One of the most bizarre revelation!

Like all routine prenatal check-ups, GP will submit all pregnant patients for blood and urine test. Blood test is mainly to test for blood group, rubella, STDs, Hepatitis B and C, full blood count and etc. Urine test is to check for UTI (urinary tract infection), protein and sugar (so as to make sure there's no problem with kidney and bladder).

I got all my initial results back whereby all results were normal and perfect within range except for 2 tests.

The first was my urine test which showed a high level of leukocytes which indicates UTI or some sort of an infection. However, if there really is infection, I would experience some obvious symptoms but I have none whatsoever. I consulted some medical people at work and they said to tak the test again because it depends on how you collect the urine sample. Probably that's why, it was the way I collected the urine sample.

The second test was more of a shock to me, as I found out that my blood group is O (which I've known all along) but Rhesus group negative!!! That's a BIG O NEGATIVE!!! It's just unbelievable!! Let me explain why.

All along, all my life, I thought I was positive. My whole family's blood group is O hence, I have no doubt that I am O, but according to my mum, both of them are positive. What people don't know is RH factor is inherited in an autosomal recessive manner which mean, both parents can be positive (but heterozygous for Dd) and 1/4 of the children will be negative because the child inherited the dd from the parents.

At first, I thought it was a blunder, a serious blunder. Mind you, the pathology who did the test is where I work!!! Then I went to another pathology to have it checked or re-confirm if you like.

So, today, I got back the report.

Urine test, perfectly fine. Doctor showed me how to collect the sample, well not literally but taught me at the doctor's room using the tap as an example. A mid-stream collection is what's needed and the way you collect them, is by letting the urine flow, and then put the jar in between to collect it. It's not the other way where you hold the jar, and then pee into it! Some people may know, but I don't. Quite silly I thought to myself. I should know. I'm in this field!!!

Then to my horror, my blood group has been confirmed as O negative!! It's just unbelievable. I don't even know where to start explaining that I am not negative!!

The whole irony is I actually did my masters research on RhD and I even used my own blood sample as controls. I used PCR and it clearly showed I am positive!! But, little does the laboratory know that there are so many RhDs, there's partial D,weak D and even del-D. I could be anyone of them and not just a plain NEGATIVE!!

Oh well, no need to fuss about it now. It's just a totally unexpected finding. Oh, if you don't know why I'm making such a big issue out of the rhesus factor, let me explain why.

All RhD negative mothers are posed with a problem if she's expecting a RhD positive baby. Placenta acts as a barrier between mother's red blood cells and baby's. If it's the first child, the baby will be safe and pregnancy can be carried to term. It's only when sensitising even occurs when baby's blood is mixed with mother's blood that the mother will then react to the D antigen from the baby. Sensitising event occurred mainly during labour, miscarriage, abortion, abdominal injury and even any medical intervention such as amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling.

Once sensitising occured, the initial immune response is primarily composed of IgM, a class of immunoglobulin of high molecular weight released into the blood early in the immune response. This is then replaced later by IgG of lower molecular weight which is produced after 8-10 weeks of secondary exposure, that is the 2nd or subsequent pregnancy. IgG includes the most common antibodies circulating in the bood, that facilitates phagocytic destruction of microorganisms foreign to the body. Ironically, IgG is the only class of immunoglobulin that can cross over the placenta from the mother to the fetus causing antibody-antigen reaction with the fetal blood.

In this case, the IgG produced by the maternal immune system will destroy fetus' red bood cells resulting in fetal anaemia (eg jaundice), erythroblastosis fetalis (eg brain damage)and if untreated, death of the baby.

Sounds scary, isn't it? But the good news is, there is intervention and help by injecting Anti-D which prevents sensitisation from happening hence the mother will not develop antibodies to attack baby's red blood cells.

So, since I can't convince my obstetrician that I am positive, I will have to submit myself to the unnecessary anti-D injection. Sigh, what a revelation only to be discovered at this point of my life.