My Body Tried to Kill My Babies

A week later, I received a phone call from my OBGYN. A rare antibody had been detected in my blood. The assumption was made that at some point when the car crashed, my blood mixed with the baby’s, and in response to a red blood cell antigen the baby had that I did not, my body created these antibodies to fight off the “threat” it perceived the baby to be. Once these antibodies are created, they remain in the body forever. They remain dormant and rear their heads only if and when they encounter foreign antigens again – in the case of another pregnancy or a blood transfusion with mismatched blood.

 I suddenly found myself at the doctor’s offices multiple times a week, where I was having weekly MCA scans, NSTs, BPPs, and bi-weekly blood tests performed. I desperately tried to understand what was going on; unfortunately, my questions and Google searches consistently met a dead end and medical professionals brushed me off with a simple, “It’ll be fine”. I encountered many articles about RH factor – something similar, but not quite the same. I blindly and resentfully followed the instructions I was given, including the week 37 induction.

 This was when I learned the difference between giving birth and enjoying the oxytocin rush between a mom and her newborn, and giving birth and feeling a huge oxytocin crash when the baby is whisked away to the NICU within seconds. I was scared, anxious, depressed, and very overwhelmed. I pressured the hospital to let me go, and they did; we returned a few days later for further treatment. The baby was released a mere 24 hours later, but the experience affected me.

I suffered two consecutive miscarriages after that. I will never know if they were in any way due to the condition I had. Some time afterward, I came across a Facebook group that changed everything for me. Suddenly, I had a name for the condition. I had a support group of about 850 women worldwide who had also experienced pregnancies like mine. There were files and files of information from simple definitions and statistics, to protocol during and after pregnancy. I was so grateful and excited. 

Maternal Alloimmunization, or Maternal Isoimmunization, occurs when a woman’s

immune system is sensitized to a foreign antigen, leading to the production of antibodies. In simpler terms, my body was reacting to my unborn child as if it were a foreign disease. Antibodies were being persistently produced to attack the baby’s red blood cells, i.e., the foreigner in my body, in order to protect me. For me, it was Antibody E.

What this essentially meant was that these babies were at risk for developing Hemolytic Disease of the Fetus and Newborn. HDFN is a specific form of anemia due to insufficient red blood cells, in this case, caused by the antibodies that were viciously attacking them throughout the pregnancy and for up to approximately 6 months after birth. Babies with HDFN can fall on the treatment range from needing none at all to requiring multiple intrauterine blood transfusions or even exchange blood transfusions until they are developed enough that it’s safer to take them out than to leave them in. The maximum gestational age a baby like this can remain in utero as per medical recommendation is 37 weeks. Typically, these babies will need significant phototherapy and several blood transfusions until their bodies are producing enough of their own red blood cells to counteract the antibodies that are still living in their system.

On an emotional level, it was extremely difficult to wrap my head around the fact that my body could be seriously damaging the very same baby it was trying to grow. I struggled enormously with the thought that I was the one that was hurting my own child. It was even more difficult to accept that there was really nothing I could do about it.

 It turned out, however, that that was false. There was plenty I could do, now that I had access to resources. I could become well-versed in the condition. I could learn exactly what sort of monitoring I needed, what kind of interventions were available in the event of detected anemia, both in the fetal and newborn stages, and I could surround myself with the best team to help me achieve a successful outcome. Not only did this help me accomplish those things, it was also empowering and healing.

I gave birth to two more “ISO” babies. The pregnancies were challenging. They were full of