MOMania

By Jesse's Girl

April 24, 2008 8:54 AM | Link to this

Did not save cord blood. We considered it, but the cost was prohibitive. I really think from an insurnace stand point….as in saving the already strapped and crooked industry from having to do costly treatments…this would be financially beneficial for them to cover. At least some portion of it.

By Ebaby

April 24, 2008 9:06 AM | Link to this

I went back and forth. One doctor told me to absolutely do it and another doctor told me it was a load of crap. In the end, we decided not to do it because if medicine gets to a point where chord blood is a common remedy than there will be banks like blood banks to get donations from, like the Red Cross. Where I live, there is already a public chord blood for use by everyone if it ever comes to that.

By publicenemynumberone

April 24, 2008 9:52 AM | Link to this

I save all body fluids.

By nurse&mother

April 24, 2008 10:13 AM | Link to this

I wished I had the money to save it, but because I didn’t have maternity insurance (and had to pay thousands of dollars out of pocket), we just couldn’t afford it. It’s a shame, because my husband’s uncle died of leukemia in the late 70’s or early 80’s.

I did have a few reservations about if the cord blood would be properly stored etc. (I don’t know who governs that industry). Are there cord blood storage standards?

By ManOfTeal

April 24, 2008 10:19 AM | Link to this

Talked about it with my wife and ultimately decided against it due to the price involved.

By Father of an Only Child

April 24, 2008 10:20 AM | Link to this

No, we did not save the cord. Should anything new be discovered in the future for saving lives it will probably be via stem cells (the religious debate will have to carry itself out). We also realize that 50% of all doctor’s graduate in the bottom half of their class and the one who graduates last in his class is still called Doctor.

By fk

April 24, 2008 10:27 AM | Link to this

No, we did not. I don’t think it was an option in 1991, and if it was, we were not aware of it. Today, I think I would have either saved it or donated it. Last May, my 14 y/o niece died from an very rare brain tumor. There is so little known about brain tumors in general. The only option was surgery, and she had five, but there came a time when surgery was no longer an option. They did try chemo and radiation, but they had short-lived positive effects. After watching this experience, if my baby’s cord could’ve helped another family with disease, I would have gladly donated it.

By fl

April 24, 2008 10:29 AM | Link to this

I meant cord blood. My fingers simply could not keep up with my brain.

By Jodi

April 24, 2008 11:46 AM | Link to this

I have never understood this concept - What could a baby’s cord blood do?

By CPT

April 24, 2008 11:59 AM | Link to this

We donated our cord blood to a public bank. It was free and hopefully we could help someone else.

By Leigh

April 24, 2008 12:26 PM | Link to this

Sure - it’s in the freezer.

By Father of an Only Child

April 24, 2008 1:57 PM | Link to this

Well, it pretty obvious the subject matter today has generated zero interest. Too bad. Bad topic…

By Tamika

April 24, 2008 2:36 PM | Link to this

You all believe me NOW that Hillary will be Our Next President!!!

By Father of an Only Child

April 24, 2008 2:44 PM | Link to this

What do politics and cord blood have to do with each other?

By Father of an Only Child

April 24, 2008 2:44 PM | Link to this

What do politics and cord blood have to do with each other?

By Allison

April 24, 2008 3:29 PM | Link to this

We had considered it before our daughter was born, and had researched a few companies offering storage, but we opted not to do it because of the costs involved.

By Swangirl

April 24, 2008 4:23 PM | Link to this

We thought about it. Then I read the manual that Northside Hospital (where I had my son) gives out ahead of time and the way it was written made it clear they didn’t really want you to do it and that it was up to you to arrange everything. And that if there was some kind of emergency, they couldn’t guarantee they would do it. So that was the end of that.

By Allison

April 24, 2008 5:05 PM | Link to this

Swangirl - I’ve heard from other people about that same experience at various hospitals. I just wonder if somebody pays for it, and then ‘something’ happens, do they get their deposit back, or are they just SOL?

By GX

April 24, 2008 5:05 PM | Link to this

My wife and I went through AlphaCord ([http://www.alphacord.com]) to store our son’s cord blood. Prices range from $1000-$1500 for the initial processing and about $125/year for storage.

Their website has a decent amount of information about what cord blood is and what problems it can be used to treat.

Our decision was primarily due to the fact that I was diagnosed with Lymphoma a few years back, and if there’s any genetic component to what I had, we wanted as many options as possible for our son should it affect him.

He was delivered at Northside Hospital in 2006, and they were very accomodating when it came to dealing with the cord blood storage kit AlphaCord sent us. Basically, you get a box with a blood bag and cord blood extraction kit shipped to you, you bring it with you to the delivery, and the nurses take care of getting the blood into the bag. Once it’s ready, you pack it back up in the box for overnight delivery to the blood bank. Northside helped to ensure that it was picked up by the courier, and the blood bank received our package as expected.

