Opinions on saving cord blood

[CBB]

I'm wondering what you guys think about saving cord blood. Did you or are you planning on doing it?

Thanks,

[mamahill]

I didn't do it. My BIL is a high-risk OB for one of the most prestigious practices in the country and he said that the cord blood bank stuff is mostly a financial drain. There haven't been enough studies yet to prove that it's worthwhile, and in the meantime, you're paying a lot of money JUST in case something happens and JUST in case this actually works.

It's up to the individual, but having heard him say that, I opted out. Also, I should point out that he is married to DH's sister who has had cancer FOUR times (leukemia twice, melanoma, and most recently, a squamous cell carcinoma on her tongue). It's a miracle that she is alive. And still, BIL recommended not banking the blood. So it's not like he doesn't know what a serious illness can do.

[hobey]

We didn't save Nathan's cord blood since the chance of something happening where we may need it are relatively small. We did donate his cord blood though.

Raquel
Nathan's Mom 12/19/03

[brubeck]

My understanding (and perhaps I am wrong here) is that it mostly helps out a sibling and not the child from whom the blood came. All of the 'miracle' cases you hear of are just that: elder child has disease and new baby's cord blood cured them. We didn't think the cost was worth it for this rare circumstance.

[MinnieMouse]

We opted to allow the cord to stop pulsing before cutting it, thus all the blood was to go to Beth instead of being stored or donated. But Beth's cord was short and wrapped around her neck so it was cut before she was even fully delivered... so neither was an option.

Christine

[nathansmom]

We donated Nathan's blood. Hopefully we helped someone.

[Momof3Labs]

We banked Colin's cord blood. There is a strong history of leukemia among the men in both DH's and my families, and for other genetic reasons that would rather not discuss. We do not regret doing it.

If you do not bank your baby's blood, at least donate it - it is free and no risk to you or your baby, so why not take the chance that it will help someone?

[MelissaTC]

We donated Matthew's cord to the Duke bank. It was easy enough and only required me to give some blood for testing and a few papers to fill out. While it was a hassle at the time (the nurse kept coming around at the few times I was able to rest after my c-section) it was worth it. However, I did find out later on that there is some print on there regarding them being able to copyright the dna, etc.. I was just told this so I am looking into it now. Even if this is true, I hope that we were able to help someone, even if it is through research.

[cuca_]

We did not for pretty much the same reasons that Sarah mentioned. I did some research and talked to my OB about it, and came to the conclusion that it was not worth it for us.

Carmen

[nyc mom]

DH has now been treated twice for Hodgkins and in the last round had a stem cell transplant (his 100-day test from last week was all clear!). I think it's enough to make us want to bank (expecting 3/17). What company did you use?

[mommyj_2]

I PMed you.
After a lot of research, we did it.

[Momof3Labs]

Congratulations on the all-clear - may he stay that way for a long, long time! DH is now 11 years post-bone marrow transplant and has been in relapse the whole time.

We used CBR but felt that Viacord was equally reputable; we'll probably use Viacord for #2 just to keep our eggs spread across two baskets. Both have transplant histories and are certified tissue banks. There is a big bank that is a cheaper option out there, but at the time they didn't have any transplant history and did not have the tissue bank certification.

[jd11365]

We did it through the New England Cord Blood Bank. 1 fee for 20 years of banking. It was the most bang for the buck. All I had to do was remember to bring the box to the hospital...very easy. DH mailed it from the hospital immediately...actually FedEx came to pick it up right from the hospital. Personally, I just felt that if heaven forbid I needed it and hadn't banked it I would feel so terrible.

Jamie
Mommy to Kayla
5-1-03

[starrynight]

No, I didn't do it for any of my kids. From everything I read it will only help a future sibling or family member not the child it was saved from. I have heard but not sure this is true that if you donate to a cord bank and in the rare chance your child actually needs the cord blood then you can get a sample from the cord bank you donated to but not necessarily the one you donated. But I only saw that once in an article somewhere so not sure on the truth of that since I can't find the article anymore sorry.

[Marisa6826]

We donated ours to the hospital cord bank after discussing it at length with our OB.

The chances of US needing it, versus the possibility of a match for another child (or adult) in dire need was what helped us make the decision to donate it to the "general public".

-m

[sbjf]

I want to but I have not begun researching this yet. Thanks for the reminder! I'm going to read through everyone's posts here to get started!

[Momof3Labs]

Christine, can you explain that a little better? I don't understand what that does, and why it is an alternative to cord blood banking or donation.

Thanks!

[McQ]

We opted to donate the cord blood. Although I was very disappointed that in our case they didn't collect enough to save :(. I delivered in the Inova hospital system and they have a program where if you donate and then ever need the blood, you can get your blood back ~ provided it hasn't been used by someone else. The collection was pretty easy and it can do so much for somebody. I just wanted to be able to give that gift.

Allison
~ mommy to Declan 3.24.03

[MinnieMouse]

Instead of cutting the cord right upon delivery, you wait until the cord stops pulsing. This allows the blood that is still in the cord to be essentially "drained" into the baby instead of being either thrown out or saved for storage or donation.

Dh and I wanted to wait until the cord stopped pulsing from the beginning...we asked the midwife about storing or donating and she was quick to point out we could do one or the other not both. If you wait for it to all go into the baby, thne there isn't much left to save.

After talking it over with the midwife and looking into storing/donation, dh and I figured that if the blood was important enough to store or donate...and we were not convinced about the $$$ to store it... it must be better to let our child get the "good stuff" instead of throwing it out.

Like I said above, it turned out that Bethany was in distress and they ended up cutting the cord from her neck as she emerged from the birth canal. So all our research and decision making wasn't needed :-).

There is a good amount of information on the net about the benefits of allowing the cord to stop pulsing before cutting it. I of course don't have any of the sites bookmarked anymore since Beth is over 2yo!

Good Luck!

Christine

[gracelynne]

We used the New England Cord Blood Bank, too. DH did a lot of research and decided that this was the way to go. FedEx came to our hospital, too. We're hoping to not need it, but we're worriers by nature and felt like we'd regret it if we didn't bank it.

It was funny -- we thought that this was a really common thing (after all, there were brochures included with all the stuff we got from the hospital during my pregnancy), but my OB said he never heard of anyone banking their cord blood. He seemed to find us quite cutting edge!