Is anyone banking cord blood?

I'm sure we've all read about the benefits of saving your baby's cord blood stem cells and how help protect your family's health. I ordered the info packets and they claim they can now treat 70 diseases and the number of treatable conditions will undoubtedly increase each year. Anyone have any thoughts on cost vs. benefits or compelling stories?

[saj39]

I am actually considering it. I didn't with the others and it seem like such an awesome thing. What about you?

Sheri 32 wks

[nylena]

We are going to do it,we basically trust our dr 's opinion who says it's propably worth it,you never know...I really don't think they can treat so many diseases right now  but still..I'm in Europe,and the cost will be like 1650euros,do you know how much it'll be for you?When are you due?
nylena,34w1d

[stephie4]

I'm not banking it for myself, but some hospitals let you donate it... so if mine does, I will.

[tahariel]

With my first, the hospital asked if they could have the cord blood because they said my blood type is more rare than others, which I wasn't aware. Because of that reason, with our second, we decided bank the cord blood. Not sure yet if we will with this baby too. I believe there is a discounted fee for additional bankings, but I haven't checked into it yet. I'll add it to my long list of things to do before May.

[LisaRG]

We banked our daughters when she was born 3 years ago.
It cost $2000, but it's worth it even if the odds are that we will never use it.

[waitn838]

i did it with my son and ill do it again with this one too


it didnt cost me anything to bank my sons blood so we'll see how much this costs this time

[sleepless_mom]

I was thinking I'll do it, seems like one of those what-if scenarios. Like leukemia--it works for that already!

So who draws the blood? Is it your doc? I'm using a midwife and I heard it's a tricky thing to draw cord blood and it takes some expertise. Do the hospitals have someone on staff just for that?

So it seems like CBR and ViaCord are the big banks--anyone else choose  a different bank or have a specific reason for choosing one over the other?

[Brown Eyed Gurl]

I asked my DR about it and he said that not many people around here do it cause it's so expensive.....he said it doesn't cost anything to donate it but the need for donated blood isnt' that high anymore......he said it was up to us but he doesn't have many that do it.

[Tennesseegirl]

I thought the hospitals did this automaticly, as far as donations wise. thanks for the link... ill read up on it.