30 weeks pregnant: Banking cord blood – Who’s doing it?

So, I am a little late adding to this, but I just found your site. I am only 6 weeks pregnant and we have already begun to research cord blood banking. We feel the same way you guys do and would rather be safe than sorry. Just wanted to throw some things out there that my doctor mentioned, that I didn't think about. Ask the facility what part of the country they are located in (do they have tornados, hurricane's, wild fires etc.). Ask the facility what happens if their power goes out...do they have a backup generator? What happens if you do not pay on time one year (annual costs sometimes get forgotten until the last minute)? Ask the facility if you can get a discount by paying for 10 or 20 years at a time? I would have researched the how and why and cost, but not all of those things had he not mentioned them.

I did my research too and found that private cord blood banking is just too expensive. I think it's a great thing and I can understand doing it if there is a family history of X, Y, Z and you want to be proactive (and have the money). DH & I are going to do a public donation through Cyrobanks International (http://www.cryo-intl.com). At their web site you can download the enrollment forms and they're available toll-free to answer questions about the questionnaire.
The only problem I have with doing this is that although we can't control when our babies are born, if they're born after 3pm Friday and before 3pm Sunday, they won't accept the cord blood donation because there isn't a courier available to do next day delivery so the 7-page questionnaire & remembering to bring the kit and hand it to someone while in the throes of a contraction is for naught.
Ah well - we can try our best though, right?
Good luck with all the options & your end decision.

Cord blood banking is not a big thing over here. I think there was a pamphlet in my info pack a while back, but I didn't even open it!

I appreciate all of the comments. Before reading some of the comments here, I felt like it was just a no-brainer for us to bank his cord blood. I will admit that I need to further my research bc there were some things that y'all said that I didn't know about.

That being said, we are still in favor of banking it, but I do definitely want to learn more (thanks for the link Nona).

Due to the fact that cancer has been on both sides of our families numerous times, I feel like it provides me with peace of mind if nothing else. I like what you said, Das's Wife, there is nothing to lose (except some money), but what if much more research proves numerous other diseases can be cured? Wouldn't it be worth it then? I don't want to regret this decision and be kicking myself in the ass if we didn't bank it.

Thanks again though and I welcome any and all further comments bc I realize that I need to learn a lot more on this topic before making our final decision.

I have been following your blog for a while now...its really great, we are actually at the same point in our pregnancies. This blog struck a cord because my husband and I have been doing a LOT of research on cord blood banking. I noticed you wrote that you have genetic conditions that run in your family, that's actually the EXACT reason we are going to bank. I have severe Ehlers Danlos (a genetic joint condition that is EXTREMELY hereditary), and he has a history of cancer on his side. Even though they haven't been able to treat what I have with cord blood yet, my geneticist said that it is looking very favorable that they may be able to in the future. Since there is no known cure for what I have yet, this is a better shot than anything else for both myself and my daughter. My father, mother in law, and brother in law are all doctors as well and are very pro-banking. They've even gone so far as to say they will pay for it if we choose not to.

Basically, if you can afford it, I would say you have NOTHING to lose, and possibly EVERYTHING to gain from doing it.

If you're looking for more information on where to bank or donate you baby's cord blood- visit www.savethecordfoundation.com.

I am 15 weeks, and my husband and I also looked at doing this. The money issue is not really that big a deal (this is an IVF baby - what's another few hundred dollars on top of that?). But we did talk to our OB about it and hubby did a lot of research. First, there are only a few conditions which cord blood might help with. None of them run in our families. Second, cord blood can only help during a certain age range. So once your child is old enough, the cord blood won't be of any help. Third, my OB said she would support it if it were not being run by for-profit organizations. Given all that, we have decided to donate, if there is a donor agency in Houston (haven't looked around yet), but we won't be going ahead with the private banking.

Also, my OB's office also had literature and signs about cord blood banking. It's just like any other drug company that hands out notepads, pens, clocks, etc. with their brand names. It's all just marketing from what I can see.

My husband and I are choosing to donate the cord blood. I worked for 2 years in a lab where they genotyped (determined the genetic markers that must be matched up in order to have a successful transplant) blood samples from potential bone marrow donors so they could be matched with those in need. I'll spare you the technical details, but what I learned in that job has caused me to be very pro-donation. Of course, having your own stem cells on hand can be a lifesaver if you do end up needing a transplant. But if everyone donated, there would be plenty of lifesaving cord blood to go around and no one would need to pay to bank their own. I'm not trying to influence your decision, just putting it out there. It's up to everyone to evaluate the pros and cons decide for themselves!!

I plan to do what Liz (above) did...donate the cord blood to a public cord blood bank here in South Jersey. The odds of ever using YOUR child's specific cord blood to treat a future problem is few and far between, but by donating to a public bank...it has a good shot of being used by someone in need. Not the right decision for everyone, but I was happy to have it as an option.

We did a lot of research on this because of our family history also. I would definitely talk to your dr...mine gets huge discount offers from the various companies (like $400 off). Ultimately, we decided to donate our baby's cord blood to a public cord blood bank so it's available for others who may need it but I recognize this is a very personal decision. In my research, I read that it's often times not helpful for the child b/c the cord blood has the same genetic anomaly as what causes many of the problems it is meant to treat in the first place although there's a 25% likelihood that siblings are a match for each other which is encouraging. The main medical sources we looked at (e.g. American Medical Association) still don't support it because it hasn't been proven as viable yet; although that clearly may change during our childrens' lifetime so I understand the interest in private banking today in hopes that it will prove beneficial in the future.

I'd say skip it unless (like someone else said) you have known severe genetic problems in the immediate family and/or someone else is paying. I feel like they use scare tactics and prey upon hormone-raging pregnant women with the skill of a Vegas matchstick man.

Thanks Connie - Great point about checking into the financials.

MVP - At my very 1st appt, the nurse put information from CBR into our folder with all the information. She didn't have too much to say about it, except that it was really expensive. Nice and helpful, right?

We want to do it because we think it's a great thing to do and many of the diseases that it's helped do run in both of our families. My personal opinion is just that people should do whatever they can to make it work so that they can bank it. It's just really the upfront cost that is so much, but the annual fee isn't bad at all.

My doctor said if it was her, she wouldnt do it. From what I understand, it is really only a good idea if you have a genetic problem in the family or another child who has reason to may need it. I am going to donate instead this time around. We'll see next time if there is more research to show that it could really be useful. In the meantime, I think it is shameful that these advertisements try to guilt families into unnecessary private banking.

Here is some more info: http://www.nationalcordbloodprogram.org/donation/p...

My "baby" is 10 years old now. I used Cryo-Cell and it was wonderful. I've never had an issue in all these years with storage. You have time to make a decision, but you're right to start thinking about it now. When you look at the companies, one thing to look for besides price, is how their how long the company has been around and how stable the they are financially. You don't want the company to go bankrupt after the fact.

Stay well!

Talk to your doc about it too. They might have some more info for your. That's where I started and he gave me 2 companies to look into. He said they send a courier any time day or night to pick up the blood after the baby's born. He said they'll send me a kit and I'll have to take it to the hospital with me every time I go in case I'm in labor. That's all I know so far.

Just curious, why do you guys want to do this? I'm doing it cause a wealthy family member wants to pay for it, so there's really no reason not to. But if it was up to us, we wouldn't do it. Way too expensive.