Rh negative


		Rh negative


	At one of your early prenatal visits, your blood was drawn. One of the tests was used to determine your blood type (A, B, AB, or O) and your Rh factor (positive or negative). The Rh factor describes whether your blood has a antigen on the surface of the red blood cell. If the blood doesn't have the Rh factor, your blood Rh is negative. This varies by race, about 15 percent of the Caucasian race is Rh negative, 5-10 percent of the African-American race, and 2 percent of the Asian race.
	When a father-to-be is Rh negative and the mother-to-be is Rh positive their baby could have Rh positive or negative antibody and no risk is involved. Now reverse this scenario. The mother-to-be is Rh negative, meaning she has no antibody on her red blood cells, but her baby is Rh positive (the baby inherited the characteristic from an Rh positive father). The baby's blood can leak into the maternal blood circulation system and react to the Rh component on the surface of these blood cells as if it were a foreign invader. The mother will automatically produce antibodies to attach and fight against baby's Rh positive red blood cell. For the baby this may cause the red cells to break down, producing anemia in the fetus Rhogam, a gamma globulin containing antibodies against the Rh positive factor. By destroying any of the Rh positive red cells that have migrated into the mother's circulation from the fetus. Future Rh positive babies will not be exposed to the Rh positive antibody. Using Rhogam during and after pregnancy has largely eliminated Rh disease.