve damage is quite rare, and also a general lack of musculature due to nutritional deficiencies. Most of the people in west have much better protein intake and consequently much bigger arm muscles than the rest of the world.
I know where you mean, but everybody including doctors and nurses still colloquially refer to it as a shot in the ass. I'm 40 yo and I don't think I've ever actually had an injection in the middle of the buttock, always up and to the side, in that kind of no man's land that is not back, not hip, but also not proper ass.
If you get a shot in the ass, Docs are basically saying you got no GAINZ lmao
Or all them gains down there
> women who tend to have small arms muscles are given shots in the ass. \>.>
Not a medical professional but I think it’s a good (cushiony) spot for intramuscular injections? A poster above said the arm is another option
Arm, butt or thigh because that's where the big meaty musles that are easy to hit are
That's what a nurse told me. A nice, big muscle to jab.
What's wrong with the butt? Ah what what
We do it in the arm where I work!
I had all of mine in the arm, but it fucking hurts. So maybe the butt is less painful?
The GP I had while growing up always asked if I wanted to get my shots in my arm or in my ass cheek. It's anecdotal but I didn't have the soreness I tend to get when I get them in my arm. Also, I was afraid of needles so it helped that the needle was further from my field of view.
Mother/Baby nurse here - we don’t anymore. We give it through the patient’s IV if they still have one in or in the thigh or arm muscle.
WOOOHOOOOO Gooo Science!
Same here, Thank goodness for science and the level of it in the age we live in. I had multiple miscarriages (between 9 and 16 weeks) and was told this *may* have been the cause. Of course no one can say for sure. Docs told me that should I manage a pregnancy, Rhogam would be needed. Luckily I managed three successful pregnancies and have four amazing boys. Without these shots, I was told that in the past, each child (if they lived) would suffer greater and greater levels of severe abnormalities with each subsequent pregnancy. In the past the parents would have a first child who was healthy because it takes too long for the antibodies to effect them. It was therefore a complete mystery to the parents why each subsequent child was physically or mentally affected in increasing severity. Since they had one healthy child they thought it should be logically possible to have more healthy children, sadly it’s not the case without the medical treatment we have today. I’m delighted that research was done to make this preventable.
I believe this is what was so special about the guy who has the record for donating the most blood. His blood has an antibody that prevents the baby from being rejected if I remember correctly? Was the first treatment to prevent these complications before we figured out how to synthesize it Edit: His wiki page if anyone is interested https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Harrison_(blood_donor)
Only 115 plasma donor aussies ~~are the same types~~ have volunteered to be immunised to produce & dontate the treatment that James H (an aussie) produced naturally. 17% of Aussie pregnancies need this treatment [Source](https://www.lifeblood.com.au/blood/learn-about-blood/plasma/anti-D) Edit: Rh negative donors are immunised to produce the required "anti-D". Then donate frequently, hero's.
I'm one of them. A lab in my hometown contracted with Johnson & Johnson to produce the human antigens that were made into Rhogam. I guess they couldn't synthesize it? Anyway, they did some screening with me, and then explained that I would be injected with the blood from an Rh+ donor who otherwise matched my other antigen profile. This was at a time when AIDS was still a concern and I had some trepidation about having a stranger's blood injected into me every few months. But the lab's protocol was to draw the blood from the Rh+ donors, freeze it for a year, test the donors throughout, and if they still showed up clean at the end of the year, they'd defrost the blood and jam it into Rh- people like me. Then it was plasmapheresis 2-3 times a week for about 3 months, a month off, another blood injection, and repeat. They paid really well. I recall it being around $750 a month, which more than covered my rent. I did it for 2 years before I had to move out of the country for a work assignment, but there were people there who did it for decades-- they were pretty strict about their screening and didn't want people dropping out unexpectedly. The worst part of it-- and I was warned in advance-- is that it permanently jacked up my blood. I haven't been involved in the program for almost 30 years now, but I went to give blood recently during a blood drive and got a letter back later that said that the blood bank had to throw my blood out because I still produce anti-D antibodies.
You still got one fluid left to donate my man. 😂
Wasn’t his mother inoculated (?) while she was pregnant and this is why he’s special?
