Before my retirement I worked in a Blood Transfusion laboratory and one of our responsibilities was to issue Anti D injections to Rh negative ladies who delivered Rh positive children. This was to destroy any babies red blood cells which had leaked into the mother’s circulation during the birth. It is these cells that stimulate the mother to make the Rh antibody (Anti D) that can cause problems for future babies. So in giving the injection any rogue cells were destroyed before they could stimulate antibody production. This treatment was discovered in the 1970s so a decade too late for your family, but it has saved many lives since. Sadly there are still a few cases that slip through the net. I’m sorry to hear about your sister’s early death, Andrea, although I don’t think there is any connection between Rh disease and cancer. Alan Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Windows 10 From: Andrea Newham via DERBYSGEN<mailto:[email protected]> Sent: 23 January 2017 12:03 To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Cc: Andrea Newham<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: [DBY] Rhesus factor I've found this a very interesting discussion. My mum is the rare blood type (A rhesus negative?) But had 3 children with no difficulties, myself being the eldest. Then she had a miscarriage and a year later my sister who was born jaundiced. I recall she said it was to do with her blood type and the babies blood and her own blood "not getting on with each other" but as a child I never questioned it. I never realised how serious this was but mum and dad probably had it explained to them at the time (late 60s) needless to say we stayed as a family of 6! Sadly my sister wasn't a completely well adult with recurring IBS which turned out to be bowel cancer and took her from us at the young age of 43! Andrea Sent from Samsung tablet ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

I believe these were commonly called "blue" babies. A relative of mine had two healthy children, followed by several miscarriages as a result of this, but after the treatment was discovered she had two more successful pregnancies. -----Original Message----- From: Alan Bloor via DERBYSGEN Sent: Monday, January 23, 2017 1:00 PM To: Andrea Newham via DERBYSGEN Cc: Alan Bloor Subject: Re: [DBY] Rhesus factor Before my retirement I worked in a Blood Transfusion laboratory and one of our responsibilities was to issue Anti D injections to Rh negative ladies who delivered Rh positive children. This was to destroy any babies red blood cells which had leaked into the mother’s circulation during the birth. It is these cells that stimulate the mother to make the Rh antibody (Anti D) that can cause problems for future babies. So in giving the injection any rogue cells were destroyed before they could stimulate antibody production. This treatment was discovered in the 1970s so a decade too late for your family, but it has saved many lives since. Sadly there are still a few cases that slip through the net. I’m sorry to hear about your sister’s early death, Andrea, although I don’t think there is any connection between Rh disease and cancer. Alan Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Windows 10 From: Andrea Newham via DERBYSGEN<mailto:[email protected]> Sent: 23 January 2017 12:03 To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Cc: Andrea Newham<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: [DBY] Rhesus factor I've found this a very interesting discussion. My mum is the rare blood type (A rhesus negative?) But had 3 children with no difficulties, myself being the eldest. Then she had a miscarriage and a year later my sister who was born jaundiced. I recall she said it was to do with her blood type and the babies blood and her own blood "not getting on with each other" but as a child I never questioned it. I never realised how serious this was but mum and dad probably had it explained to them at the time (late 60s) needless to say we stayed as a family of 6! Sadly my sister wasn't a completely well adult with recurring IBS which turned out to be bowel cancer and took her from us at the young age of 43! Andrea Sent from Samsung tablet ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

I had not realised how lucky I was! My first child, born in 1970 was Rh+, but my second, born in 1972 was Rh-. I must have had the injection because I had a third child two years later with no problems. My question is, how likely is the Rh- to be passed down through generations? Down one of my family lines, two or three children arrived as expected at approx. 2yr intervals, and then births stopped. The Rh- problem? Kind regards Margaret > On 23 Jan 2017, at 13:00, Alan Bloor via DERBYSGEN <[email protected]> wrote: > > Before my retirement I worked in a Blood Transfusion laboratory and one of our responsibilities was to issue Anti D injections to Rh negative ladies who delivered Rh positive children. This was to destroy any babies red blood cells which had leaked into the mother’s circulation during the birth. It is these cells that stimulate the mother to make the Rh antibody (Anti D) that can cause problems for future babies. So in giving the injection any rogue cells were destroyed before they could stimulate antibody production. This treatment was discovered in the 1970s so a decade too late for your family, but it has saved many lives since. Sadly there are still a few cases that slip through the net. > > > > I’m sorry to hear about your