Cord Blood Banking - Plano,TX

We did bank both kids cord blood but I think, looking back, it would have been wiser to donate it and skip the expense.

Please research delayed cord clamping. The blood you take out of the umbilical cord to bank is blood that belongs to your baby. There are vital stem cells that your baby does not get if you clamp the cord right away. Also, by not clamping the cord right away you make it a much easier transition to life outside the womb.

Lisa

I would have loved to, but it was way too expensive!

IF there was history of those particular diseases in our family, we would have considered banking but the cost was way to expensive otherwise.

I loved the idea of donating it though! It was hard for us to find a place to donate to, but found them via the web. We got our package and made sure our doctor was willing... she did it and it got sent off, but it got rejected by the company b/c it wasn't enough blood or something. so we didn't try again.

We used Cord Blood Registry when my daughter was born.
http://www.cordblood.com/
We chose them because they've been in the business of cord blood banking for many, many years and their facilities are located in Tucson, AZ. They had worked many times with our hospital and our doctor, so everyone was familiar with the collection process and my doctor even had the collection kits at his office. He confirmed our choice in companies as a good one, stating they were a solid company who knew what they were doing. I packed the kit in my hospital bag, after the birth my doctor collected the cord blood and we simply called CBR who sent a courrier service to our room to collect our kit and take it to the banking facility. They were able to extract more than 5 times the amount of cells they needed from our daughter's sample. It wasn't cheap by any means (about $1900 for the collection and first year of banking), but the did offer us a discount when asked and you don't have to pay until you actually send them the collection kit. The yearly banking fee is very reasonable ($150). They are constantly doing research for more and better uses for stem cells and send a regular newsletter to keep us apprised of their work.
We plan on having 3 more children and will bank at least one more child's blood in the future, as cord blood stem cells can often be used not just for the child they came from, but also for parents, grandparents and siblings.
I should add that we didn't pay our doctor anything extra to do the collection and CBR is private banking, so your cord blood stem cells can only be used if you withdraw them.
I have a friend who donated her sons' cord blood and it still cost her almost the same to collect it for donation as it would have to collect it for private banking.
Good luck with the rest of your pregancy and I'm glad you're looking into cord blood banking. :-)

We did not bank because of the expense, but if I had known about donation, I would have done it. I recently read about a place to donate cord blood and if your child ever needs cord blood, you may use someone else's donated blood at no cost to you as long as the right type blood is available. Not sure who or where the bank is located, but it sounds like a great alternative if the expense of banking your own child's blood is too expensive.

I have been wondering the same thing myself. I did not bank my son's cord blood, but I am pregnant again. After reading your question, I did a quick google search of "is cord blood banking worth it" and found some interesting information. The ABC site said cord blood cannot be used to treat any genetic condition because the condition would be found in every cell. A siblings cord blood or a donor cord blood would work better.

On the other hand, I tried to donate cord blood when my son was born and they said they didn't collect donated cord blood. I will try to donate again this time around. I think if everyone donated cord blood we would be a whole lot better off than a match with similar defects. Babies are born all the time, if collecting donated cord blood becomes routine, there should be something out there if we every need it.

I too researched this and not to bank it for ourselves but to donate it, as of last year there were only 2 hospitals in the entire DFW area that would be willing to donate. I don't remember where or how I found it. I think just searching the web and finally coming across the bank based in San Antonio? Anyway, there is that consideration as well.

We used CBR with my first child for many of the same reasons as Missy F. After doing my research I was leaning toward them and then my OB inadvertantly told me that she had banked there (I was able to figure it out based on something she said) -- and I figured if it was good enough for her -- then it was good enough for me ;-) I am pregnant with my second child and plan to do the same.

One of the reasons we chose to bank in particular was because I am white and my husband is mexican. Based on the research I did -- In the event that you need cord cells it is often harder to find a match if your child is a mixed race. We also have some family history of things that may be cured by stem cells at some point. So we opted to privately store instead of donating.

We used care credit and were able to finance it at zero % interest over a year or so.