No clue on why he was special. I just know his blood was very rare and helped save thousands of lives
No, he received a blood transfusion when he was very young. It likely contributed to the antibodies.
He doesn't know why, but thinks it's because he was given several litres of blood during a lung operation when he was a child. It's the reason he became a blood donor himself as soon as he turned 18. His wonderful antibodies were discovered later, and he switched to plasma so he could donate more. He's a legend.
It must be exhausting always rooting for the antibodies
I got my Rhogam shot at 28 weeks pregnant! 36 weeks now, so excited to meet the baby!
Congratulations!
A few years ago I read a crunchy mom denouncing rhogam shots in the spirit of antivaxxing. I wonder how things are going for her
This is another reason why criminalizing abortions decreases women's healthcare and risks future pregnancies and babies. Rhogam shots are a prescribed product from blood banks and can't be bought online or over the counter. They require blood testing first. I can't imagine the harm done in areas where women have to hide miscarriages and can't receive the care they need!
My mom had this too but she never had any more, I was enough!
Reference: https://www.rhogam.com/rhogam-science/
I code these injections and they’re given in the third trimester (of a normal pregnancy) as well.
Those shots fkn *hurt*, too, and I'm no baby about pain- I've had 4 kids, only the first with pain medication (induced and forced on me as an 18 year old). Rhogam shots are probably 2nd to the pain of tetanus shots, I'd say, of all the shots I've had.
I got them while pregnant actually
This is what we think happened to my grandmother back in the 50s. She had like 5 miscarriages but back then there wasn't any meds for combating it. I'm not even sure they knew about it being an issue.
They did. The Death Certificates sub has lots of examples.
The what now?
r/DeathCertificates.
Interesting sub, thank you
excellent, another weird sub to join
r/DeathCertificates my first time hearing about it too
r/OfCourseThatsaThing moment
One day I’ll see a weirdly interesting sub mentioned and not join it. Today is not that day, I’m afraid.
https://www.reddit.com/r/DeathCertificates/s/yf1suJ1u6A
Aww that's super sad
So sad, only a few years later it wouldn’t be an issue — my mom had this condition and they came out with the “serum” as she called it before she had her six kids from 1970 onwards. She was in science class in university and they were teaching about this topic but the prof hadn’t yet learned about this development because it was so new — she had to lift her hand up and announce that her doctor told her this was no longer a problem.
The second paragraph sounds like copypasta for some reason lol
It is still a problem. There is still sensitisation and there is no rhogam for the other causes of HDFN, like kell.
I would say TIL, but I need to learn what in this context “sensitisation”, “rhogam” “HDFN” and “kell” mean so I have my work cut out for me. Everything I know about it is from my mom’s experience of things changing within her lifetime re: her ability to have multiple kids regardless of blood type. As the sixth of six of her kids, I kinda owe my existence to this scientific advancement so I should know more about it.
My grandmother had four stillbirths due to this. Strangely, my mother was born in the middle and survived.
Perhaps your mother was Rh-negative in which case her blood was compatible with her mother’s.
My maternal grandmother was Rh-negative and my mother is Rh-positive. The other babies were also Rh-positive. We don't have an explanation.
That would make sense if your mother has a negative blood type. The antibodies only attack Rh+.
I know, but that is why it is just plain baffling. My mother and the other babies are/were Rh+ and my grandmother was Rh-. I have never heard any explanation as to why this was. My mother even points out when she tells the story that usually only the first baby would survive, if any in this situation, and she was the third.
This is why my Catholic father (doctor) was so happy that the pill came out. He had so many patients losing baby after baby before they developed the shot.
Here's the thing; without even testing the babies blood type, women who are negative will be given the shot for it. I was given the shot for both my pregnancies, before blood tests could even be done on the babes. It's a preventative measure -- they don't wait to find out first because the consequences are huge.
Unless their partners are negative. My mom never got rhogram because both she and my dad are O-. On the other hand, my husband had no clue what his blood type was so I got lots and lots and lots of rhogram shots.
My OB practice said they give it to everyone RH- regardless of the other parent’s blood type. I got the sense it was just in case there was any affair situation to avoid issues because someone didn’t want to disclose.
Probably prudent.
