Tuesday 6 May 2008

Blood groups

I lost a baby at the age of 45 when I was three months pregnant. I would have had a teenage son now. (Heavens above, just think of that! I'm not sure I could have coped, though I was devastated back then.) I assumed the miscarriage was to do with the fact that my fibroids had grown back, despite a previous operation. Indeed the doc said that although I could still conceive, it would be difficult for me to carry because embryo would find it difficult implanting on a womb wall covered in lumps and bumps.

But... there may also have been another reason. Today, I spoke with the ex-boyfriend who was my lost baby's father. He rang having read my blog and guess what? He, like my goddaughter, is Rhesus Negative, while I am R+. He is A-, I am B+. Maybe that contributed to my miscarriage. He had to have his blood changed at birth and he, like me, was a forceps delivery. He still has a dent in his head while I was so badly bruised that my mother didn't see me for 24 hours as I was having special nursing. The left side of my head was particularly badly damaged and I have suffered from left-sided migraines all my life and, in addition, the top teeth didn't form properly on the left-hand side. The wisdom tooth was completely hollow inside and I have lost most of those teeth and have bridges and crowns. (Funny how 'crown over troubled water' doesn't quite have the same ring to it!)

This has given me tons to think about. I'd heard about blue babies before, but I'm going to hit Google now and find out more. I'm also interested in the blood-changing. Do they find out the baby's blood group and if it's A-, change it to A+, or do they fill it full of Group O (my mother's blood group) which is compatible with all the others? Wish I'd got that one. I got my dad's group instead. The whole subject is quite fascinating. Wonder if animals have different blood groups, too?

1 comment:

Jackie Sayle said...

EEK! An old boyfriend found your blog? Just goes to show that you never know who's reading!

Re the animal blood groups question - the Rh factor (which determines our blood groups) was first discovered in Rhesus monkeys. For a fuller explanation about animals' blood groups, see: http://tinyurl.com/52bnzd