cord blood banking

you can use it on other sibelings but they have to be from the same parents and the whole thing about not wanting to waste the money just in case u dont ever use it is a hard question and me and my hubby had to think about it and we decided not to do it bc it cost so much. u can not get ur money back if u dont use it so u really have to think about it!

I did not think that it seemed to be worth the money. I am going to look into donating the cord blood though. This is free and I think that it is more likely to be useful to someone who needs it.

I did a lot of research on this when I was pregnant with my son. Basically what it comes down to is if you have a family history of blood cancers or other extreme health issues that cord blood could help, it is worth the money to store it. But...if you don't have that family history it is basically a lot of money to spend for "just in case". That's the way I see it anyway. We decided to donate my son's cord blood instead, because there are people that need the cord blood right away, actually NEED it, not just "might", you know? Unfortunately he didn't have enough cord blood to donate, so we ended up donating it to research instead. I am not sure how it would work with a half sibling. I have also learned that you can just have your newborn use the cord blood for themselves immediately if you allow the cord to stop pulsating before clamping it. That gives all those really important cells to your baby and the baby would benefit from it immediately.

Basically, it's insurance.

You pay out money each month/year for insurance so just view this the same way. I hope this helps some :)

I'm not because neither of us have a family history of any problems.....so really we should be fine without it. For us, I don't think it's worth the money. However, if you have a family history of problems then it might be something to look into.

Just curious but what does that cost? We never looked into it when I was pregnant with my daughter, but maybe we wil now.

We do delayed cord cutting instead, so baby gets all the cord blood during the birth. We don't have a family history of any of the conditions it can be helpful for.

It is like an insurance.  I have a lot of cancer in my family so I'm getting it just incase.  Hopefully we'll never need to use it but I'm preparing for the worst and hoping for the best.

Most private cord blood banks offer payment plans (as low as $59 per month) to make it more affordable.

Below is a list of questions I'm asking that you may want to use when doing your own research:

What instructional tools are provided for my physician and delivery staff?

•What equipment is provided in the collection kit, and are there any spares?

•Will the you actively contact the labor and delivery staff for me-- or are
parents responsible for keeping them informed and coordinated?

What collection method does my doctor use?
(i.e. letting the blood drip out by gravity -versus- pulling it out with a
syringe)

What storage container is used?  (i.e. multiple vials or blood bag)

•Do you provide the option of collecting additional stem cells from the placenta
or tissue of the umbilical cord?

•On weekends, are the laboratory staff in-house or on-call?

•Is the cost of shipping included in the contract? 

•If you provide shipping, do you offer bed-side pick-up? 

•Do you guarantee to get the blood to the lab and processed within a certain
time window?

•If the bank uses a courier, do they provide secure chain-of-custody handling?
(as apposed to just a computerized tracking system)
 
What courier service do you use?  Is it a medical courier?  If not, how can you
garauntee the survival of the cells?

•Will you notify the my husband and I of the time at which the cord blood
arrived, and the time at which it was processed?

•What tests are performed on maternal blood?
 
•Do you ever reject samples on the basis of maternal tests?
 
•Do you test the cord blood collection for infectious disease markers?
 
•Do you test the cord blood collection for contamination by bacteria, etc.?
 
•Do you ever reject cord blood collections that are contaminated?
 
•Will you notify my husband and I of the test results, especially the final cell
count?
 
•Do you maintain a separate "quarantine tank" for the long-term storage of blood
that has failed one or more tests, or is the blood stored together regardless of
testing status?
 
•Do you HLA type the sample?

Are you state licensed?

•By which organizations are you accredited?

•Is the blood stored whole or processed to separate mononuclear cells?

•What processing method do you use?

•How many small testing portions are stored with the blood?

•Is the blood stored as a single unit or in compartments ?

•What is the minimum volume they will accept for storage?

•Do they operate their own storage facility or lease space in one? AND In what
type of facility is the bank located?


•Are the cord blood samples in a separate freezer or mixed with other medical
samples?

What type of freezer do you use?

Do you freeze in liquid nitrogen or vapor nitrogen?

•What type of records do my husband and I receive after storage?
 
•Does the contract state that the storage fee is fixed, or may it increase
later?
 
•Does the bank reserve the right, in the contract, to change storage facilities?

•Are you a publicly-held or privately-held company?

•Are you affiliated with a hospital or research institution?

•Are you involved in bio-technology research and development?

•What other medical services do you perform?

•How long have you been banking cord blood? (not the same as how long you've
been in business)

•Who directs the day-to-day business of the company?

•How many privately banked cord blood samples do you hold?

•How many transplants have been performed with your cord blood samples?

•In the event that your company went bankrupt, what would happen to the cord
blood samples?

•If the cord blood is lost or severely delayed during shipping, what liability
does the company accept?

•If the storage fee is not paid, what happens to the cord blood?

•Does you take ANY portion of the cord blood for proprietary purposes, or does
100% go into storage?

•Does you reserve any rights in the contract?
(i.e.reserves the right to change the storage facility)

•Does the contract protect the privacy of my husband's and my health
information, as stipulated by HIPAA regulations?

•Is the enrollment fee charged once per family, or for each birth?

•Is the storage fee guaranteed fixed?

Here is a site with awesome info on it. It's a very short article.

http://www.parentingweekly.com/pregnancy/pregnancy_health_fitness/cord_blood_education_center/how_to_choose_a_cord_blood_bank.asp

We were really for it at first until we started to look into it. I did ask my Dr. and my cousin, who is also a Dr., and both told me no, it isn't worth it. My Obgyn told me to put it into our child's college fund.  My cousin, who just had their 3rd child, thought about it with their second but the research wasn't all there but hte promises looked great. I think they looked at it again when they had their 3rd but decided not to (and these are people that money is no problem).

I do think it is a great program but expensive. My obgyn told me a while back that it was a lot less expensive (just like $1,000 for the initial banking and the 15 yrs. of holding the blood)

If it is that hard to match donations then why can't you donate to the free bank and it still be there if you ever need it? I know there is a possibility that it wont be avaliable but they make it sound like it is impossible to match.

We don't have any health issues in our family so we decided against it.  We may go back and discuss it again when we have our second child.

Oh, and yes, you can use it for anyone in your family (like a half-brother/sister) but the chances of matching go down.