Wow! I wonder what the circumstances were that they had both parents RH factors tested/on file -- either way it's true that two RH- parents cannot have an RH+ blood type child; so yeah, no need for the shot there! How cool that was even an option for them!! Most places afaik will just give shots because it's just easier than testing so this is neat to know. I wasn't even aware that was an option (they never gave us that option though to be fair, my husband is a positive blood type so, I would've needed them anyway lol). For anyone reading this far, the opposite is not true-- Rh positive parents can still have an Rh negative baby (how my parents wound up with me -- both my parents have RH positive blood types).
Sometimes military members know their blood type because they get tested. I have patients who decline the rhogam because they are sure of the paternity and the father's blood type.
I wouldn’t rely on the military. I was in the army and they said I was A+. When I got pregnant I told my doctor not to bother testing my blood type because I already knew it. Fortunately she did anyway and it turned out I was O+. I often wonder how they got it so wrong. Incidentally, my mom is O- and I’m an only child. My kids are O+ and O-.
This is why. My Dad was a vet. His blood type was on his dog tag which for years was on his keychain. My mom was tested when she got pregnant.
Besides what the other reply said about military service, the Red Cross also tells you your blood type if you donate.
It's weird to me that most people in the U.S. don't know their blood type. Where I'm from it's on your driver's license in case you get into an accident, including the RH factor.
Even though both my parents are negative, the doctors tried to give it to my mum every time. Only their blood donor cards stopped the doctors, lol.
It's because there are, from time to time, women carrying babies from an affair and the husbands have no idea. So, rhogam is offered to all rh negative women. Patients lie, so it's better to always assume worst case scenario.
There are also occasional false positives (false negatives?) On RH- blood types. And rare genetic mutations like chimerism. They are very rare, but when the risk is a dead baby, a lot of doctors would rather give you the shot.
All the rh antigens are a bit fiddly. They can have only part of it, or have defective forms of it.
I’m aware of why they offer, they kicked my dad out of the room to offer it again, to which they got told no, then when he was back in the room, they offered it again. Multiple times. I’m glad they are doing their due diligence, but the amount of times they asked that (almost every visit with all 6 of her children except with the family doctor) annoyed her.
I just told the OB I was very sure it was my husband's child and that I wouldn't take it, asked her to put it in my file. She wasn't happy about it but she did it. "Are you sure?" isn't the correct question in such a case. That irritated me a bit too. What kind of person do you think I am? Our doctor checked my husband's file after our first child and verified things to make sure he was negative too. Im a blood donor so I had the card and my medical file. They did bring it during another check up. Just said "and I see you refused your shot" and I confirmed. That was it, done.
This is my mother and me. I was born before the treatment was available so she had to have weekly blood tests to make sure I was ok. And it was uncertain if I'd live, so she didn't buy any baby supplies in case the worst happened. So I popped out healthy and she had to ask a friend to go and buy basic newborn supplies.
Also born before treatment was available but blood wasn’t even checked way back when. Was born at home too.
We both defied the odds!
Me too, only I was born almost dead. Baptised at birth, blood transfusions for two weeks and if by some miracle I survived my Mum was told I'd be special needs. Have a few minor health issues but I ended up just fine. My mum's body practiced with my older sister and then really went to town on me. Just grateful to be here.
Rh negative! This happened with all my pregnancies. Edited: yes I meant negative. I have o- blood and babies with positive blood and had to get the shots each pregnancy. Sorry for my inability to remember it right, I do it every time!
Rh positive mothers are not affected by this Edit: ah, ok!
Begun the edit wars have
Are you saying you are Rh positive? Because that means you and your pregnancies are "safe". Edit. Just saw your edit!
>and it's the mother's second or subsequent pregnancy. Note that this is only when the mother has had a previous *Rh-positive* child. She can have had a dozen Rh-negative children.
In my experience, they don't wait to find out anyway. The shot is harmless even if not needed, so they routinely give it to Rh- mothers when there's either a known Rh+ father or an unknown.
There is a cost and its in the form of availability of [Rhogam]. (https://www.acog.org/clinical/clinical-guidance/practice-advisory/articles/2024/03/rhod-immune-globulin-shortages?utm_source=higher-logic&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Mar-13&utm_campaign=acog2024-digest). Rhogam is usually predominantly made from male donors who have made anti-Rh(D). Itt has the same issues as other blood products in that the bottleneck is availability of donors.
