POTD 4.20: Cord Blood Donation vs. Delayed Cord Clamping

ForwardnBackward

What do you plan on doing with the umbilical cord following delivery?

ForwardnBackward

I plan to try to do cord blood donation again so long as this one doesn't come preterm.  Wasn't able to last time since they suspected I had an infection during labor.  I would've done delayed cord clamping but the neonatalogist needed to eval urgently after delivery.  I was worried about doing both so that I didn't have sufficient for donation if attempted both.

hippiegirl884

With my first I was going to try to do cord banking, but then he passed meconium before birth and needed a nicu team there and was taken immediately after birth to be checked. 

With #2 they really didn't give an option (as far as I was aware) and they did delayed cord cutting. 

Im pretty sure I'll do delayed cord clamping this time around too. 

tyannej

I voted wut is this, because honestly I've never heard of it. Being a FTM I thought they just cut them umbilical cord and the little bit that was left on baby shriveled up and fell off.. could someone explain the importance of it? I'll have to wait until I get to work to do research! 

canonmom413

I voted SS because I cannot for the life of me remember what I did with the girls.... I know I didnt bank it. I cant remember if I donated it, delayed clamping etc. I will have to ask my OB if its in my charts at my next appt.

ForwardnBackward

@tyannej this Will be quick because I'm mobile.
Cord blood donation is when the blood from the umbilical cord is collected after clamping and donated for other patients to use if it is compatible with their genetic make up (usually in the setting of a bone marrow transplant for things like leukemia and lymphoma)

Cord blood banking is the same except it is saved exclusively for your family's use.  Down side it's usually expensive to bank and hopefully you actually never have to use it. But for people with mixed backgrounds it can make sense because finding an appropriate match later might be hard (I have a friend that was half Japanese and half white who had a kid with 100% Native American, that genetic make-up might be tough to try and match in the future from an outside source unless it's a sibling)

Delayed Cord Clamping is exactly that.  They delay the clamping to allow for that blood supply to enter the infant. Benefits include decreased incidence of anemia but also causes more juandice.

Trying to do both is hard because you need a certain amount for the donation/banking and since you have to do that after clamping you have time in right so that both are successful. enough for baby to benefit (and who knows how much that is) and enough for adequate donation/banking because you can't turn around and give that back to baby after clamping.

Gotta run into work.  Will be back for more discussion. 

JessDG

@ForwardnBackward   Thanks!  I also am a FTM and am not sure about all this yet.  Hadn't gotten that far with my pregnancy/birth research.  

tyannej

@ForwardnBackward thank you! I had no idea they did this! I'll definitely be doing more research on this! 

sjohns908

We'll be doing delayed clamping. We sort of did last time, I was more focused on making sure baby got skin to skin time with me immediately after birth, so I didn't really think about the cord clamping. But we'll be doing it this time as long as everything goes smoothly 

yasandson

Im still undecided. I wanna go for delayed cord clamping but still doing research on the matter. 
Out of curiosity, becaude i read that,  like @ForwardnBackward mentionned, it increases chances of baby getting jaundice. Your baby got it @sjohns08? @hippiegirl884?  (im sorry if it was mentionned in birth stories i read then all, just cant remember) 
Edited to add tag

sjohns908

@yasandson we didn't do delayed clamping with any of our kids.  All 3 of them had jaundice though and my youngest had to be on a light for a few days after she came home.  So it is something I'll have to talk to my OB and the pediatrician about

mrs_fogue

I get to be a SS this time!!!  Because we did none of the above with DD and probably won't with this one to be honest.

ForwardnBackward

Do we have no Lotus birth takers in the group?  (Google it)

aprilsarahjune

canonmom413 said:

I voted SS because I cannot for the life of me remember what I did with the girls.... I know I didnt bank it. I cant remember if I donated it, delayed clamping etc. I will have to ask my OB if its in my charts at my next appt.

Me too!  I was very surprised that this had to be SS because I highly suspect that in the end, most people end up doing none of the above?  I would be interested in finding out statistics if anyone has them to share!

dogperson11

Unfortunately cord blood donation isn't an option at the hospital where I will deliver. If it was an option I would donate it.

sdarling2010

We donated DD's cord blood and will do the same this time. 