sister’s early death, Andrea, although I don’t think there is any connection between Rh disease and cancer. > > > > Alan > > > > Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Windows 10 > > > > From: Andrea Newham via DERBYSGEN<mailto:[email protected]> > Sent: 23 January 2017 12:03 > To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> > Cc: Andrea Newham<mailto:[email protected]> > Subject: [DBY] Rhesus factor > > > > I've found this a very interesting discussion. My mum is the rare blood type (A rhesus negative?) But had 3 children with no difficulties, myself being the eldest. Then she had a miscarriage and a year later my sister who was born jaundiced. I recall she said it was to do with her blood type and the babies blood and her own blood "not getting on with each other" but as a child I never questioned it. I never realised how serious this was but mum and dad probably had it explained to them at the time (late 60s) needless to say we stayed as a family of 6! Sadly my sister wasn't a completely well adult with recurring IBS which turned out to be bowel cancer and took her from us at the young age of 43! > Andrea > > > > Sent from Samsung tablet > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Rh positive is a dominant gene so you only need one copy to be Rh positive. Your husband clearly has one positive gene and one negative, because you had a Rh negative child (which requires two Rh negative genes). A couple where the husband has two Rh positive genes and the wife is Rh negative will only have positive children. As for passing Rh negative type down the generations, it doesn't necessarily follow - both partners need to have at least one Rh negative gene to have a negative child. Hope that makes sense. Sent from my Windows Phone ________________________________ From: Margaret ELLIOTT via DERBYSGEN<mailto:[email protected]> Sent: ‎23/‎01/‎2017 17:55 To: Derbyshire genealogy<mailto:[email protected]> Cc: Margaret ELLIOTT<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: Re: [DBY] Rhesus factor I had not realised how lucky I was! My first child, born in 1970 was Rh+, but my second, born in 1972 was Rh-. I must have had the injection because I had a third child two years later with no problems. My question is, how likely is the Rh- to be passed down through generations? Down one of my family lines, two or three children arrived as expected at approx. 2yr intervals, and then births stopped. The Rh- problem? Kind regards Margaret > On 23 Jan 2017, at 13:00, Alan Bloor via DERBYSGEN <[email protected]> wrote: > > Before my retirement I worked in a Blood Transfusion laboratory and one of our responsibilities was to issue Anti D injections to Rh negative ladies who delivered Rh positive children. This was to destroy any babies red blood cells which had leaked into the mother’s circulation during the birth. It is these cells that stimulate the mother to make the Rh antibody (Anti D) that can cause problems for future babies. So in giving the injection any rogue cells were destroyed before they could stimulate antibody production. This treatment was discovered in the 1970s so a decade too late for your family, but it has saved many lives since. Sadly there are still a few cases that slip through the net. > > > > I’m sorry to hear about your sister’s early death, Andrea, although I don’t think there is any connection between Rh disease and cancer. > > > > Alan > > > > Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Windows 10 > > > > From: Andrea Newham via DERBYSGEN<mailto:[email protected]> > Sent: 23 January 2017 12:03 > To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> > Cc: Andrea Newham<mailto:[email protected]> > Subject: [DBY] Rhesus factor > > > > I've found this a very interesting discussion. My mum is the rare blood type (A rhesus negative?) But had 3 children with no difficulties, myself being the eldest. Then she had a miscarriage and a year later my sister who was born jaundiced. I recall she said it was to do with her blood type and the babies blood and her own blood "not getting on with each other" but as a child I never questioned it. I never realised how serious this was but mum and dad probably had it explained to them at the time (late 60s) needless to say we stayed as a family of 6! Sadly my sister wasn't a completely well adult with recurring IBS which turned out to be bowel cancer and took her from us at the young age of 43! > Andrea > > > > Sent from Samsung tablet > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Thank you for that explanation Alan. I am negative and my husband positive and I have been rather surprised that all our four children were positive. Fortunately for us we had no problems with the births. Like their Father they are also right handed unlike me. :) Marjorie Ward Sent from my iPad > On 23 Jan 2017, at 18:32, Alan Bloor via DERBYSGEN <[email protected]> wrote: > > Rh positive is a dominant gene so you only need one copy to be Rh positive. Your husband clearly has one positive gene and one negative, because you had a Rh negative child (which requires two Rh negative genes). A couple where the husband has two Rh positive genes and the wife is Rh negative will only have positive children. As for passing Rh negative type down the generations, it doesn't necessarily follow - both partners need to have at least one Rh negative gene to have a negative child. Hope that makes sense. > > Sent from my Windows Phone > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message