I don't know my blood type, let alone my husbands. I do have my oldest daughter's (but not mine or my son's) medical record number memorized, and that seems like a big enough accomplishment.
My mother was irate when she needed a blood transfusion and the hospital wouldn't take her word for what her blood type was. Yelling at the poor nurse, cursing up a storm. Ma'am, you have dementia and don't even know how old you are - they're not going to risk taking your word on your blood type. That poor man was a saint.
I just double checked with my kids. I would have bet money I knew their types but I was wrong. I had no idea.
until this post I thought the Rh in blood types stood for Rhesus monkeys, from animal experimentation. I’ve never heard the name Rhogam.
Rhesus monkeys IS where the term originally came from, even though the human antigen is different from the monkey one. Rhogam is the brand name for the immune globulin given to negative people of they're exposed to positive blood, commonly if a NEG mother gives birth to a POS baby.
I learned mine (O-) when I was pregnant. I don’t know my kid’s. I had to get the shot when I was pregnant, so does that mean my kid has a + blood type?
They give you the shot when you're pregnant and negative, just in case your child is positive. I'm pretty sure it's standard practice for any negative mom, regardless of the dad's blood type. But I knew Dh was positive and that I'd definitely need the shots.
Then I got another one after giving birth when they typed them and told me they were positive.
So I got 3 shots with each kid - two while pregnant and one after I delivered.
It’s also written on index cards that are taped to the back of their car seats and in a pocket in their backpacks that also have their pediatrician’s info and emergency contact numbers. If they ever need blood, I don’t want any delay in them getting it.
Regardless of what is taped to their car seats or any other documentation you have, it will be standard of care to obtain a new type and screen in the event of an emergency. In the case that they need it sooner than a T&S would result, they would use emergency O- blood
My medical knowledge is from grey’s anatomy but it just seemed like it might be useful information in a limited resources situation to know up front that my kids are both O-.
Yes, I’ve known mine my whole life. It always blows me away when I meet people who don’t know their own (which is frequent whenever the topic comes up).
I know both kids blood types and H’s. For the kids I had to look it up after they were born, they didn’t specifically tell me but I wanted to know.
"Hello babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you've got a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies-"God damn it, you've got to be kind.”
I answered no but now I have a question - for those that do know, how did you find out? Was it automatically checked at birth, did you purposely have a blood test done later just to find out, or something else?
I have no idea if they checked at birth. Probably not because DS missed several crucial things in the hospital before we were discharged. If they did it, I don’t remember the results.
I found out because he was incredibly sick around 1 year old and had multiple rounds of blood draws to determine the cause.
I remember because he’s O+ like me. H is B, but idk if he’s +\-… I should probably ask him and remember.
Yes, I’ve known mine my whole life. It always blows me away when I meet people who don’t know their own (which is frequent whenever the topic comes up).
I know both kids blood types and H’s. For the kids I had to look it up after they were born, they didn’t specifically tell me but I wanted to know.
But why? Even with extensive experience in transplant, it’s not something anyone needs to know emergently, it is still checked and re-checked. I can’t think of a situation where it’s something you’d need to know urgently. I do know mine, but just from donating.
Last Edit: Jul 25, 2023 19:16:14 GMT -5 by mofongo
Ok douche, go ahead and call it mud. My husband DID have halitosis. We addressed it after I talked to you girls on here and guess what? Years later, no problem. Mofongo, you're a cunt. Eat shit. ~anonnamus
Post by thedutchgirl on Jul 25, 2023 19:24:07 GMT -5
Yes, I know because I’m O- and they typed my son in the NICU after he was born. I had to have a Rhogam shot after I fell at about 24 weeks just in case of placental abruption and then I needed another after birth because he’s O+
It’s also written on index cards that are taped to the back of their car seats and in a pocket in their backpacks that also have their pediatrician’s info and emergency contact numbers. If they ever need blood, I don’t want any delay in them getting it.
Any hospital I’ve ever worked at always does a type and screen or gives O negative blood while simultaneously doing a type and screen so fyi for anyone if you’re dying from blood loss things won’t get delayed if you don’t know your blood type!
Yeah, with how fast they can type, I don't think any hospital in the US would take the chance of giving you blood based on your self-reported blood type. I had emergency surgery (no transfusion necessary, thankfully) at the same hospital with a doctor from the same practice that delivered my girls, and I'm pretty sure they typed me again anyway in the pre-op bloodwork.
I think they only test the pregnant person at my OB for Rh factor and CF and then test the other parent if necessary.
We learned at birth. I thought that was standard. Guess not.
Nope. Also H has been a paramedic for over 30 years, he's never looked for or grabbed cards or signs or anything on car seats - we've actually talked about this multiple times when I see folks posting stuff like this. I also doubt (at least I hope) that if it's an emergency folks are going to go by what is handwritten on an index card. Certainly this might make you feel better to have and that's totally fine it just probably isn't doing anything.
