BLOOD

I just got to thinking about blood the other day.  It started when a lady in our neighborhood told me her new grandson had a blood problem and needed transfusions as soon as he was born.  His blood was a different type than his mother.

That blood thing made me curious about how the whole system works.  I thought you might be too.

Here's the layman's explanation.  Of course, a fetus has its own blood and it has a beating heart.  The heart of the baby sends used blood to the placenta through two arteries which are inside the umbilical cord.  The cord is connected to the placenta which is connected to the uterus.  The placenta acts kind of like our lungs.  It takes oxygen, nutrients and hormones from the mother's blood.  This rich blood is then sent back to the baby through one vein in the umbilical cord.

There you have it.  The mother's blood and the baby's blood never really mix.  All the good things the mother has to give to her baby are taken out of her blood by the placenta and put into the baby's blood.  That's the trick.  Brilliant!

As to blood types, here's a chart.  Before DNA was discovered, blood types were the only way to determine if one man or another could be the father of a baby.

Mother and Fathers                                       Baby's possible
blood types                                                    blood type
A & A                                                             A or O
A & B                                                             A, B, AB or O
A & AB                                                          A, B or AB
A & O                                                             A or O
B & B                                                             B or O
B & AB                                                          A, B or AB
B & O                                                            B or O
AB & AB                                                       A, B or AB
AB & O                                                         A or B
O & O                                                            O

That's it!
*o*