Jackie G
- Sep 3, 2009 7:12 pm
(#1 Total: 8)
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Mom to Kimberly (25 wkr, now 6 yrs!) & Matthew (38.5 wkr, almost 4 yrs!) |
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Are you trying to bank the cord blood or just donate it?
I recall my OB's office had lots of fliers about cord blood banking but we never did anything with it. I'm sure you could ask them. I do know that there was a yearly fee associated with keeping the blood banked - not huge, but enough for us to say "nah, we don't want to do it". Granted, I kind of remember them asking me if we wanted to *donate* the cord blood when my daughter was born and us saying "ok". Granted I was pretty drugged up from Mag-Sulfate at the time, so I might not be remembering it right!  I assume there are differences between donating the cord blood and banking it. Hopefully someone can help you out better than me! LOL
-Jackie
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esg1
- Sep 4, 2009 5:28 am
(#2 Total: 8)
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Abigail's Mom (29 weeks, 3/21/05) |
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Hi,
I agree with Jackie, your doctors can explain it to you. I was just at the hospital yesterday and there was a whole table of pamplets. They seem to be really pushing it there so I am sure they would be happy to discuss it with you.
Good luck.
Ellen
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Angel Love
- Sep 4, 2009 1:41 pm
(#3 Total: 8)
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I don't have experience other than a pamphlet that was given to me when I got pregnant. Like Jackie, it was little more than we could afford to keep it banks. I hope that you find the answers that you're looking for, and best wishes to you! Tracy 
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lesleyg
- Sep 7, 2009 8:32 pm
(#4 Total: 8)
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I looked into banking with my 2nd but didn't because of the cost. This time I just wanted to check about donations. Going to make a few phone calls this week. Thanks
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Lindsay W
- Sep 10, 2009 7:09 am
(#5 Total: 8)
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Cord blood
Donating cord blood to a bank can be a very nice thing to do, but the ability to do it really depends on the hospital where you will deliver. There is no cost to parents who donate their baby's cord blood to a public bank. However, this option is not available everywhere. The National Marrow Donor Program provides a complete listing of participating hospitals (http://www.marrow.org/); the program's phone number is (800) 627-7692. Parents who choose to donate their baby's cord blood must complete a lengthy parental health and disease questionnaire. The mother also must have blood tests for diseases such as hepatitis and HIV. Understanding cord blood banking for personal use or for donation is complicated. Here is a link to more information: http://www.marchofdimes.com/professionals/14332_1160.asp I hope this helps, Lindsay
Pregnancy & Newborn Health Education Center
March of Dimes
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lesleyg
- Sep 15, 2009 4:29 pm
(#6 Total: 8)
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soulcandy
- Nov 30, 2009 9:14 am
(#7 Total: 8)
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Lindsay, Thanks for the really informative article. Donating cord blood seems to be a relatively simple (and free) procedure if your hospital or local clinic offers the service. Most of the controversy seems to be based around private cord blood banking, and whether it's worth the sometimes exorbitant prices that some private blood banks charge. The people who can afford it claim that it's just like any other insurance, but the people who can't afford it (most regular people) are very skeptical of whether it will be used or not.
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Marianemily
- Jan 29, 2010 8:15 pm
(#8 Total: 8)
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I remember agonizing over this decision, and then it wasn't even an option when my daughter was born at 29 weeks. They waited to cut the cord so she could have as much of the cord blood in her as possible. Preemies are notoriously anemic and some have to have blood transfusions....thankfully that didn't happen with us. We met with our ped earlier in the pregnancy and he basically said those who can afford it will do it, and everyone else doesn't worry because it's so expensive it's not really a viable option for most families. Having the decision made for me....well, that was one less thing to stress over I suppose! Good luck!
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