New Adventures for 2014

Sorry I haven't been writing any stories lately. The whole house has been sick on and off since around the thanksgiving holiday. A lot of new things have happened but there are also things that haven't changed at all. I want to plan a baby shower for my daughter only inviting my side of the family and a few of my friends. That's all. She was sick with the flu/sinus infection as bad (and maybe worse) than I was. Coughing and drainage everywhere from the both of us made it a very dreary situation to live in. The house was always dark and cold as the medicine stacked up on my bedside. I couldn't find the strength to lift my head and make something to drink. Luckily my daughter felt well enough to serve me drinks on the days that she was able to get up and in turn, I was able to help her when I was well enough to get out of bed. Thank goodness the month was over and we can begin cleaning and sterilizing the house. As I lay in bed, I had a lot of time to think. I thought about where we were going in the next few months...my daughter is going to continue in a long line of single mothers in my family. Monmae was basically a single mother (given the time in her generation when a woman wasn't supposed to be raising children on her own), my mother Geema who was a single mother of three children which turned us into Latch-Key kids of the 1980s, I was the one who was responsible for raising my daughter on my own and finally, my daughter...who is about to do this alone. Most of the fathers were in the children's lives, some were non-existent. Now that we have a new year upon us, we can strengthen our minds and hearts with planning towards the future on the things that mean so much to us. What are the things that you are hoping for this coming year? Leave a comment about what you are planning this year for your family.

So you are RH-negative, huh?

As a young mother in the early nineties, I just gave birth to my beautiful baby girl. Along with many things that I didn't know about taking care of a baby, I didn't realize that I had to learn how to take care of my own health as well. I can remember the day of my baby's birth, a gruff but nice nurse came into the room where I was sharing with another woman. She came next to my bed and said, “Honey, do you realize that you are RH negative?” I looked at her with a deer-in-headlights look having no idea what she meant or the implications that it had. She just gave me a shot in the arm and told me that I could've spread it to my baby. Fast-forward into 2013. My daughter had her 12 week check-up today and I had a deja vu feeling again from the prenatal doctor who explained that my daughter is RH negative. Good news....the mother and baby are healthy! :)

 Having an RH-positive status means that your blood will more in likely match with your baby's blood. It has been said that about 85% of Caucasians, 90-95% of African Americans and 98-99% of Asian Americans are RH-positive. Unfortunately for the females of my family, we are RH-negative. This means that if you are RH-negative, you are going to have to take certain precautions during your pregnancy. Don't worry, if you are RH-incompatible with your baby, it probably won't harm you or your first child during gestation. If at some chance you and your baby's blood mixes into each other, your immune system will produce antibodies against the positive RH blood. In the event of this happening, you will become RH-sensitized. This can attack the blood of your future child if you don't get the vaccine. This vaccine can stop any cross-contamination by an injection called RH immune globulin. This is given to first-time pregnant women if there is a chance that it will be exposed to the second infant's blood.

 But lets just say that you have become sensitized. You will have the antibodies for the rest of your life. The production of the antibodies will live on in your blood increasing the risk of RH disease with every subsequent pregnancy. But good news is on the horizon. Doctors are seeking new ways to save children born with the RH disease. Keeping tabs on the baby's condition throughout gestation by either a Doppler ultrasound or an amniocentesis will help your doctor monitor the situation. About 5,000 babies a year still develop RH disease although doctors and nurses are trying to screen and treat as many women as possible.

 So I guess that gruff but nice nurse was right....

 http://www.babycenter.com/0_blood-test-for-rh-status-and-antibody-screen_1480.bc?page=1