My girlfriend really wants to have a baby. Well, not at the moment, but she wants to be ABLE to have a baby. She read somewhere that people with Type O blood can NOT reproduce unless their partner has a negative blood type. Now, I'm having a hard time understanding this because apperently O blood types are the most common, while negative blood types are the LEAST common... Is there any truth to what she read?

Thanks

I'm not a health care professional, but I'm a biologist/chemist who has some textbook knowledge. You should talk to a professional to be sure the information I'm stating is correct.

a mother that is type O with a fetus that is A, B, or AB can show ABO incompatibility. Symptoms include jaundice, mild anemia, or elevated bilirubin levels. These can usually be treated easily, but in extreme cases could require a blood transfusion for the infant.

another potential problem when the mother is Rh- and the baby is Rh+. Not an issue with the first born, but during the birth some placental fetal blood can get into the mother's system, and she'll develop antibodies. If the next child is Rh+ the antibodies can cross the placenta, causing rd blood cells to burst = anemia, jaundice, liver and spleen problems. But there is a serum that can be given to the mother that helps with this.

no I think the "cannot reproduce" thing is overblown. There may be complications in the cases I described, but I have NO idea of the rate of occurrence. Again, a professional can tell you whether this happens 10 or 1 or 0.1% of the time.

Ok I'm a rh- blood type and mine is the second or third rarest.. not sure... I have had to have the Rhogam shot after my first pregnant but not my second. The seconds blood type was the same as mine. I will have to have another shot at 28 weeks with this pregnancy so that my body won't kill the babies because it thinks that they're something bad. I am not sure about O blood types but I always figured that there shouldn't be a problem since they are compatible with almost all blood type. That's the type that they will use in transfusions if the same type isn't available... granted I only truly know about my type. You might try looking at www.mayoclinic.com and seeing if that site can help you. It's a lot more reliable than my guesses.. When in doubt you can always call a dr too.

Okay--

Blood type O, A, B, AB have no impact on getting pregnant. No one type gets pregnant easier or harder.

Everyone has two "typing" chromosomes. If you are OO, then your blood type is O. If you are AA or AO, then you are type A; if you are BB or BO, you are type B; if you are AB, well you are AB.

The baby will get one "typing" chromosome from the mom and one from the dad. If your girlfriend is "O", that means she is OO; has to be, there is no other combination that will be type O. "B" is the third 'rarest' type- so you could be BB or BO, so the baby would be type "B" (from your B and her O) or type 'O' from the "O" part of you and the 'O' of her.

The rH factor is separate. If you have the factor, you are rH positive. If you don't, you are rH negative.

Women who are rH negative can develop a sensitivity to the blood of a fetus who is rH positive. This usually impacts the second, and successive pregnancies (note the word 'pregnancy' and not 'baby'); a spontaneous abortion in which the mother never even knew she was pregnant can lead to a sensitiviy in subsequent pregnancies. Rhogam will prevent the sensitivity.

So your girlfriend has picked up some misinformation. You can allay her concerns.