Cord Blood

From what I've noticed, banking your cord blood is all the rave right now. At every class we've taken at the hospital, we've been given information on how to bank your cord blood. The pamphlet usually goes on to explain the number of benefits and life saving results of banking it, etc. I never actually looked into banking it for ourselves, but everything I've read/heard says that typically this is a fairly expensive process. Generally it could cost thousands up front, then you have the added cost of annual storage - which can be hundreds of dollars a year. It just was not something Ryan and I could afford to do.

However, we have also been given our share of paperwork on donating your cord blood. One company that takes donations in particular is the Brady Kohn Foundation. I remember hearing about this company as early as our first appointment and thinking "sure, why not?". Basically what I've gathered is that you donate your cord blood with the hopes of helping others. In the event that your child needs the donated cord blood, if it's still available, you have the opportunity to use it. I have O- (or is it positive? I don't know, either was it's the 'super' blood) and I'm not sure if that really matters much in the way of cord blood, but I figured they'd want my goods.

Being the procrastinator that I sometimes can be I kept thinking "I need to get on top of that" and continued to put it off until about 2 weeks ago. I went online to do a little research and found out that it's not as simple as signing a paper when I check into the hospital, there's a whole process you need to do before hand.

For anyone interested in the process, here's a run down of what needs to be done:

1. Call the foundation (phone number/info can be found on the above link). They will ask you for some information and mail a form for you to fill out.

2. This form will come within a week or so and ask the typical questions they ask when taking blood. A few questions on your sexual history, travel experience, family health and more.

3. You mail the forms back to the company for them to review.

4. They send you a donation package in the mail that you need to take with you to the hospital for the doctors to collect the cord blood and send away for storage.

I'm currently between steps 3 and 4. When I called I was told they were treating my donation as a rush because I waited until the last minute. I would recommend that if it's something you're interested in doing that you take the necessary steps early in your pregnancy. I'm currently concerned that I could go into labor before the package gets here - thus wasting their time and the apparently valuable cord blood.

My paperwork was held up slightly due to an answering error (I guess I answered some questions too quickly) and some concern about places I've traveled. When I was contacted about the questions earlier this week the lady said that she'd get the paperwork signed off on immediately and get the package out to me as soon as she could. Hopefully it will get here soon so that I can have it safely stowed away in my hospital bag before it's too late.