cord blood banking - Page 2

[pinkgreenbean]

Originally Posted by babymommy2

Also you have to sign up quite early, I think by 30 weeks? I can't quite remember.

You must complete all forms prior to your 34th week of pregnancy!! And the qualifying info is pretty basic, if you aren't diseased or newly tatooed, you are good to go basically.

[Pinoikoi]

Originally Posted by pinkgreenbean

Cord blood donation is available in ANY STATE!

Here is the link to donate from ANY state:
http://cryo-intl.com/enroll/donating/

Can you please point me to the area where it says it is available in any state?

[pinkgeek]

Originally Posted by SuzieQ3417

You have to check with your individual hospital. We're not going to bank the blood (agree with others on the cost vs. benefit), and instead wanted to donate it, but unfortunately our hospital does not participate in cord blood donation (I actually think it is more to do with the state of Maryland...stupid IMO considering how beneficial cord blood can be - someone should be able to use it).

I also live in Maryland and found this: http://fha.maryland.gov/mch/cord_blood.cfm

I'm guessing that because MD doesn't have any public cord blood banks, many hospitals aren't participating - there is a link to the National Marrow Donor Program and they say that they may be able to help find a bank in another state that will accept the donation.

[mum5]

just subbing for more info.

[Keeta]

We did it with our first and our doing it with our second. The first time our midwife strongly encouraged it, and after doing our own research we decided it was worth the money for us. But we are super risk averse, so we tend to play things safe in most circumstances. I would just hate to need it down the road and then not have it, y'know? And the science can only get better and better, IMHO.

We use CBR and have found the whole thing extremely easy to do. Oh, and I don't think the cord clamping was delayed with my first, but my midwife this time said that we definitely could, no problem. They made a big point that the baby was the priority and that if he required the blood for whatever reason at birth then the cord blood may or may not get banked (there's a certain time window that it has to be collected). Sounds like the right set of priorities to me.

[sanguine_speed]

Originally Posted by Keeta

They made a big point that the baby was the priority and that if he required the blood for whatever reason at birth then the cord blood may or may not get banked (there's a certain time window that it has to be collected). Sounds like the right set of priorities to me.

The perspective that I see this issue from is that the blood is always "needed" by the baby at birth. It is always better that the baby receive a full supply of blood at birth.
Under what circumstances is your midwife saying that baby would demonstrate this need? Does she think most babies are just as well without it?

[Keeta]

Originally Posted by sanguine_speed

The perspective that I see this issue from is that the blood is always "needed" by the baby at birth. It is always better that the baby receive a full supply of blood at birth.
Under what circumstances is your midwife saying that baby would demonstrate this need? Does she think most babies are just as well without it?

Like I said, my particular midwife does delay cord clamping AND will do cord blood collection after the delay; we're just not doing a lotus style birth or whatever. She said that the circumstances of preventing the cord blood collection were if the baby were having trouble breathing or pinking up or just in any kind of distress whatsoever (mild or otherwise). The issue is timing, I believe. I think she said after 20-25 minutes or so the cord blood is no longer collectible, so it's just a window you have to work with. I personally think you can have the best of both worlds as long as your baby is not in any kind of distress at birth, apgars are normal, etc.

[hapersmion]

Originally Posted by pinkgreenbean

You must complete all forms prior to your 34th week of pregnancy!! And the qualifying info is pretty basic, if you aren't diseased or newly tatooed, you are good to go basically.

They use mostly the same set of questions that you'll get when you give blood. My set of questions from Lifebank/Celgene (here's a link now that I'm less lazy: http://www.lifebankusa.com/) was a bit more extensive than regular blood donation questions, with some family history stuff in there, but nothing too bad. And we barely squeaked by the deadline - I'm due next month and just got my kit yesterday.

