banking your baby's blood cord?

[boosty]

my doctor mentioned that i should definately consider banking my babys cord blood. i will be having a c-section in two months and this is something i have always wanted to do. i want to knwo if anyone has done it and how much does it cost . i know youre probably paying monthly. how does it work. viacord?

[boosty]

wow. thats great info. thank you very much. i think i am going to do it just incase and Godforbid we will ever need it. my husband never knew his father so he doesnt know his full background. i dont quite know all the things that this cord blood may cure, but we have some diabetes, and some other little things in the family. my fathers grandma had breast for 20 years. i am going to do it and maybe one day hopefully donate too , hoping that i wont need it either. thank you very much. youre a good person and have a great heart.

[wifeofpa]

Banking your babys cord blood is an excellent program. My husband and I looked into it with our two youngest children (as it wasn't offered with our 3 older ones). There are a couple of things you must consider and weigh against the cost. Do you have a genetic history of health concerns. This would be the reason you would bank cord blood, or if your child should develop a form of cancer down the road.  Yes, the cost is a monthly payment to pay for the cryo, and it isn't cheap. However, you need to look into family histories on both sides. Cord blood is primarily used as "stem cells".  I have a 17 year old that has had chronic blood issues and at one time was thought to have ALL. The cure for this is Bone Marrow or Stem Cell transplants.  Fortunately we did not have to undergo that, but there are kids everywhere who do. Kids with cancer undergo Chemo to destroy their marrow and need to obviously replace it from a donor. We decided to donate our childrens cord blood for that exact reason, we knew that the cord blood would be tested and used to save a child in desperate need of stem cell transplant. And the beauty of it is that stem cells don't require a "match". Everyone can use them.  I don't remember the exact company but you can look online. We were sent the collection package which we took to our physician to look at, we then brought it with us at delivery. The hospital called the courier provided by the company and it was sent. Very smooth, and our children now have a certificate in their baby books that they can see how they may have saved a life of another child :).  Donating the cord blood was totally free. I wish more people would consider cord blood donation. Good Luck and Congratulations.