At least to me. I have no idea if I'll actually get to the point of conclusions/profoundness/or even slightly humorous with this post, but I'm rather fascinated with this subject, and feel the need to ramble.
About what you ask?
Blood.
(yes, I considered titling this post channeling my inner vampire, but then someone would think it was a twilight post, and decide not to read it just for that fact.)
More specifically, blood types.
First, a little biology lesson.
Most of you know there are 4 types of blood: O, A, B, and AB. Type is determined by antigens present on the blood cells. If you are type A, you have a antigens. B has b antigens. AB has both, and O has none at all.
Then there's the +/- part. Since the vast majority of my readers all share the same blood type as me, I won't go into much detail about the rh factor. In really lame terms (as apposed to layman's), if you have - blood, your body tries to kill your offspring. So - blood is lame, and should not be passed down to future generations. Fortunately, it's also way more rare.
Why is this occupying so much of my thoughts lately?
You see, in my little family of 5, we have 5 different blood types. Seriously. Here's the run down:
Myself: A-
Hubby: B+
Girly-Lou: B-
Buddy: AB+
Lil' flower: AB-
At first I was a bit dismayed at this fact. I thought that none of us could donate blood to each other if needed. After a bit of research, I found out I was wrong. We've got some lucky people, and some not so lucky people.
I can give blood to my two AB kids. Hubby would be able to give blood to all three kids, but due to that little -, can give only to Buddy (stupid -. I really hate that rh thing). In fact, anyone in the family can give Buddy blood. No one can give blood to Girly-Lou. Or me or Hubby.
Our whole family has relatively rare blood. Most of the world is O+ or A+. Lil' Flower has the rarest blood type in the world. According to Wikipedia, only .6% of the nation shares her blood. Girly-Lou has the second rarest, with 1.5%. Then Buddy with 3.4%, and me, with 6.3%. Hubby is downright common in comparison with the rest of us with 8.5%.
Something else, because of Hubby's type and my type, we could have offspring with any possible combination of blood type, including O (O is a recessive gene, so both of us could carry it). So future offspring could have any kind of blood.
My conclusions? I've got none. But it's fascinating to me all the different combinations in my family.
How about you? Do you know what's in your family? Do you care, or is this post nothing but my inner geek breaking free?
I think it's fascinating. (and geeky too, but to me, that a bonus)
ReplyDeleteQuestion, wouldn't all of the percentages of blood types added up together have to equal 100%? Between your five different blood type (out of eight, unless I'm wrong in the math department), you're only up to 20.3%. Do the other three blood types make up the other 79.7%The numbers confuse me.
(and maybe it's a stupid question that will embarrass me when you point out how skewed my reasoning it!)
Reasoning IS. I meant reasoning IS at the end of my post!
ReplyDeleteI can give you blood! I'm O-. And my kids are all messed up because my husband is B or something. Can't remember. But I can give you all blood as the universal donor!
ReplyDeleteNot that I will. Because my blood volume is uncannily low. And I have been advised to avoid all blood mobiles and vampires.
But it's the thought that counts, right?
I think it's super interesting. And strange that most of the world really doesn't understand blood types. I also have an inner geek. Last night I was able to show off my inner geek related to the Great Apostasy the Reformation. I like geeks. We're the new cool.
ReplyDeleteOh I find this totally interesting too! Although, I have to say that seeing most cuts with blood in them makes me faint. When a person (let's say my husband who is either forgetting or "forgetting" not to show me his cuts- I can't yet tell) shows me that they are bleeding I tend to go immediately to sit with my head between my knees.
ReplyDeleteBack to my point, I'm A+ as are my mother and paternal grandmother. My dad's B something.
Do they test the babies when they are born now? My brother still doesnt know his type.
Anyway, super fun post!
I always wished I could find a way to not pass along the - part of my blood. So far you have 100% Negative with your daughters. I only had 6/7. No idea what % that is, but I'm pretty sure I didn't do too well on not passing it along. So glad they have rogam (sp) now.
ReplyDeleteIf I remember correctly, Dad's father was also AB-, and was always on the hospital's list, and quite often got calls in the middle of the night with requests for another donation.
ReplyDeleteI am lucky in that me, my wife, and all our children is A+