POLL: Did you bank the cord blood?

If you don't mind I would really appreciate why you did or why you didn't bank it.

I completely understand it's a personal decision and quite expensive too. My DH and I keep changing our mind on this issue and I am just curious about the decisions of the LIF population.

Thanks

Re: POLL: Did you bank the cord blood?

We did not due to the cost.

Re: POLL: Did you bank the cord blood?

Our reason was simple the cord blood can only be used by a sibling. Also the technology isn't advanced enough for it. At the time we were certain we were one and done.

Re: POLL: Did you bank the cord blood?

I *think* I donated it so that we could always get some from the bank if we ever needed it.

I don't remember exactly bc the woman had me sign something immediately after the c/s while I was coming out of the OR and I was still really loopy.

Re: POLL: Did you bank the cord blood?

banked privately, but looking back now, think it may have been okay to just bank publicly. A lot of information came out about it recently, and public banks cord blood is accessible to everyone, and its not hard to find matches.

there are only few illnesses that can be cured with a baby's own cord blood, usually they need someone elses cord blood to treat the illness.

Re: POLL: Did you bank the cord blood?

I donated it.

Re: POLL: Did you bank the cord blood?

Yes, for both children with ViaCord.
It's def. an expense, but for me, I couldn't not do it knowing there is a chance (potentially tiny) that doing this could save one of my children's lives down the road.
The paymemt plans made it doable too (I believe for each child we did the 6-month payment plan of $325). My father did split the cost with us as his baby gift as well, but no matter what we would have found a way to do it.

Re: POLL: Did you bank the cord blood?

we didnt for a couple reasons.

1. It was expensive
2. I read some research that said that there are not many uses for it right now. It also said that the cord blood could not be used on that child and it was unlikely that it would ever be able to be used by your other children. There were some other points, but I just dont remember them now.

I think public banking is probably best because you have a greater chance of having a match. I probably should have looked into the cost of public banking.

Re: POLL: Did you bank the cord blood?

I wanted to donate it but was unable to b/c I ended up having surgery to remove the placenta.

Re: POLL: Did you bank the cord blood?

Re: POLL: Did you bank the cord blood?

Too costly and no real guarantees it would help in the future.
I don't feel there is enough proof that we would benefit from it to justify that cost.

Re: POLL: Did you bank the cord blood?

Re: POLL: Did you bank the cord blood?

not enough research for me to feel comfortable spending that much money.

It worked out anyway ( I would have lost money) because both of my kids did not have enough cord blood for even public donation, they used it for reasearch. I had small babies.

Re: POLL: Did you bank the cord blood?

Re: POLL: Did you bank the cord blood?

No - not enough medical research/proof of the benefits or how long it will even be 'good' for - for me to spend that kind of money - We invested it for him instead -

Re: POLL: Did you bank the cord blood?

I did with both. There are so many cancers, heart disease ect that run in my family I felt it was the right thing to do. The technology may not be that advanced now but it is rapidly growing.

Re: POLL: Did you bank the cord blood?

Posted by mommyIam

Posted by skinny

I *think* I donated it so that we could always get some from the bank if we ever needed it.

I don't remember exactly bc the woman had me sign something immediately after the c/s while I was coming out of the OR and I was still really loopy.

Anyone can get cord blood from a bank, whether you donate to it or not. I watch enough House episodes to know this

Its actually better in a way, because they use it while its "fresh" no one knows how long your baby's cord blood will last, read the contract, they do not guarentee the cord blood will be good forever. But if everyone donates, there is always fresh cord blood available for someone who needs it.

They are looking to turn this into something like blood banks. But with cord blood there is just many more types.

I was a little annoyed right after I gave birth there was a documentary on PBS on this, wish I knew some of this stuff sooner.

Re: POLL: Did you bank the cord blood?

Re: POLL: Did you bank the cord blood?

We donated with both kids. Even if it is only used for research, it will be helpful to someone.

Re: POLL: Did you bank the cord blood?

Diseases Treated with Cord Blood

http://www.cordblood.com/cord_blood_banking_with_cbr/banking/diseases_treated.asp

many thousands more are in trials, and expect this list to grow exponentially in the next years.

With most diseases, you need cord blood cells from someone else. So having a public bank that is well stocked is critical.

Re: POLL: Did you bank the cord blood?

We banked with CBR. DH and I felt it was extremely important since you never know what can happen.

Re: POLL: Did you bank the cord blood?

Re: POLL: Did you bank the cord blood?

We chose not to bank it privately after talking to my aunt. She works in genetics and since we don't have a family history of the diseases that they can cure with it right now, it didn't make sense to us.

We planned to donate DD's but there wasn't enough harvested from the umbilical cord. We did donate DS's since there was enough.

Re: POLL: Did you bank the cord blood?

Re: POLL: Did you bank the cord blood?

I clicked other..
We were going to and had the kit with us, but unfortunately my dr couldnt get a big enough sample from DS cord to do it.. I was so bummed about it since we were planning to!
We were going to use Lifeline Cryogenics in Connecticut. My doctor recommended them because they are affilaited with Yale which is doing some great research. They were also very reasonabel compared to Viacord, etc.