How to find out blood type

[steelergal]

I know just because I had my kids. I am A- which is a pain in the butt when pregnant. I had to have a shot with my first pregnancy and he was born A+. They type the babies when the mom is negative to prevent the RH- factor from harming mom or baby. My daughter will have to go through the same thing since she got my bloodtype.

That's me too, I never realized that a bloodtype could be dangerous when you are pregnant until I became pregnant! My daughters fortunatley are +'s though!

[Saule]

Thanks Mary. Was hoping someone in the medical field would help me sort this out. I would try to give blood, unfortunately right now I do not weigh enough. Anytime I would go they just look at me and said you don't weigh enough.

You might want to call the headquarters of whoever manages blood donations in your area. I know that in our area they take half-pints from persons who are too slight to do a full donation - of course, everything else has to be ok, too. Some of the donor centers might not be aware of this.

You might also be able to do platelets if you cannot do blood. I am not sure whether the same weight requirement applies. In aphresis, they remove your platelets by centrifuging them out of your blood - it does take a couple of hours to do, just be aware of that. I do it every two-three weeks, as it is so valuable in particular for cancer patients, people with compromised immune systems, etc. Your body replenishes platelets much faster than it does red blood cells. They have to type you for this too.