Cord Blood - Donate or Let Baby Keep It? - Page 2

[Nan'sMom]

I let both babies keep it. Way easier to do in a homebirth--from what I understand, it is generally hospital policy to clamp and cut instantly. With birth #1 my midwife explained that you have to manage the second stage and cut early to get cord blood. I did a bunch of research and some people (very few) said you could wait and still get some. Also you have to have an extra person at the birth to collect the blood and fuss around after the baby is born. I think that if you're having early clamping anyway, it's a great idea to donate, otherwise, the blood isn't really yours to give--it belongs to your baby, the same way his/her organs do, and is for his/her health.

[velcromom]

After a planned c/s with ds2, we had the staff collect what blood they could from the cord. There was not a chance to let it flow into ds due to the surgery so I decided to bank what we could. My main reason for doing it was that there is a history in dh's family of a disease that is treatable by stem cell transplant. The cord blood can be used by the child, or by a very close relative.

New technology is being developed that would enable the lab to do what they call "cell expansion" which means they could use a sample of the banked blood to grow more of the same cells... thus increasing the amount available for treatment if needed. That would make more treatments available without increasing the need for donations.

In a normal birth I would not collect cord blood.

[Belle]

When I was in labor with my daughter, someone from the redcross talked to me about cord blood donation. We said that we didn't want to because we wanted to wait to cut the cord. The OB was in the room at the time and she said that'd be fine.

She lied. She had my dh cut the cord right away. Even so I don't think that they got enough blood out of the placenta. They were supposed to contact us if anyone used the blood but they never did.

We're having a homebirth this time and it goes without saying that the baby is going to keep the blood.

[jackson's mama]

My son had a cord blood transplant 2 years ago that saved his life, and I will be eternally grateful to the mama who chose to donate her child's cord blood so that my son could live. Donation is a beautiful thing and really can save a life.

That said, I have no problem with letting the baby keep the blood. Honestly, as long as SOMETHING gets done with it, I'm happy! Just don't let it get thrown away... all those precious stem cells down the drain... .

If you are interested in donation, here is a list of hospitals that collect for a local cord blood bank: http://www.marrow.org/ABOUT/NMDP_Net...d_hospitals.pl

If there is no donation facility in your area, visit http://www.cryo-intl.com/ and request information about public donation (their website doesn't have much information, but two friends have donated through them and had good experiences).

[beanma]

i donated my first dd's cord blood. we're actually in the vicinity of Duke although dd1 was born at UNC. i think they share cord blood donations so it's possible that one of the MDC mamas who's little ones have had/might have cord blood transplants might have had my dd1s.

dd2 was born at the local free-standing birth ctr, not in the hospital and they didn't ask us if we wanted to donate and i said i wanted the cord to stop pulsing (not knowing that the two were at odds anyway). if i were to have another child (think we're done with 2) i would be at the birth ctr again so i guess i wouldn't do it, but i'm glad i did it with dd1s. both my girls were fat happy babies (8lbs 11 0z and 9lb 4 oz) and neither had jaundice or any issues as a newborn so it worked out well for us. wouldn't do the hospital birth again, but i'm glad somebody might use the blood.

jackson's mama, i've often thought of jackson and wondered how he was doing. hope all is well.

[mezzaluna]

we asked our OBs to delay cord cutting until after the cord had stopped pulsating, but the OB seemed to just remember the delay cutting part, not the pulsating part. she clamped right away, and then cut at leisure some time later.

it was certainly an advantage to not have him cut off immediately because that meant he had to stay on me and not be whisked away. but i wish we'd been more explicit about not *clamping* right away - i just assumed they didn't clamp until they were ready to cut. so there's my warning - if you want them to get the cord blood, don't just talk about cutting, make sure your provider knows you want to wait on clamping, too!

this time we're doing a homebirth and definitely planning to let things go as naturally as we can stand (not sure i'm up for a full lotus birth experience, but possibly a couple hours before we detach??)