My name is Nicki and I live in a small town in Sweden with my 9 month old baby girl Leah,
my boyfriend and our two cats. I got pregnant when I was 24 years old, it started with quite
an easy pregnancy and it was filled with excitement and joy. At our first doctor visit they took
bloodsamples as routine and in the next visit we where told that I had an alloimmunization to
big E. We got a really short pamphlet and was told I had to take more blood samples once a
month.

The pamphlet ended up in a drawer with all the other papers I got during the first trimester. I
wasn’t worried because the doctor didn’t seem worried, she barely knew what it was actually.
When I got in around week 30 I was told that I also had little c immunization. I asked the
doctor what it was, how it happened and if it’s dangerous. Once again I was told that it’s
probably nothing to worry about and she didn’t know. She also told me that “it would not hurt
the baby and it’s only relevant if I need a blood transfusion during delivery”.

That was when I started googling it and also found this page. I quickly learned that what she
had said wasn’t true. It made me sad and angry that a person that is responsible for me and
my baby’s care didn’t take this serious or even just googled it herself, or asked a coworker.
From that I contacted the doctor and demanded to be referred to a specialist. The
knowledge was bigger with the new doctor but we really had to fight for regular titer checks
and MCA ultrasound. When the blood works came back that our baby was positive for both
big E and little c finally people listened to us.

It felt like I had spent every awake moment to read articles and research studies about
alloimmunization in English, the information that was on Swedish was very limited. I worried
and cried and my boyfriend wiped every tear saying it will be okay. I got very aware of every
moment of our baby so she was okay in there.

I felt so alone, I tried explaining to friends and family about it but I felt like it was too
complicated for anyone to understand.
The titers bounced up and down but kept relatively low and the MCA ultrasound came back
normal.

I got induced at 38 weeks in a different city where they had specialist nicu and more
resources. When we arrived early in the morning at the hospital I thought “Okay I have
fought and advocated for our baby and now we are here. We still have a way to go but we
are here now. Everything will be okay.”
The induction ended up in a emergency c-section under anesthesia for reason that had
nothing to do with the alloimmunization. It was scary to be put under anesthesia and not
knowing how she would be after birth and not being there to make sure she got the right
care. But of course also not being there for her birth, the thing I had dreamed about for 9
months.

Because it was a emergency c-section where they took her out in under 15 minutes there
wasn’t so much time to think but I remember thinking that.
On the 7th November 2024 in the evening she came out, the cutest little baby in the world.
She screamed when she came out and was immediately brought through a door from the
operating room to her father and a team of nicu doctors and nurses that stood ready to care
for her.

It was amazing how fast everything went. In the short minutes when they took me to the
operating room everyone stood there ready for me and the baby ensuring that everything will
be okay and they will help us.

For three days she stayed in the ICU nicu with lights, monitors and feeding tube. She was
Coombs positive but she was doing good. Her bilirubin was high but went down with lights.
We got to hold her with a billiblanket. Then we moved to a family nicu room and stayed for
five more days before it was time for the journey home.

I got really sick after my c-section with postspinal migraine but the drive home felt so
beautiful. It felt like we won and that we where so blessed.

The postpartum was hard because even though everything was okay now it felt like all the
stress and tension finally kept up with me. I had a lot of nightmares about it and was still very
angry about the doctors that didn’t knew what alloimmunization was and didn’t take me
serious. I sent an email to one doctor about this and linked different websites that she could
check out. It felt good, I didn’t want any other mom to go through this and potentially losing
their baby because they didn’t get the right care.

The anger and sadness can still haunt me today but it has gotten better with time.
Now our baby girl Leah is 9 months old and she is a completely healthy baby that loves to
play, laugh and discover. We love her so so much.

To fight, advocate and love like a mother was something I didn’t fully understand until I
became a mother myself. It’s crazy what you would do for your baby. When I found out about
my little c immunization I felt like I’m going to fight every person in the world until my baby
get the right care and is delivered safely.

My tips for mothers that maybe is going through an alloimmunization pregnancy right now is
to fight, fight, and fight but also have hope and take “breaks” from doom scrolling and
reading about it for your own mental health.
And also join support groups. It was so helpful for me to read others stories and also get tips
about what tests and treatment you should ask for.