This. If you are ever at a hospital that gives anything besides O without doing a type and cross, run far far away. It doesn’t matter what the parents say, where it’s written, etc. They will rerun it.
Any hospital I’ve ever worked at always does a type and screen or gives O negative blood while simultaneously doing a type and screen so fyi for anyone if you’re dying from blood loss things won’t get delayed if you don’t know your blood type!
Yeah, with how fast they can type, I don't think any hospital in the US would take the chance of giving you blood based on your self-reported blood type. I had emergency surgery (no transfusion necessary, thankfully) at the same hospital with a doctor from the same practice that delivered my girls, and I'm pretty sure they typed me again anyway in the pre-op bloodwork.
I think they only test the pregnant person at my OB for Rh factor and CF and then test the other parent if necessary.
Yes, a lot of the patients I work with need frequent transfusions. They get a type and screen each time they get blood, and then two nurses need to check and sign off.
Ok douche, go ahead and call it mud. My husband DID have halitosis. We addressed it after I talked to you girls on here and guess what? Years later, no problem. Mofongo, you're a cunt. Eat shit. ~anonnamus
Post by fancynewbeesly on Jul 25, 2023 19:57:15 GMT -5
Yes. But DD 1 had leukemia and a bone marrow transplant so it was engrained in me. Then because of DD1, I know DD2 just because it is good information to know.
I don’t necessarily know if i would have known without that.
Re the whole needing to know in an emergency thing - even if I know it, wouldn't they test it anyway to be sure, before giving me blood? I mean what if someone 'thought' they knew it and the hospital just went with that and gave someone the wrong type!
Given the rate at which I mix up my kids names (and throw in the dog’s name on occasion), I’m not sure that in an emergency, I would reply with the right kids blood type.
I know my own from when I used to be better at donating blood.
I don’t know MH or DS’s type
I was told nonchalantly by a resident after DD was born that her blood test came back that she was neither positive nor negative. I asked what that meant and the resident didn’t know and was going to check with hematology. I don’t remember ever hearing anything more about it again…I should probably ask at the next pedi appt for clarification on that
My kids' were either never typed or it was never recorded- I'm a curious person, so I've asked their doctor and the hospitals. H and I know ours from giving blood, and DS is doing his first donation on Saturday (just had his 16th birthday and is finally eligible). And because I'm still curious (they could be A or O and + or -), I ordered a $10 test on Amazon for DD (who won't be able to give blood for 3 more years).
I did ask at Quest the last time we were there for bloodwork (type is not part of that)- they said they'd do it for $40. It's been a few years, though, so who knows now.
I know DS2's, but not DS1's. The pediatrician had us do some bloodwork on DS2 after he was born because he was a little jaundiced, so I guess he threw in the blood type test too. He's A+.
I'm O+, which I think I learned when I was pregnant. My H does not know his blood type, but he must be A or AB if DS2 is A.
DS was born in 2019. On my itemized statement from L&D, I see:
BLOOD TYPING ABO $68.00 BLOOD TYPING RH $46.00
I had a full term, uncomplicated vaginal delivery, so I guess it must be relatively standard? I still haven't found what the result was though, lol.
DD was born 3.5 years earlier in the same hospital. She logged a couple days in the NICU. I can't find her blood type on any paperwork either.
Could that be typing for you?
To answer the OP, I know H's and mine from donating blood but never learned the kids'. I'm fairly certain I'd remember as I kind of geek out about that stuff. I am + so didn't get the rhogam shots and they wouldn't have needed to type my kids.
No. I’ve actually asked and was told they don’t type blood in routine bloodwork —or something? But I remember asking and they told me they didn’t know.
I only know mine bc of blood donation. If not for that I would have found out during my pregnancy in my 30s.
I just asked H, he doesn’t know his.
Correct, it's not part of routine blood work. If you need a transfusion at the hospital I work at, you need to have had a type and screen (lab test run on blood to figure out your blood type) sent to the bloodbank within 72 hours prior. Even if you had one with us last year, last month, 800 times before, we cannot administer blood without an active t&s. It extends to 30 days for limited circumstances during a planned surgery - I've had it done for all of my laparoscopies even though the risk of bleeding with those is pretty small.
Type O- blood is reserved for O- patients and those in truly emergent situations where there isn't time to find out the patient's blood type.
My last type and screen was posted on MyChart, so I finally learned mine and since it's A+, I won't forget. 😂
It’s also written on index cards that are taped to the back of their car seats and in a pocket in their backpacks that also have their pediatrician’s info and emergency contact numbers. If they ever need blood, I don’t want any delay in them getting it.
Any hospital I’ve ever worked at always does a type and screen or gives O negative blood while simultaneously doing a type and screen so fyi for anyone if you’re dying from blood loss things won’t get delayed if you don’t know your blood type!
To add to this every hospital I've worked at has done a type and screen if it's been greater than 72 hours since the last one and the patient is needing blood products.