By nurse&mother

April 24, 2008 5:36 PM | Link to this

From a L&D nurse’s perspective, it is up to the patient and support person to have thoroughly read through the cord blood instructions and all material. Certainly your doctor/midwife as well as the nurse needs to be familiar with the instructions esp. regarding the collection process. It is not the nurse’s responsibility to package everything back up in the plastic wrap or box and call the courier. We will happily collect mom’s sample of blood and the doctor will happily collect it at delivery. Whenever we are finished collecting the blood, I do everything that the nurse needs to do regarding finishing the preparation and labeling. Then I give it to the husband/support person and nicely remind them to make sure they have read through the instructions one more time to make sure they have everything like the company specifies.

I will say sometimes emergencies can and do arise. IF there is an emergency, our primary focus is to save mother and baby (not collect cord blood). However, I have never had a patient that couldn’t get the blood collected. But, there is always that possibility. It would benefit one to check with the company to see if they can get reimbursement in such a situation.

By Together for 12

April 25, 2008 6:54 AM | Link to this

From what I understand, right after your baby is born, it is common practice to allow the rest of the blood from the placenta/cord to finish flowing to your baby before they clamp and cut the umbilical cord.

Does saving cord blood mean that they clamp & cut the umbilical cord early and stop the blood from going to your newborn because they collect it instead?

By JJ

April 25, 2008 10:02 AM | Link to this

Father Tamika routinely comes on these blogs to stir stuff up. Pay her no nevermind, she is a troll……

By Beth

April 25, 2008 10:19 AM | Link to this

Yes, we did it for all three of our children, even though we were completley broke and my husband was in law school.

It’s like life insurance, but better, since it has the potential to actually SAVE your childrens’ lives.

Everyone should do everything they can to keep it and store it. There’s just no telling what they will be able to do with those stem cells in the coming years.

By Beth

April 25, 2008 10:20 AM | Link to this

Yes, we did it for all three of our children, even though we were completley broke and my husband was in law school.

It’s like life insurance, but better, since it has the potential to actually SAVE your childrens’ lives.

Everyone should do everything they can to keep it and store it. There’s just no telling what they will be able to do with those stem cells in the coming years.

By Doug

April 28, 2008 6:41 AM | Link to this

Donate your baby’s cord blood to the national registry, at no cost. Don’t waste your money having cord blood saved for the minuscule odds — about 1 in 60,000 — that your child will need it later. Save your selfishness for something that actually helps yourself or family. Don’t be fooled. If everybody donated cord blood, we’d all feel good about being altruistic in this one piece of our lives, and your child would be covered for the kind of illness you’re worried about. Our 17-year-old daughter is in Egleston at Emory, preparing to get a bone-marrow transplant from someone else’s donated cord blood. Even if we had saved her cord blood 17 years ago, it would not provide the best cells to use, her doctors tell us. What she needs is a replacement of her immune system, so another’s cord blood (if the antigens match well enough) is more useful than her own. Minority groups are especially needing cord blood and bone-marrow donors in the registry. You can save a life at little or no cost.

By nurse&mother

April 28, 2008 7:54 AM | Link to this

@ Doug- Some hospitals don’t have a means to donate to the national registry. I work in a hospital that would be considered rural by Atlanta’s standards that doesn’t do this. I will speak to the department director to see if this is something that can feasibly be done. Maybe we live too far away from a storage facility?

By Bob

April 28, 2008 10:43 AM | Link to this

There are several interesting and inaccurate posts here. First, for information on donating cord blood no matter where you live visit the National Marrow Donor Program at www.marrow.org. Second, private storage is a personal decision that you get to make once with each child. If you have a gap in family medical history, are adopted or from an adopted parent, or an inter-racial marriage personal storage should be seriously considered . Be careful what you read on websites and in blogs or posts. Most of the information has not been validated by independent sources or companies that operate in the field. Do your research and homework. Oddly enough not many doctors are well educated in this arena, particularly OB/GYNs. Ask your pediatrician for their input as they most likely would be the doctor who first determines if your child/children could benefit from cord blood.

By Tina Saadat

April 28, 2008 11:22 AM | Link to this

Dear Nurse & Mother - If you’d be interested in cord blood donation at your hospital, please contact Tina at Cryobanks Int’l at 407-834-8333.

By laz

April 28, 2008 3:17 PM | Link to this

I agree with Doug. The whole “save your child’s cord blood” thing is more of a marketing scam than it is a beneficial medical practice. Plus, any hospitals that are not capable of donating these are obviously not being straight forward … Considering they can have meds and supplies delivered almost immediately and can ship out blood and tissue samples at will. The practice should be that every newborn’s cord blood should be pooled into the same bank, and then used as needed for those who are sick … Not this “well I saved MY babies cord blood, and it’s for MY baby” garbage (also known as “The American Way”).

By Meg

February 6, 2009 11:38 AM | Link to this

Personal cord blood storage is NOT RECOMMENDED by the American Academy of Pediatrics AND The American College of OB/GYN. They say to DONATE the blood to a public storage bank. They say ONLY to personally store the cord blood if an older sibling has certain illnesses (it’s all on the American Academy of Pediatrics website). If your child becomes sick, chances are that the cord blood already has that problem, too. It should come from another source. These private blood banks are marketing to the fears of families. It was nice to read that Allison’s North side Hospital actually said not to do it. It’s refreshing, because I see these pamphlets for private storage everywhere and wonder who is getting kick backs.