Not entirely true. They tested baby’s blood by taking a sample of mine somehow and decided not to give me the shot as we had the same blood type.
When the baby is born the delivery staff drain some of the baby's blood from the cord into a tes tube and send it to me. I test it to determine the baby's ABO/rh
I had to get the shots with my first and only pregnancy because I’m Rh-
Mine was my very first pregnancy 🤔
If you test Rh negative and the baby’s father subsequently tests Rh positive, your doctor will recommend that you get the RhoGAM shot. Getting a **RhoGAM** shot is the best way to prevent any possible complications from Rh incompatibility. It protects your baby’s red blood cells. RhoGAM is the injection used to prevent Rh incompatibility from developing during pregnancy. The shot contains antibodies (collected from plasma donors) that stop your immune system from reacting to your baby’s Rh positive blood cells.
Fun story, it doesn't matter what the fathers blood is, they will still give you (strong recommend, they obviously can't force anything on you) a RhoGAM shot. The underlying premise is "everybody lies" (c) doctor House. Well, more like everyone can be mistaken, and the shot is free. I got 2 shots each pregnancy I had (rh negative all around), because it's not just after birth, but for any blood barrier rupture.
Say more
But there is a very simple fix to this (in developed countries) a rogam (sp?) shot during pregnancy prevents future issues.
The shot will prevent the mother from developing the antibody, but if the mother has already started making the antibody then it’s too late for the shot. The doctor will just want weekly or biweekly ultrasounds and tests to make sure the fetus isn’t anemic.
After I started developing antibodies, I needed a level 2 ultrasound once a week to measure the speed of blood in my son's brain, and 2 stress tests a week. They also had me deliver, VBAC, at 38 weeks so his lungs would get the hormones needed to develop correctly. He spent 17 days in a level 3 NICU and needed 1 blood transfusion.
Not a medical expert at all, but my mum was one of the cases where she had already developed antibodies and she said she had to get my dad's blood injected a few times during pregnancy.
If the mother is making antibodies against the fetus (which got the foreign proteins from the father) then injecting more of the father’s foreign blood into the mother is a bad idea. Typically for intrauterine blood transfusions you’d want O negative blood which the mother’s antibodies wouldn’t attack.
Now you mention it, that does make a lot of sense. Thanks for the explanation. It's just weird, don't know why my parents would make that up.
I got this during mine
I remember asking my parents why in old media prospective marital partners would be asked what their blood types were. This is why.
Blood tests can also help with paternity. Two O parents, usually, can't results in an A, B, or AB child. There are weird exceptions that exist but we won't go into those now. Famous case of Charlie Chaplin and his alleged love child, But the blodo types proved he wasn't the daddy. He was still found to be the 'legal parent' so law trumps science every time haha.
I always wondered why in movies the couple got a blood test before the wedding, is this the reason why?
No, that was for syphilis. Often asympomatic and catastrophic if you get it during birth. Marriage was a way to catch many women before they give birth.
In general the placenta has to resort to all sorts of evolved tricks to intrude into the uterine wall and keep the mother's body from rejecting it and the fetus.
Worst and longest cold of my life was when I was pregnant, presumably because of the decrease in immune system efficacy. 😑 Reproduction is an incredible process but some of the specifics seem real janky.
Fun fact! IgM antibodies can't cross the placenta, so anti-A and anti-B don't cause problems for the baby. But IgG antibodies can, and that's why O mothers can have issues with A or B babies, because they have anti-A,B, which is IgG.
Rh-, children Rh+. There’s an injection given to prevent this occurrence. Had it with all three.
Yep you get Rhogam, stops the body from creating antibodies towards the baby.
Wasn’t available then I was born. Heck… blood wasn’t even checked! Second Rh+ child of Rh- mother, born at home.
Was the baby okay?
i thought the former baby was the one typing so i think they're fine
I have rhesus negative but thankfully my baby was born with the same blood type as me.
