Blood groups

[cloudypink]

Hi everyone I'll try word this simple as possible so I don't confuse things.
I'm currently pregnant with baby no1

My blood group is Negative.

My partner always believed he was positive but hasn't had a blood test to confirm this.

I recently had my bloods taken and it's come back that baby is Negative also.

If I'm right in thinking, baby can only be negative if my partner is also negative or 50/50.

Is this right? Has anyone experienced similar?

My partner has tried to call his GP but they will not do a blood test unless he goes private.

They get rhesus status from either, I'm negative but my son is positive meaning my husband must be positive, equally my son could've been positive.
If one of you is negative baby also can be
My mum is rhesus positive, my dad is negative and I'm negative

Your partner could be either. If he’s rhesus positive he will have one dominant positive allele and one recessive negative allele. Why does it matter what he is (you said you wanted further testing)? It has no impact
on the baby now?

My dh found out his blood group from donating blood. I am Rh- and he is Rh+. My kids must be Rh+ too as I got anti-d after both births (no testing available before birth)

Both my parents are rh+ and I am rh- blood groups are very tricky to predict

@DaisyMay25 Thanks. I was told that even though I'm negative I can only produce positive blood if pregnant so it would be down to my partner being the decider. If negative then baby would be or if he was positive then baby would be positive.

@Ljhunt Thanks. I'm just worried that when they've took my blood maybe baby is positive and not negative love they've said. I guess I'm just worried as I don't want anything to go wrong.
We are now just curious to see what he blood group is as I didn't think it would be possible to have a negative baby if partner is positive.

I'm not sure that's true, you get blood group from a parent and rhesus from one parent, I'm O- and my son is O+, he gets the O from me and the positive from his dad.
My dad is O-, I get both from him.
Very interesting though, I just know there's issues of baby if positive and you're negative due to bloods mixing and your body attacking

@OhVelma oh wow. I didn't know that was possible. I think I've just looked in to it to much 😂 thanks for your comment

Even if he is Rh+ there would be a 25% chance that the baby would be Rh- like you.

There are various blood group calculators that work out the baby's blood groups/rhesus status from the parents' blood groups e.g.

https://www.omnicalculator.com/health/blood-type

@DaisyMay25 thats not how it works sorry! It’s all about what combination of alleles you inherit from your parents.

@cloudypink i think you have to trust that the test is correct, there will be only a minuscule chance of false negative. But yes unfortunately finding out what your husband is won’t help as he could still be positive (it just means that of his one positive and one negative allele, baby has inherited the negative one). If you’re really struggling with the anxiety you could perhaps repeat the same fetal DNA test you did but privately

I just used the calculator for both parents being Rh+ and it gives a 6.25% chance of the baby being Rh-

I’m pretty sure that if you are rhesus negative and baby is also rhesus negative, there are no issues to worry about anyway.
your husband does not have to be rhesus negative, he could be rhesus positive.
I am rhesus negative, my husband is rhesus positive. We have two children who are rhesus positive like him and one who is rhesus negative like me.
after the rhesus positive babies I was given an injection of something called anti D.

I'm negative but baby was positive. I assume it was due to my husband being positive- he doesn't know his blood group

No this is wrong. Even if your partner is positive, since you are negative your baby could be either. And it seems your baby is negative.
usually rhesus problems occur when mother is negative and baby is negative but they tend to happen with later pregnancies.
nowadays any potential problems are prevented by the mother being given a medical treatment which is simply an injection of something called anti D after birth, if her baby was positive but she was negative.

Most people know very little about blood types. Speak to your doctor or your consultant for advice.
friends etc may well be talking rubbish

Oh gosh sorry I meant to say some problems may occur if mother is negative and baby is positive, but usually these are preventable with modern obstetric care

PP already mentioned, I first found out my blood type when I donated blood.

The rhesus factor (+ or -) is one antigen on blood cells, the ABO blood type is a different antigen. They are separate antigens.
So I'll start by explaining the rhesus factor.
If you can remember your gcse Biology, you have dominant and recessive alleles (genes).
If you are rhesus negative, you have 2 Rh- alleles. If you are rhesus positive you can have 2 Rh + alleles or you can have one Rh- and one Rh+ (heterozygous).
OP - in your case, your baby will definitely have inherited a Rh - from you (as that's all you have!). From your partner, your baby could have got either allele, but as he is negative, they must have inherited a Rh-. So the baby has 2 Rh- alleles and hence has rhesus negative blood.
This means they don't have the rhesus negative antigen (marker) on the outside of the blood cells.

Why they test for this is because when you put rhesus positive blood in rhesus negative blood, it recognises the antigen as foreign (not from your body) and produces antibodies again it. This makes the blood clot - which is not a good idea !!!
When a baby's blood is positive and the mother's blood is negative, towards the end of pregnancy, the baby's blood can get into mum's blood. So mum starts to produce antibodies, which then cross the placenta into baby and can cause problems with baby's blood. In a first baby, this often results in blue baby syndrome but is generally ok.

In subsequent pregnancies, because mum already has the antibodies from previous pregnancy, if the baby has rhesus positive blood , the antibodies cause problems much earlier and the baby doesn't survive.

Nowadays they give the anti -d injection after you've given birth which basically destroys the antibodies so each pregnancy is like a first pregnancy.

So ..... yes your rhesus positive partner can produce a rhesus negative baby.

Love a bit of biology
And for those with degree level biology - yes I have simplified in places!

@dementedpixie Thanks for that link - really interesting!