anti c

[soniasam]

Hi there

I am new to this site so I hope I doing this right.

I am pregnant with my 5th child and have been told I have anti c. I am 33 weeks and just found out on Wedesday. They have told me my titer level is low (2) but haven't really explained anything to me. When I spoke to a midwife yesterday she told me that it is not common and she really knew nothing about it.

So I am hoping somebody out there can let me know what it means and is it dangerous.

Thanks

[BaronessM]

Hi Soniasam, welcome to the forum! I've posted a little bit here in Bhub about anti-d and anti-e, but not anti-c! You can search the posts in here for both, and get a little more info. I just did a medscape search for you to try find some info, but all I could find was a few support groups (when I googled anti-c pregnancy) for women with rhesus iso-immunisation, which is what anti-c comes under the banner of. Basically, it means that at some point in a former preg, your body (more specifically, your blood) has come into contact with the baby's blood, usually through a small bleed in the placenta. Your body now 'flags' the baby as a potential problem, and your immune system can attack the bub and cause probs. The usual treatment for this in a first preg, (with anti-d and anti-e) is to treat with a blood product called anti-d, to prevent this happening in future pregs. They should do a blood test to find the levels of anti-c in your system, and plan treatment from there. As you are 33wks, they can plan an early delivery if it becomes a real problem. I would ring the midwife, ask to see your doctor for clarification as to what the plan is, ask for treatment if any or ask if treatment is appropriate at this stage, and generally hassle for answers!

I was treated in my first preg to stop this happening to me. It also means you are of rhesus neg blood type, and this baby (or one of the others!) is rh pos, that's what causes this reaction. Good luck, hope all is well and you can find out some more and get some appropriate treatment. Private message me if you need any more support, or post here. Cheers, BaronessM.

[1234Guest]

Hi soniasam

Here's a link to one of the anti-c threads from last year:

http://www.bubhub.com.au/community/f...as-the-outcome

[HouseOfFun]

Welcome!
There are some other women on this site with anti c antibodies. There were a few recent threads on here about it. If you do a search for anti c you should find them.
Anti "c "is a type of antibody your body has produced in response to being exposed to blood that is a different group from yours. the thing that your blood has reacted to is called an antigen. "c" is one of the many antigens in the Rhesus system of blood classification. The most well known one in the Rhesus system is "D" which people quote when they say whether they are + or - blood type (ie A+ or A-). You may have developed antibodies against "c" during birth of one of your other 4 children if that child had the "c" antigen in his/her blood. You dont have the "c" antigen in your blood so you body recognised that baby's blood as foreign and developed antibodies against it to protect you. The biological father of one of your babies might have a c antigen type blood and so the baby inherited the "c" from him. You can develop antibodies from a blood transfusion too - so it may not have been from previous pregnancies. The first baby that has the "c" antigen is not the one at risk, but any subsequent babies that have the "c" antigen in their blood will cause your body to start an immune system response against it. If your body produces lots of antibodies against the baby then your body can start destroying your baby's blood, causing anaemia/jaundice (haemolytic disease of the foetus and newborn). Dont panic though. It is possible to measure your antibody levels (titre) in a blood test. Once they know you ahve antibodies they monitor your levels by doing a blood test every 4 weeks to check your levels. The titre result is stated as a ratio. The lowest detectable level is 1:1 and then it doubles to 1:2, 1:4, 1:8, 1:16, 1:32 etc. You state yours is "2" which is really 1:2. This is still a very low number and not a number to worry about at present. Given the fact that you are already 33 weeks and the number is only 1:2 I would think it would be very unlikely for your titre to rise much and it might not even rise at all. The doctors usually only start acting if the level gets to 1:16 or even 1:32. Then they do ultrasounds of an artery (called the MCA) at the side of baby's brain to measure blood flow speed and this helps indicate whether the baby is developing anaemia or not (which is caused by the blood being destroyed). If so, and if severe they can give the baby a blood transfusion while still in the uterus! Mild cases may make the baby jaundiced when born and the baby is treated by being placed under special blue UV lights that help the baby's liver to break up the excessive bilirubin.
Given your low level of 1:2, it may be the case that the current baby you are carrying doesnt have the "c" antigen and so your body is not making antibodies against it.
If you wanted to have more children and the next baby had "c" your body may produce more antibodies against it. They can test the biological father of the baby to see if he has a blood type that will always pass on the c to his babies or not (kind of like a dominant/recessive inheritance if you understand genetics).
The antibodies that are the most common causes of the problem are D, E and c. (Yours is only the third most aggressive type of antibody). And then there are others (like e, C and M) that rarely case the problem. But even the most aggressive antibodies that have risen to very high titre levels do not always result in a very sick baby. I have anti e and this is why I know so much about this topic.

I hope I have helped you understand this a little more and that I havent confused you.
I wish you all the best for your pregnancy.

[soniasam]

Thank you all so much. I have managed to read up a bit on it now and am feeling better.

Thanks again