cord blood collection

[deepa100]

Hi All,
Has anyone opted for this? It sounds rather expensive and I doubt that the insurance companies would ocver it.

[kholtan]

My insurance did not cover it but I did research it a little anyway. After looking at our families medical history, along with our OB we determined that there just wasn't enough reason for us to do it. There were virtually no illnesses in our families that chord blood is used for at this time and the advances are slower than the add companies would like you to think. Since our twins are fraternal, we would also have to save both of them and it just wasn't worth it for us at this time.

We do know a few people that did it but they aslo has reason to believe that it would be useful for the particular child. If money were of no question, perhaps we would do it. It's a personal choice but good luck making the call.

Take care!
Kimberly

[wanttodiscuss]

With our first child we save the cord blood and we will with our second as well. We think it is worth it, but we are into that kind of thing. (We invest in a stem cell company as well.) All in all it is unlikely that you will use it, but you never know. I think alot of places it is paid for if you donate it to a cord blood bank. (That means it won't necessarily be there for your child, but someone may be able to benefit from it.) If you decide not to pay for it yourself, you may want to look into to donating it if it is paid for. I know I've read about that, but not sure where.

[FionaA]

Hellooo

I am definately going to be saving the Chord Blood. We are lucky in Australia as the government pays $4,000 when we have a baby, so I will be using most of that for the collection and storage. It is pretty pricey and I'm sure that's a major consideration for a lot of people.

Fee

[Malinka]

deepa great topic thanks! i was thinking about saving cord blood, just in case. I still don't have time to read in detail about it, can somebody provide summary pliz( I know sorry, I am a lazy bum:))

So Kimberly, for twins if they are fraternal, we would have to save both?
I was under impression that it helps not only the child whose cord they are going to use, but their simblings too, no?

[deepa100]

I posted on a different forum and a lady that is a med student thinks there is not enough info to invest in this. She told me to put my money in a college fund for the kid instead.

[kholtan]

From what I read and discussed with my OB, unless the twins are identical, the odds are you would need to save both babies blood. It would be very slim that they would be a match for one another. VERY SLIM! I could never do one and not the other and donation is just too cloudy for us.
We are torn up over our left over embrios and until I am 100% certain they don't do any sort of research that actually begins the the developmental stages of what could be a baby, it's not for me. I wish I could be more selfless but as far as donation goes but I'm not there yet.
It just isn't where it needs to be for us to invest in it at this time.
It would be nice if we just had the extra money and could do it just in case but we really had to weigh it out and do the pro's and con's.
Best of luck to everyone trying to decide.

[deepa100]

We have decided not to bother. My OB didn't seem to be all that excited about it. He gets paid 325 bucks if we do it but he neither encouraged us nor discouraged us. But I have a feeling if I tell him next week that we decided not to do it, he will whole heartedly agree with us. I also read somewhere that the chances of the baby/some one in the family will need it is 1 in 1500. I go to a university where stem cell research is big and I have yet to hear miracle stories about how stem cells did wonders for someone.
But then again, it is an individual decision. Feel free to keep this thread open for the benefit of newly pregnant women.