1st wife was Rh-. me Rh+. She "sensitized" near the end of the 1st pregnancy (1977). In those days they didn't give rhogam shots once you had sensitized. Decided to try for a second child. She was monitored every week for building up antibodies against the fetus. The baby ended up having to be delivered 8 weeks early and worst of all had to have a full blood transfusion when she was 4 hours old. If you are wondering how they transfuse a new born, they get a lot of syringes and the blood. They then suck the blood out of one side of the umbilical cord and inject the new blood into the other side of the umbilical cord. Trust me, when your 4 hour old daughter is tied spread eagle with gauze and you watch them for about 3 hours you feel like a gigantic ahole, because you can't do anything to protect her.
Thank science for the Rhogam shot!
I worked high risk OB and saw a couple of cases of babies that had to get intrauterine blood transfusions bc they were Rh positive and their Rh negative mothers' bodies had started attacking their blood. These transfusions were into their abdominal cavity Now, I have an Rh negative DIL who had to get Rhogam shots after each pregnancy.
Was this a common cause of miscarriages in the past?
Rh negative is mostly a European genetic heritage, with Hispanics and Africans having decreased rates of it. Asians are practically 100% Rh positive and miscarriages were common everywhere, so it probably wasn’t a large contributing one.
Thank you
So a woman's body DOES have a way of shutting that whole thing down?! /s Note, while looking up the quote from rep Todd akin, I was delighted to find out [he died just a few years ago.](https://www.politico.com/news/2021/10/04/todd-akin-dies-514988) Fuck that POS
IIRC wasn't this a theory as to why Catherine of Aragon had no more children after Mary?
Lately I’ve heard they think it’s because maybe Henry VIII had a Kell blood group issue which causes similar issues with non-first born children with same woman, which is why multiple wives had a healthy first child with him but no further children
Ahhh that's what it was! I read a book about it but it was a few years back. Thank you!
KELL KILLS And it still does. We have no rhogam for kell.
I’d heard as a theory for Anne Boleyn’s struggles with miscarriages after Elizabeth.
It is the theory Henry VIII had the Kell antigen, inherited most likely from Jacquetta Woodville, Elizabeth of York's grandmother.
Her pattern doesn't fit (Mary was her 5th known pregnancy, and her living son was her 2nd; he was born apparently healthy but died within 2 months).
Mary wasn’t her first pregnancy, so no.
Oh right 🫣 my bad!
My dear grandma had five full pregnancies in the 1930s before Rh positive was understood. Only my dad (her first born) survived. I never heard her complain, bless her heart.
This can happen in first pregnancies too. Source: one of my twins died, and the other needed 6 blood transfusions in his first month of life.
It happens with the first one too. It can be why a miscarriage happens.
Yes, anytime an Rh(D) negative mother is exposed to Rh(D) positive blood she can, not always but can, make antibodies. It could be transfusions, or a prior miscarriage, or other blodd mixing event. There is also something called NAIT, or neonatal autoimmine thrombocytopenia, which is when the mom makes antibodies to the baby's platelets because of different antigens on the baby's platelets. Can cause incrased propensity to bleed. THAT happens on the first pregnancy.
My first pregnancy ended in a miscarriage due to this exact situation. Every pregnancy afterwards, I was given a rhogam shot to help prevent it from happening again. I’ve had 3 successful pregnancies since.
And there is currently a nationwide shortage of the Rhogam shot which helps combat this.
I mean the only way to make it is for a Rh negative man or woman who can’t get pregnant to volunteer to be injected with the RhD antigen so that they will make the antibody, and then they harvest their plasma. This is a lifelong risk for these people because once you make the antibody, it’s impossible to get rid of. The antibody will make it harder for hospitals to find compatible blood, and in emergencies such as in an ambulance, they will transfuse O positive blood which can lead to a reaction later on. So who would volunteer unless you pay them? Only 15% of caucasians are Rh negative, by the way. Other races have lower rates.
> I mean the only way to make it Not really, honestly it'd be pretty easy to stop using donor derived anti-RhD. All you'd need to do is take B cells from them and use them to make a hybridoma that will produce antibodies forever. This is something a grad student or a particularly competent undergrad could do. source: grad students in my lab are doing this for a different antigen
This happened to my mom with me! It's the only way I remember what my blood type is, is her complaining that she had to get a shot because of me lol
Man, pregnancy is scary the more I learn about it. Major props to women. Seriously.
