has anyone done cord blood banking?

[discoverthebalance]

Hi,

I'm new to the boards. I am expecting my first baby Sept 1st and I was wondering what experience or opinions anyone has about cord blood banking.

Laurie

[mamato1]

I would imagine this is a pretty emotionally charged subject for many.

For us it was not worth the cost. For me the benefits of this seemed sketchy at best to bank your own cord blood. I really feel the benefits are to be had from donated cord blood.

It was our plan to donate the cord blood and we had all of the paperwork ready to go. I was working on getting the kit and all of the last details when I had an emergency hospitalization in the 35th week of my pregnancy. I cam home at 36 weeks and was getting back on track when my water broke at 37 weeks and I had no kit or anything. I was really disappointed and if I had to do it over again I would have been better prepared.

Chris

Mama to Brendan (aka Boomer) 01/04


http://b3.lilypie.com/FnI6m5/.png

[Momof3Labs]

We did it both times, but have what I would call some "risk factors" that led us to doing it.

Here's a good thread on it - follow the link within the thread to another even better thread:

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/dcboar...ng_type=search

FWIW, we went with CBR but also seriously considered Viacord. They were the only two we found with good transplant histories, though Viacord hasn't done any transplants recently (or at least, hadn't as of last December).

[rlu]

We donated. We were in TX at the time and our doctor/hospital had no issues doing this. The company we donated to provided everything necessary including package with phone number to call for pickup. Recommend starting paperwork soon since you'll have to fill out & mail a questionnaire before they mail the package to you. Discuss with your doctor too to ensure they have procedure in place. I think one of the nurses was put in charge of getting it done when my time came. It was in our birth plan (such as it was) too so we discussed with doctor several times.

[discoverthebalance]

Thanks for the info. i appreciate it alot