Does The Same Blood Group Affect Pregnancy?

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When pregnant, the safety of the unborn child is of utmost priority for the parents. Every parent is concerned about the well-being of their child. There are plenty of questions and doubts that might pop up in the minds of the parents every now and then.

Although health-care practitioners who check you when pregnant/trying to conceive are there to clarify each and every doubt of yours, there could be days when simple thoughts may pop up in your mind and stress you out.

One such question which many parents/trying-to-be parents do tend to ask their doctors during the regular health check-up, is if having the same blood group could affect the pregnancy/chances of conceiving in any way.

Also, if you are trying to conceive for long and there are no positive results, it is likely that you might blame it to you and your partner having the same blood groups.

1. Understanding The General Blood Group And Its Process
2. Understanding Blood Groups
3. Relation Between The Blood Group Of Husband And Wife
4. Rh Incompatibility
5. Solution To Rh Incompatibility
6. Preventing Erythroblastosis Fetalis

Understanding The General Blood Group And Its Process

If the husband and the wife have the same blood group, several studies have revealed that there could be certain health issues with their children.

The blood group in the body is processed in two ways. First being the ABO system - this refers to the blood groups A, B, AB and O. Second being the Rh factor (Rhesus factor). This further has two parts Rh + (positive) and Rh - (negative). The blood group of a person is determined by joining the ABO system and the Rh factor.

Understanding Blood Groups

If one person's blood is supplied in the body of another group, then initially an antibody is created in response of it. However, if two different blood types are combined, the blood clumping takes place and the cells could break, it could actually lead to the death of the person, as the blood cells begin to break.

This is referred to as ABO incompatibility. This is the reason why if someone has Rh factor positive, then he or she would be able to accept only Rh positive blood. The same holds for Rh factor negative as well.

Relation Between The Blood Group Of Husband And Wife

To have a problem-free pregnancy, the following is considered to be safe. The wife's blood group could be either positive or negative when the husband's blood group is negative, but in case the blood group of the husband is positive, then it is important that the wife has a positive blood group.

The problems that could occur in case the husband and wife have the same blood group.

• When the husband's blood group is positive and the wife's blood group is negative, then a gene called Lithal gene or mortal gene gets created, which destroys the zygote formed. This would result in the death of the unborn child.

• When the husband's blood group is positive and the wife's blood group is negative, then the fetus would be of a positive group. This could result in placental barrier or genetic displacement during delivery.

Rh Incompatibility

When the mother is Rh negative and the child born is Rh positive, then a new H-antibody is created in the mother's body. This usually does not pose any problem during the birth of the first child, however, when the mother is delivering the second child, the antibody created in the body during the previous childbirth could result in the breakage of the embryonic placental barrier.

This could result in the death of the second child or there could be heavy amount of bleeding during the delivery. This is referred to Rh incompatibility in medical terminology.

Solution To Rh Incompatibility

Complications due to Rh incompatibility could be easily avoided if a simple Anti-D injection is given to the mother within 72 hours of delivery. This would ensure that future complications are avoided. This injection should be administered after each delivery by the mother, and not just with the first one. Also, this injection should be administered even if there is an abortion.

Preventing Erythroblastosis Fetalis

Erythroblastosis Fetalis: This is a condition which occurs when the baby's blood type is incompatible with the mother's. The mother's white blood cells could begin attacking the red blood cells of the baby, as it would be considered a foreign invader.

In this case, prophylactic treatment is given to the mother. This involves passive immunization of the expectant mother. The passive immunization is that of anti-Rh agglutinins (Rhogam). This should be done shortly after delivery.

This helps in preventing sensitization in the mother who is Rh negative. This is done by neutralizing the mother's Rh agglutinins. The anti-D antibody is also given to the mother who is expecting starting at about 28 to 30 weeks of pregnancy.