TallMomma29

We donated with the prior two, and will again if it's an option!

purplestarz

Donation also wasn't an option  when I gave birth to DD (I was under the assumption it's actually pretty rare). I put undecided because I haven't even thought to look into it yet where I live now. I probably wouldn't have done delayed anyway, but I had an infection and DD got rushed away so I don't think it would have mattered.

acnd08

Re: Delayed Cord Clamping and Jaundice: This is one of those things I have heard both sides of. At work, some of our OBs automatically do it and others the patient has to request it. Some of the Pediatricians like it and some do not. Since jaundice comes from red blood cells, it does make sense that more blood volume would mean more bilirubin and a higher chance of jaundice. However, I've heard the argument that the increased blood volume is good for the liver and they can process the bilirubin better. In my 8 years of working with Newborns, I have not really noticed an increase in jaundice in babies that had a delay in cord clamping. 

on_the_move

When my first two were born I don't think either of these two were available.  For #3 I would have considered delayed clamping, but the cord was wrapped around her neck so tightly the doctor had to cut it as she was coming out.  DH didn't cut it as we had planned, but I'm happy my OB did what needed to be done quickly to keep my baby healthy and safe

Boobopgirl

Delayed cord clamping.  It's standard practice at our birth center and what we did for DD2.  DD1S cord was cut emergently because she was in distress or we would have done delayed with her too.  FWIW, she had jaundice and the one who we did delayed clamping with did not.

emwj10187

my dream would be to do delayed clamping & chord blood banking. I didn't know i could bank and donate. I would love to donate too! is that even possible to do both??

jessafishy

I selected undecided.

Also @ForwardnBackward... lotus birth is gross. I don't have a problem with placenta encapsulation... but lotus birth? Just ew.

ForwardnBackward

@jessafishy
How I feel about:

dogperson11

I don't understand the purpose behind Lotus birth

ForwardnBackward

For those that haven't researched it or are undecided, I strongly urge you to research cord blood donation and consider doing it if it's available at the place you are planning to give birth.  I know many-a-lives saved by bone marrow transplant using cord blood as the donor source, these patients typically have no other option.  There is my plug

It's also one of those things that people have in their birth plan/wishes that is totally at the mercy of how things go at that moment.  As many mentioned, cords sometimes need to be clamped/cut immediately to allow for urgent evals, or it's just so chaotic in those last moments it's just doesn't play out as easy to accomplish what you want.

sjohns908

I don't know what lotus birth is and something tells me I'll regret it if I google

purplestarz

sjohns08 said:

I don't know what lotus birth is and something tells me I'll regret it if I google

You will. I just did that.

dajocl

And now I'm torn because I really want to know but I'm terrified to google also. 

purplestarz

@dajocl I think you're fine googling, actually. Provided that you don't immediately go to images like the idiot I am.

dajocl

@purplestarz Yeah, I googled. And I also went to images... Which then led me to a blog post about it. And I read it. 

It talked about washing it all. Everyday. That's all I'm going to say here. 

This is one of those times where I shouldn't have let curiosity get the best of me. I. Don't. Understand. 

monstera13

Whyyyyy would you guys do this to me? I got so curious from your descriptions that I actually looked a the images and google. Ewwwww

acnd08

Yeah. I Googled it also. Big mistake. HUGE mistake.  The smell alone! 

beezeee

Those fancy placenta bags to compliment the lotus birth though...

kdel921

I am undecided. Ideally I'd like to bank but I guess that depends on cost. If not maybe donate. Never heard of delayed cord clamping until this poll. So yep def undecided!

Oh and I too googled lotus birth AND looked at the images. Um that's a def no for me. Had no clue that was even an option for people. I hope I don't dream about this tonight lol. 

bluejeanbabi05

Omg @ lotus birth. I also read a blog post about a mama who did this. The subtitle to the post was, "Other animals chew the cord off shortly after birth, but as a vegan, this option did not appeal to me."

I'm not a vegan, so looks like I'm good to chew the cord off, whew!

*gags*

dajocl

@bluejeanbabi05 That sounds like perfectly logical reasoning. Please let me know how that goes for you...

*insert gaging gif here

sjohns908

Alright, curiosity got the best of me and I googled.

I don't get why it's such a turn off to everyone here. Sounds like the perfect way to ensure that you don't have to endure any visitors for the first week or so   "sure! You can come visit us after the birth! Just a heads up though, baby will still be attached to the placenta, so I hope you don't mind!"

O.M.G. the reactions....

natleilynn

@sjohns08 you. are. a. genius.

sjohns908

natleilynn said:

@sjohns08 you. are. a. genius.

It's about time someone realized this!

tyannej

And the curiosity got to me. I'm now going to have nightmares about those images.