Multiples

chord blood banking?

did you do it? for each baby or just one of the set? pros/cons? 

we were thinking about doing it for the plumper of the two babies when they're born (assuming that one will have less health problems?) all depends on when they're born too. 

 

 

Married 07/2011 <3
ID Twin girls 04/2012 <3<3
Baby #3 Due Jan. 2017  <3


Re: chord blood banking?

  • We did bank our cord blood.... mostly because when I researched about donating it, banks didn't want any from twins.  So I figured, if people didn't want it for free.....
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  • There's an article in the current Pathways Magazine about cord blood banking.  I haven't read it yet, but here's a link to it.

    https://pathwaysmagazineonline.com/Pathways%20Online/currentissue_files/Pathways_Winter2011_12.pdf

    Twin boys due 7/25/12
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  • I actually work in cord blood donation (I collect cord blood from mom's who want to donate). We don't accept from twins because you cannot combine cords (may have an HLA antigen difference (dna might not be 100%) the same. Not sure why with identicals. Another reason we don't accept under gestation of 35w6d because we wouldn't get enough for transplant. I feel really strongly on finding out "how much" they actually banked for you if you are privately banking. We have minimums (it's about 1 billion cells). This is because doctors use these units for transplant and you need enough for a transplant to be successful. Please do some research and ask a lot of questions about twin banking. I know the private banks do it but if they are not getting enough what you are banking for is not going to help god forbid your child gets leukemia. It may be used for "future cures" of certain conditions they may not as much for future cures of say diabetes or CP.

    I am not telling you what to do just please research and ask a lot of questions. I do this for a living and also went through a bone marrow transplant myself for non-hodgkin's lymphoma at 23 using my own blood or what is called an auto stem cell transplant. They didn't get enough peripherally so they had to go in and get it manually through my bone marrow (PBSC (or stem cells are baby bone marrow so same thing)). If there is not enough for a transplant  you could be in a lot of trouble basically. Also just to tell you which I'm sure none of the Private banks do is that a sibling match can donate to another sibling match (there needs to be a 5 out of 6 or 6 out of 6 match DNA wise for not risking graft vs host disease (which can be as bad as multi-organ failure/ death). There is 25% chance one sib will match the other. So they can take from the donor sib at an age as young as 6 months. Think of My sister's keeper basically. I work for Brigham and Women's and Dana Farber in Boston (DF is one of the top hospitals for transplants or using bone marrow, PBSC, and cord blood).

    Just ask the questions!! If you do privately bank ask them how much they actually saved for you. BTW if the child who donated the cord is the sick one (especially leukemia) they will not use that cord for that child. It could be a genetic issue from the beginning and they will not risk basically recontaminating your child's blood. If you have any questions for me I would love to answer. I'm not trying to sway you any way just giving you more info. I will not be banking my children's cord blood privately and obviously I cannot donate (due to my cancer history, my lil girls IUGR, and also them being twins) it so I am doing a research study at my hospital. I  would love to do cord pulse for them but with good possibility of them being born so small (being rushed out of the room for their care) it might not be a possibility for me. 

    Oct1201212 Twins born at 34w2d, Allison, 3lb,4oz-Ethan, 4lb7oz, both 16 1/2 inches. Out of Difficulties Grow Miracles BestBuddiesBoy AprilPosseMultiLilypie Premature Baby tickers
  • we donated from our singleton... and did not donate/bank with the twins b/c we were told they don't accept donations from twins b/c they don't get enough to be worth it.... so i'd never pay to bank twins (but i'm sure the companies who bank would be happy to charge you to do it).

    my  BIL works in stem cell science - his company that he is CEO of actually has some lines - and he donated his own son's... if everyone would donate there wouldn't be a need to bank your own (much like blood).... it's a lot of money, that companies are happy to take by making you worry and feel badly if you don't do it.

    Most doctors I know are against banking - and pro-donations (i'm a drug rep and know hundreds of docs)... unelss there is a specific disease in your family that you know it could help cure, it's rarely worth it to bank- but always helpful to donate.

    I used to be Goldie_locks_5 but the new nest is so screwed up that I was forced to start over.
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  • imageUsedToBeGoldie:

    we donated from our singleton... and did not donate/bank with the twins b/c we were told they don't accept donations from twins b/c they don't get enough to be worth it.... so i'd never pay to bank twins (but i'm sure the companies who bank would be happy to charge you to do it).

    my  BIL works in stem cell science - his company that he is CEO of actually has some lines - and he donated his own son's... if everyone would donate there wouldn't be a need to bank your own (much like blood).... it's a lot of money, that companies are happy to take by making you worry and feel badly if you don't do it.

    Most doctors I know are against banking - and pro-donations (i'm a drug rep and know hundreds of docs)... unelss there is a specific disease in your family that you know it could help cure, it's rarely worth it to bank- but always helpful to donate.

    This is all very true!! All the docs and nurses I work with in L&D all recommend donation or if you prefer cord pulse (you cannot do both because you won't get enough).  Talk to your docs about it, I'm assuming you may be seeing possibly both an OB and high risk. Ask them their thoughts. I am aware of one doctor at my hospital that recommends it but he get's kick-backs getting his patients to private bank and he's a little off to begin with (he yells at the moms when they are giving birth, it's very stressful to be in a birth with him- very bad bedside manner).

    Oct1201212 Twins born at 34w2d, Allison, 3lb,4oz-Ethan, 4lb7oz, both 16 1/2 inches. Out of Difficulties Grow Miracles BestBuddiesBoy AprilPosseMultiLilypie Premature Baby tickers
  • So where would be a good place to get information on if they can collect enough from my twins to make it worthwhile? I work for PerkinElmer, the parent company for ViaCord, so I get the collection fee waived and just have to pay the yearly storage fee. I figured since I'm getting so much of the cost waived I might as well do it, but it's not worth paying $250/year (the cost for storing both) if they're not going to get enough to make it useful in the future.