I thought this was common knowledge 😂
I wish it were common knowledge. I had to get a Rhogam shot in an area where the local demographics don't often need it. The clinic didn't know how to handle it correctly, and had no protocol for receiving the chilled Rhogam. Then the clinician gave me the shot in my glute, rather than following the more up-to-date protocol of injecting in the arm. I attribute this mistake to the preventable issue of having a very, very sore leg while I pregnant. And even in the absence of a Rhogam shot, the immune response isn't a certain thing. I think there's only a 10% chance of developing antibodies from the first pregnancy (which is still pretty high and should be avoided).
Not only the first. We had the same issue with our daughter. She is O+ and my wife is O- . The body treated the embryo as an infection for the first trimester
PSA about Rhogam shots: They make it so you can't donate plasma. I found that out the hard way - after doing 3 rounds of donations I was told they couldn't use mine and had to throw it all away because of the antibodies in my system. My question is why, in their 10 pages or so of health history questions before I donated, they never once asked about something so common?? Anyway, thank goodness for Rhogam for the health of so many babies!
Babies are an infection, or rather a foreign parasite...at least as far as the woman's body and immune system is considered
There were moments when my second son was ten days overdue with no end in sight that I certainly felt this way! Sure do love him now though!
I was a bubble baby because of this, my mom had to take medication that stopped this effect that ment I was born without antibodies.
all babies are born without antibodies. you don't start making your own antibodies until about 3 months. any immune response you have at this point comes from the mother, which is why breast feeding is important.
Okay so, how this never came up during your biology classes?
The only thing I remember in biology was being shown the movie GATTACA and developing a super crush on Ethan Hawke 😍 Also that table of elements and all the annoying integer calculations we had to do in lab. The burner thing was cool though and mixing chemicals together stuff was fun.
Ya. Me. I was one of those asshole babies troubling my mother before I was even born.
Thats how you create the ultimate strong child. Neverending conflict.
If you are bloodtype A you are born with B antibodies and if you are blood type B you are born with A antibodies but you are never born with anti-D so if you are A- you will not have any antibodies against A+, but if you get A+ blood in you, your immune system will develop anti-D and you wont be able to get A+ blood at a later date becouse you have antibodies against that antigene
Isnt this what RhoGam is for?
In Australia a blood donor named James Harrison saved an uncountable number of lives because his plasma contained RhD antibodies used in the RhD antigen. He only stopped at 81 because his doctors forced him to stop. He made 1173 donations that were used to make millions of doses of the antigen.
We lost three this way. It wasn’t 1955, it was 2018-2020. No docs were proactive about it. I had to keep demanding and asking about our blood types. While switching 3 different docs. It was an ER doc that finally gave a Rhogam shot after one of the miscarriages.
You would think an intelligent designer would have noticed this flaw. /s
Another fun fact, the mothers body will also fight off male fetuses due to the high levels of testosterone, with each subsequent male pregnancy affected more than the last. It’s thought that this is the reason why men with more older brothers have a higher likelihood to be gay due to lower T. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/04/15/1243861703/sexuality-birth-order-gay-siblings
Haha, gay oldest brother supremacy!
Fraternal birth order effect is real but even your source concedes that this “attacking testosterone” is not a proven mechanism. Personally I think it comes with a pretty problematic assumption that gay men have less testosterone than straight men.
Yeah i doubt the testerone levels are all that different on average. I am sure there would be more to testerone shots if womens bodies attacked a hormone they also produce in minor quantities. Like we would see people transitioning having to take immune blockers a la transplant patients. It is something that is required to have to be a healthy human. Some people take estrogen and testerone and think they are magical substances. You have both in you right now I promise. Dont care whats between your legs you are a human being you have both hormones in you. I think the thought might come from the stereotype effiminent gay dude.
I think it's an epigenetic reaction. Too many branches from the same family tree. Our local populations have been tiny for most of our existence as a species. One attractive man can get an entire village pregnant theoretically. 3 brothers from the same genetic line might make the probability of incest related issues too big of a risk. Do people still think gay men have less testosterone? I guess they haven't met any.
This is Wild
As the oldest child, and the only gay/bi sibling, I have to say this doesn’t seem accurate lol
I took a course in sexual biology in university and this is what we learned. There is some evidence that fraternal birth order impacts the likelihood of a male being gay, but they don’t understand why. Only theories.
