Our first grandchild, Julia Lynn was born during the horror of Katrina on Aug. 29. She is beautiful, and seems to be a much more manageable baby than her mom was! (lol) We thought of changing DW Sue's name to Rose Mary during our third child's two year tantrum!
Anyway, does anyone know whether cord blood is worth saving, or is it just another scam? LoL info has raised my antennae, and something doesn't seem kosher to me. What is the chance of it ever being useful? One in a thousand? For $2400 it seems rather steep insurance. Also, can't the blood go bad over the years? How do we get the money back if it does? Thank you in advance. Rejoicing, Bob :smile:

Bob, I no nothing about cord blood, but I wanted to say CONGRATULATIONS! :flowers:

I'm afraid I can't answer your questions, Rotch, with any confidence. I'm sure you've started a literature search on this, though; and, if not, try PubMed.

More importantly for now: CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! Is this your first grandchild? I really like the name Julia. It's quite uncommon these days, and both lovely and strong. Glad to hear she's being manageable for now. (Check in with us in, oh, 13 years of so :wink: .)

:flowers: :flowers: :flowers:

I too, have no idea about cord blood, but I wanted to say CONGRATUALTIONS!

Are you with the new family now? I hope you are getting lots of snuggling time! There is nothing better than holding a sleeping baby...sigh.:cloud9:

Cordblood is supposed to last forever (cryogenically preserved, frozen way-cold) and is supposed to be particularly helpful for certain kinds of cancers (the kind for which you'd do a marrow-transplant). IF you have a strong family history of such cancers, then it's a good deal. (odds of rejection is radically reduced) If not, then it is expensive insurance. And many hospitals won't do the collection, AND you have to get the information/applicatio going while the woman is probably in her 7th month of pregnancy, in order for the company to GET the collection-kit to you in time....all taht stuff. Of course, the harvest of the cordblood has to happen right there in the delivery room...

I used to give out info to my Lamaze students, but it was a moot point because of the lateness of our initiation of the process (the women are well into their seventh month when they come to class), and then the hospital said they weren't interested in doing it (bad PR, but that's what they said)

That's all *I* know about it. And congrats!!!

TY all so much! Yes, she's our first, to the third of our four daughters. It's sucha high to have a baby in our family again! She was almost named Azalea, but DD's best friend hated the name. LJ, yeah, sounds like pricey insurance. Special thank you, Lisa Janey, for the info. I trust most folks here ahead of generic internet info. Best, Bob :grin:

Congratulations Grandpa!!

I also don't know much about the cord blood banking issue, which is shameful considering my past occupation (Certified Nurse Midwife), but I like what LJ had to say about it.

By the way, tell us more about little Julia... Does she have a lot of hair?

Welcome to the world, Julia Lynn! :cloud9: Congratulations, Bob! :grin:

Thank you so much, Wholeheart Mom and Tresses! You are so kind! :grin: Bob

Congrats on the new grandbaby, Rotch! Julia is such a beautiful name.

Such little miracles :) My sister-in-law just had her first little baby. LItlle boy. He is sooooooooooooo precious.

Congratulations Rotch! I'm sure she's just a doll! :pinkgrin: Enjoy her!!

Congratulations!

I read in the paper that it is good to donate the cord blood, but the baby who gave it will probably never need it so saving it is just a waste.

Bob,

First, congratulations!

Second, my thoughts on cord blood. Stem cells really are amazing, and I personally happen to be very against retreiving them from aborted fetuses. Banking my dd's cord blood was an out of the question expense, and as none of the disorders for which stem cells are currently used happen to be prevalent in my family, there was no relative that might use them immediately, not any particularly strong fear that we would need it down the line. So we chose to donate it. I figured if I gave freely now, maybe, if my daughter was ever in need, someone else would be giving freely to her then. Call it karma or whatever. I tried contacting the local Red Cross, but they either don't have the facilities or the interest. I think they were the ones who gave me the name of a bank in Florida, although it might have been someone at the nearby research hospital. I remember that I called both, looking for someone interested in the cord blood. Anyway, the Florida bank sent me a kit and flyers (I asked for them to share with the gals in my childbirth class who were interested in donating). I showed the kit to my OB, who read the instructions, signed the forms, and asked me to pack the collection kit in my hospital bag, lest he forget it. Collection was easy, painless, cost nothing to myself or the OB or hospital. The next morning I called the toll free number and they sent a courier to pick it up. I hope it helped someone. I believe two of the other women in my childbirth class did the same, and at least one of them did it again when her son was born this year. Her births were both c-sections, and mine was vaginal. It shouldn't make a difference, although you have to indicate the delivery method on one of the forms.

However...I don't think I'd do it again. My preference would be to allow the cord blood to return to the baby, and only clamp and cut the cord after it has stopped pulsing. I believe that cord blood is rich wonderful stuff for a good reason--to help get a newborn who has just been through the rigors of birth off to a good start. I don't have guilt over the decision to donate last time, because I'd chosen a hospital birth and because there was meconium in the water, her cord was clamped and cut immediately and she was taken from me very fast (she was fine). The plan had been to clamp immediately (for collection), but her father was to have had the option of cutting the cord and she was supposed to be given to me immediately. I do regret my decision to go to a hospital, but once I was there and once they had justification to contradict my birthplan, there was no real chance that she would have gotten to reabsorb her cord blood. If I were going to a hospital again, I'd probably have the kit handy, just in case they wouldn't "allow" delayed clamping of the cord. So, I raise my glass to homebirth, plan to do it next time, and sign off, having deposited my two cents.

Don't worry about cord blood. Just enjoy the baby.