    When I asked my OB about it she said since I get such a big discount I should definitely do it. I asked about letting the cord pulse and she said that with a c-section for identical twins they don't generally let the cord pulse because they don't want the first baby to take anything away from the second baby. I don't know if that's just my doctor's/hospital's policy or if that's a common practice. 

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  • wow, this is all very interesting. Issues I never considered. Thank you all for the information! I've got lots more research to do!
    Married 07/2011 <3
    ID Twin girls 04/2012 <3<3
    Baby #3 Due Jan. 2017  <3


  • imageJen0204:

    So where would be a good place to get information on if they can collect enough from my twins to make it worthwhile? I work for PerkinElmer, the parent company for ViaCord, so I get the collection fee waived and just have to pay the yearly storage fee. I figured since I'm getting so much of the cost waived I might as well do it, but it's not worth paying $250/year (the cost for storing both) if they're not going to get enough to make it useful in the future.

    When I asked my OB about it she said since I get such a big discount I should definitely do it. I asked about letting the cord pulse and she said that with a c-section for identical twins they don't generally let the cord pulse because they don't want the first baby to take anything away from the second baby. I don't know if that's just my doctor's/hospital's policy or if that's a common practice. 

    You should be able to find out how much they did after the collection. Unfortunately there is no way of knowing beforehand. Viacord is going to tell you what you want to hear (this will save your babies life if they need it). I would contact

    Carolinas Cord Blood BankDuke University Medical Center
    Box 3350
    Durham, NC 27710
    1 (919) 668-1116

    www.cancer.duke.edu/ccbb/

    This is the bank I work for that is donation only. They can give you facts on why we don't collect from twins. I am not 100% sure about what can be done with identicals because I have fraternals. All I know is they cannot combine cords obviously in fraternal twins. The amount you get is also very important, which with multiple births unless these babies are good size and gestationally over 35 weeks or more is not going to most likely be enough for a transplant. Again it may be used for "future cures". We cannot really say. My brother in law and his wife banked through Via Cord 9 years ago and she went through a bone marrow transplant for Hodgkin's 10 years prior. I find that very deceiving considering public banks wouldn't even touch my cord blood, bone marrow, or regular blood with a 10 foot pole because I also am a cancer survivor, but if I dropped the $2k + ViaCord would tell me to do it... My kids are donor egg also which means obviously genetically they are not mine and I'm still not able to. It says a lot. The donor bank has nothing to gain from giving you info as they don't bank twins. 

    Again you can do whatever you want but if you do find out how much they saved for you!! 1Billion + cells is what is required from the public banks for a bankable unit. That is the minimum. When doctors choose for patients they choose the largest units for successful transplant. That is why with my transplant I didn't just use PBSC they had to get bone marrow also or it would have failed for me.

    Also remember if you kids are identical they will most likely take from the matching sibling as young as six months (they have done this at Dana Farber quite a few times). They will get more from that 6 month old then the cord blood in turn being better for the sick sib.

    Good Luck! 

    Oct1201212 Twins born at 34w2d, Allison, 3lb,4oz-Ethan, 4lb7oz, both 16 1/2 inches. Out of Difficulties Grow Miracles BestBuddiesBoy AprilPosseMultiLilypie Premature Baby tickers
  • Thanks for the information, I'll bring it up with my OB next week and see if she could tell me how much they get before they send it away. But if donation banks don't take from twins and if the non-sick twin could donate to the sick twin (if god forbid one were to get sick) then I'm thinking it's probably better to save the $250/year.
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  • imageJen0204:
    Thanks for the information, I'll bring it up with my OB next week and see if she could tell me how much they get before they send it away. But if donation banks don't take from twins and if the non-sick twin could donate to the sick twin (if god forbid one were to get sick) then I'm thinking it's probably better to save the $250/year.

     As young as 6 months yes and if god forbid one of your kids came down with a disease like leukemia they would look to that sibling match before they would even consider using the cord. The cords/placentas we "love" usually come from 8+lb babies because these units are usually a good size. Also remember a small cord/placenta could help out a sick infant/ small child but once that child gets bigger and bigger they would need a larger amount. That's why with donation we have more issues finding help for larger adults because they need more to save them.

     So regardless even if you have a singleton you are usually banking for future cures of say something like diabetes (which cord blood may or may not help in the future). You are also banking most likely for the "other" child as the one that it comes from if that child ended up with a blood cancer/blood disorder they wouldn't want to recontaminate that child's blood. When someone has a bone marrow transplant using a donor they are depending on that other person's immune system to pick up where their immune system failed and hopefully kick the crap out of any cancer cells that try to start up in the system again. It's basically restarting a faulty immune system (totally killing off the faulty system with different types of chemo or rads and then the giving they back "new cells" to start a whole new immune system. 

    Oct1201212 Twins born at 34w2d, Allison, 3lb,4oz-Ethan, 4lb7oz, both 16 1/2 inches. Out of Difficulties Grow Miracles BestBuddiesBoy AprilPosseMultiLilypie Premature Baby tickers
  • After researching the options, we wanted to donate.  The company that works with our hospital unfortunately doesn't take donations from twins, so it was discarded.  Given the usefulness of banked cord blood for in family issues (we are not having more kids), we thought private banking was a waste of money.  We are putting that money in their college fund instead.

    My OB had mentioned that there is new research to shows that it can potentially be useful when banked for reinfusion to the babies themselves if the babies are born early, but we were able to bring ours very near to term.

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