Cord Blood banking

melmel10

Anyone doing this?  How expensive is it?

doyous&idos

We are not. My OB gave me a ton of literature on how often it actually needs to be used, pros/cons- all very neutral info and told us about cord stripping, which she does. Basically,  the way  I understand it is, before she cuts the cord, she waits for it to stop pulsing, then strips the cord down towards the baby (kinda pinches it between her fingers and moves towards the baby). The benefits of it seem to carry a lot of weight, and reduce the chances of needing your cord blood later.

Look into that if banking ends up being out of budget for you. I had never heard of it until my OB told me about it.

mrshutch

It depends on the company, but they're all fairly pricey. Both my mom and sister have Type I diabetes, so it was important to me to donate my DD's cord blood in case it could be used for research (if not to help someone who needed it). I really carefully weighed the options when I was pg w/ her, and in the end, what swayed me was reading a big article with a bunch of pediatricians who said there's such a small chance of needing it, that it's better to donate it so it can go to someone who can use it. Plus, it's an extra expense we don't need.

But, we're also taking a small gamble, meaning that if we ever needed  a donation, we'd have to look to a center and hope there's a match. So, if you're someone who's not willing to take that risk, I say go ahead and store your baby's for peace of mind. I think it's just a personal choice.

Addt'l note: it's super easy to donate cord blood. You just request a kit (maybe at around 6 months pg?), they send it to you and you bring it to the hospital. It just took a minute for my dr. to collect the blood and it's not like it hurts either you or the baby. 

msipowicz

I am considering doing it. I did some research on it at the beginning of the year when I was pg the 1st time ( I m/c at 10 weeks) but it actually didn't seem like it was going to be as expensive as I had imagined. Now, granted, I had just paid for IVF....so if you are lucky enough to be able to pregnant "for free", then it might seem expensive. I know there is an initial fee of a couple thousand dollars, and then a yearly storage fee of just a couple hundred dollars. I just think of it like health insurance. Sure you might never get sick, but if you do- then you're covered. 

vml14

We are doing it.  The company we are using costs about $2K for the collection/first year storage, and then it's $125 per year after that.  While I hope we are wasting our money, and that we never need it, I'd hate to kick myself later if either one of us or our children could benefit from it.  They are currently doing a lot of research on the use of cord blood... based on my research, it's highly likely there will be many, many more uses for it in our lifetimes.  We don't have the option to donate it at our hospital, so it was either bank it ourselves or do nothing.  Our decision was made easier because my ILs offered to pay for it for us, but in the end, I think we would have made the same decision even if we were paying for it. 

KRIST4N

We are probably going to do it, with the banks we are looking at it is about 2k. ?If you donate and you need it you wont know if you can get yours back, the quality of the other companies if you are banking your own there are guarantees on the viability etc. ?So, I think we are going to do it, hope we won't need it, but it is basically and insurance policy for the LO. ?Two doctors in my practice have done it for their recent babies and recommended it as well.