I'm 20 weeks pregnant and my blood group is B rhesus negative (-). Is this going to be a problem?

It's very unlikely that rhesus disease will be a problem for your baby, and extremely unlikely to be in a first pregnancy. Almost all women in the US, Europe and many other countries receive 'Anti-D' in pregnancy and after delivery, which prevents rhesus disease occurring in the first place and has made the condition very rare. In short, the condition is caused by baby's blood cells, (if they are rhesus positive) crossing the placenta into your bloodstream. As your red blood cells are rhesus negative, this leads to your body producing antibodies to baby's red blood cells; these antibodies then cross the placenta usually late in pregnancy, destroy baby's red cells and baby can become anaemic-requiring early delivery or blood transfusion. Anti-D is an antibody that mops up any of baby's red blood cells in your circulation, stopping your body producing its own antibodies.
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