With regard to the time frame for cord clamping, my midwife also mentioned that after a certain point the blood in the cord will clot up, but I think she was saying it's something like 20 minutes from the time the cord stops pulsing, rather than 20 minutes from the birth. She says there should be no problem waiting until the baby has gotten all his/her blood, and then still getting enough to donate. That was our experience last time as well. If we waited and then didn't have enough to donate, that would be too bad, but of course we wouldn't clamp early just to get the blood. And with Lifebank, you can still send in the placenta even if you don't get enough cord blood, I think.

[hapersmion]

Oh, one other thing people might like to know - a blood draw is required from the mother as well, to donate. It's a blood bank requirement, because they can't test the cord blood for diseases, because the baby might not have had a chance to develop antibodies yet. So you'd have to put up with a needle stick yourself within some amount of time after giving birth (wouldn't have to be right that second, your blood will keep). That disturbed my midwife a bit, since she feels a bit bad about sticking me when I've just had a baby and might still be bleeding. I don't care, though, I'm used to needles from giving blood. *shrug*

The weird thing was that I can't for the life of me remember that happening after my first birth, when we donated with the same company. Maybe I had other things on my mind, maybe they've changed the requirements since then...

[Hannah32]

I'd like to do the public banking. First, we don't really have the money for private banking. Secondly, I like the karma aspect. We try and help someone and if its ever necessary, hope that someone will be there to help us.

[Keeta]

Originally Posted by Hannah32

I'd like to do the public banking. First, we don't really have the money for private banking. Secondly, I like the karma aspect. We try and help someone and if its ever necessary, hope that someone will be there to help us.

I wish the public option was available to us, but unfortunately it's not for a homebirth where I live (WA).

And hapersmion, I totally don't remember my blood draw from the first time around, either! When the CBR guy called the other day to go over the last minute instructions he mentioned that, and in my head I was all, "Whaaaa?" But the first couple hours after birth are so surreal that I could have had the blood drawn by a panda and I probably wouldn't remember it!

[bcrn]

At our birthcenter the midwives wait for the cord to stop pulsating then obtain the cord blood.Afew years ago we would have to weigh the specimen to see if was worth sending. Now you send whatever you collect usually because quantity does not equal amount of actual stem cells. The donating bank that will accept from ooh birthing center is new england cordblood bank. You just never know who in your life may be in need of these life saving cells

[Tiffanoodle]

I talked to my OB about this today. All I asked was if she had any experience with cord blood donation. She said yes, she did. She wrote down some companies for banking and one for donation. I asked if there were any different procedures if we donated versus not. She said no, that we can definitely wait until the cord stops pulsing (I didn't even have to say anything about that) in most cases. If the cord is around the neck, we can't wait but there's not many other situations that would require clamping right away. I printed the application and filled it out today.

[is it puppies?]

I was sad to see that I can't donate cord blood because both myself and my husband have had acupuncture! I have been trying to give away my O- for SO long now I finally thought I'd be able to (have missed out due to piercings then traveling then pregnancy and finally acupuncture!)

[Thalia]

Originally Posted by Keeta

Like I said, my particular midwife does delay cord clamping AND will do cord blood collection after the delay; She said that the circumstances of preventing the cord blood collection were if the baby were having trouble breathing or pinking up or just in any kind of distress whatsoever (mild or otherwise).

Originally Posted by hapersmion

Oh, one other thing people might like to know - a blood draw is required from the mother as well, to donate.

The weird thing was that I can't for the life of me remember that happening after my first birth, when we donated with the same company. Maybe I had other things on my mind, maybe they've changed the requirements since then...

Originally Posted by is it puppies?

I was sad to see that I can't donate cord blood because both myself and my husband have had acupuncture! I have been trying to give away my O- for SO long now I finally thought I'd be able to (have missed out due to piercings then traveling then pregnancy and finally acupuncture!)

We donated DD's cord blood. We didn't want to pay for storage and wanted the chance to give another family the gift of life.

Our midwife said we could donate even if we wanted to delay cord clamping. DD had trouble breathing at birth due to meconium inhalation, so we ended up having to cut the cord pretty quickly anyway.

I had acupuncture right before her birth and it wasn't a problem for my donation.