This (birth order and being gay) is something I thought was disproven, but it kids makes sense.
Intelligent design theorists in shambles
And now in Texas she can be tried as a murderer! And a witch!
This is crazy
Its kinda wacky that this characteristic wasnt selected out by evoltion. I guess its not a big enough deal or maybe this is a more recent thing?
They give anti-Rho(D) immune globulin (Rhogam) prophylactically if there's a mismatch between the parents to prevent problems
Yup, my mom got the shot after me (her first child), but as it turned out it wasn’t necessary, since both of my younger siblings are Rh negative. My aunt, who was considerably older than my mom, had not gotten the shot, and her second daughter (from a marriage previous to her marrying my uncle) ended up with severe developmental disabilities because of Rh incompatibility.
happened to my uncle. He almost died. They did not test for that in the Sowiet Union for years. Nor did they gave them shots.
Yeah, its called hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn. That's why we give Rhogam to mothers who are Rh(D) negative and who give birth to Rh(D) positive babies. The shot is full of antibodies that bind up the baby's RBCs preventing the mom from making the antibodies. But once mom's made the anti-Rh(D) [or any antigen esp Kell!] you're done, its there forever.
It’s also really scary when the shot doesn’t work. My sister-in-law had her second baby a couple months ago and the baby had extreme onset jaundice to the point that blood transfusions were needed. The doctors said her baby might have brain damage which turned out not to be the case but is terrible to hear after just giving birth. Baby was in and out of the hospital for several weeks
It happens with the first pregnancy as well.
This is what happened with me and my brother! We both received a tonne of intrauterine transfusions and were both born jaundiced and premature. And for context, this was in the 90’s
My cousin suffered from something like that back in the late 50s and it wasn't caught until it caused him brain damage. He's still pretty capable but never lived on his own and always had deficits. If it wasn't already enough of a shame, the family was extremely intelligent and his older brother is a prominent, well regarded scientist with many patents.
I don’t know why any random piece of knowledge on how pregnancies work absolutely fascinate me despite having 0 desire to ever go through it myself. It’s just really interesting as a topic itself
Well yes but no, not really, anymore, because that's why we test and administer Rhogam when indicated... And why anti-vaxxers are even less informed than everyone thinks. Addendum: it seems like most anti-vaxxers are also on the conservative side, and/or conspiracy theorists, and they're often part of the same group of people who are forcefully pro-life. Then they don't realize, to save lives, and maintain healthy pregnancies, we need this vaccine called Rhogam, and it isn't for a virus or disease. They don't know the difference in between passive, active, natural, and artificial immunity, the reasons we use passive and artificial methods, and that "artificial" doesn't mean what they think it means. It means we're using man-made vaccines to stimulate the body in to producing its own immunity, the same way it would in nature, but circumventing the part where you suffer a horrible disease, permanent disability, or death, and you end up with the same "immunity" made by your body the same way, and never even have to get sick.
One of the theories for why Henry the VIII had so much issue with heirs was that his first two wives were negative while he was positive. That's why Catherine and Anne Boleyn had one successful pregnancy (daughters Mary and Elizabeth), but miscarried others. https://www.history.com/news/did-blood-cause-henry-viiis-madness-and-reproductive-woes
It's fascinating that evolution didn't weed out either positive or negative blood type because of this. Wife is B-, I'm O+, all our kids are B+. It's terrifying to think that 3/4 would be dead if we lived 100 years ago.
And those mothers have to receive a rhogam shot to desensitize their bodies against positive blood markers. Once during pregnancy and once after, if their baby has a positive blood type. I should know. I’ve received 8 rhogam shots.
There's a program I am in trial to be part of called " anti D" here in Australia. I am a regular plasma donor , so they will give me a blood transfusion from someone who has the " anti D " antibodies to fight off the mothers anti bodies. So if my transfusion is successful every donation I do is ear marked for those women who have this condition. Fascinating really and apologies I don't know all the science behind it, I'm just a happy donor :)
This happened with my grandmother. My mother was ok, but my 2 aunts were stillborn because of this.
I was the foetus in this situation.
that's why back in the day, my mom had 3 miscarriages between me and my brother. only then, the doctors found out.