Cord Blood Donation - Placentia,CA

Please let me know if you find a way to do it! I am delivering at Saddleback Hospital in October and am having a really hard time finding a company to handle the donation. Like you, I don't want to bank it for myself, but don't want it to go to waste either.
Please send me a private message if you find out anything concrete.

K.
http://oc.citymommy.com - connect with and get advice from local moms!

S., such a coincidence that you ask this question. An article on the subject was published in TIME magazine recently, It provides you the perfect and easy answer. Go to http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,###-###-...

or go to the Time Magazine website and do a search on the subject.

We chose delayed cord clamping for all our babies and didn't cut the cord until long after it stopped pulsating. It's a smoother transition for the baby because they get the oxygen rich blood that was intended for them. I suggest researching delayed cord clamping/cutting as well as the cord blood donation to see if you can donate cord blood if cord clamping is delayed.

Peace,
J.

Like Missy, I banked with CBR. It was so simple. My OBGYN recommended CBR. He said he banked his own children's blood there. He felt they had the best reputation and he liked that they were in Arizona where you don't have to worry about natural disasters taking out a storage facility. I now have 2 children and used CBR for both of them.

If you contact them, they can answer all of your questions and go over all of the payment options. With my daughter we paid it in full and my son we had to do payments over a 6 month period (no interest). They also offer discounts so be sure to ask. After you pay around $1500 for the initial collection, there is a storage fee of $150/yr for 18 yrs. If you pay that in one lump sum, they also offer more discounts.

After you agree to bank with them, they will send you a kit. Be sure to bring it to the hospital. Also, inform your doctor that you want to do this. Mine did not charge extra, nor did the hospital. After the baby is born and the blood is collected (completely painless) CBR gets notified and someone arrives within 4 hrs to take it.

I banked because my MIL was diagnosed with leukemia while I was pregnant and a friend of mine lost her 7 year old to leukemia all around the same time. I would rather throw away the money and never use the stem cells than to not bank and hate myself forever for not investing in something so simple. I truly hope I wasted my money! But just in case....

Definitely discuss this with your OBGYN . Also, CBR (or any other bank) would probably be happy to answer any questions/concerns for you. Congrats to you! May you have happy, healthy birthing and a happy, healthy baby!!!

I looked into it too. Generally, doctor's dont reccomend it unless you have a significant family history of some disease. You can do either private or public banking. Both will require you to probably pay the doctor extra to extract it and put it into the special container. The public bank wont cost any extra beyond that and you can use the blood at anytime unless someone is a match then they will use it. But there might be another match if you need it. The private bank charges a yearly fee and its expensive but it only for you. You can talk to your doctor but we decided not to do it.

It's a great and EASY thing to do! Simply sign the forms you'll be given in advance by your doctor or the hospital where you plan to deliver. I did it with both of my kids. The cord blood will be stored and available to help others who are a match, and if something happens to you or one of your children, most likely it will be there to help you. If you go a private route like ViaCord, you do have to pay a yearly storage fee, but you're the only person who can access it.

We banked with ViaCord and after reading the answers below, our experience was 100% identical to "Mandy's".
We decided to bank with a private company & pay the storage fees because we didn't want to take the chance of donating it and then possibly needing some later and have a match for our Daughter not be available. We want our Daughter's cord blood to be available to her at anytime (or if she has a sibling, they can also use it) if necessary. We asked our Doctor his opinion before doing any of this and he said that if we have the money to pay for it, he thinks it's a great idea. He thought it was better to spend the money on it and not end up needing it rather than not store it and need it later. However, if you don't have the money to store it, I would suggest donating it and just pray to God that if your child ever needs it that a match will be available. The whole process is totally easy, the hardest part is remembering to pack your kit to take w/you to the hospital when it's time! You'll have a lot of stuff on your mind :)
When we did ask the Nurses at the Hospital what we're supposed to do w/the kit once we got there, they advised us that they will have the blood collected as a courtesy without charging us. So, you may want to ask the Hospital you'll be having the baby at what their policy is about cord blood so you're not trying to figure things out at the last minute.
And on a side note, while researching you'll find that the whole cord blood topic is quite a controversial issue. I've read about Doctors who support it and others who think it's total BS and don't believe in it. Bottom line to me is that it's better to be safe than sorry. If there's even a slight chance that this simple procedure could save my Daughter's life in the future, without a doubt I'll take the chance of losing a bit of $ to do it!

It was something we wanted to do, but none of the services I was able to find work with the hospital where we're delivering (due in 11 days). If you find a place that works with your hospital, I believe the process itself is rather simple. Best wishes!

Don't do it!! That blood belongs to your baby. Please research delayed cord clamping. Don't cut the cord until it has stopped pulsing. This makes a much easier transition for your baby. I am a midwife and we never cut the cord until it has stopped pulsing.

Lisa

our hospital didnt offer it, which made me super sad as I wanted to donate it. I would call the hospital where you intend to deliver and see if they do it.

I think cord blood donation is a wonderful idea! My husband and I had no intention of paying to keep our son's cord blood (we couldn't afford it, and from what we learned about the science, we decided not to go into debt for it) but were eager to donate to help someone else if possible. Sadly, our hospital does not participate. The first step you should take is to make sure your hospital allows donation. If they do, they should be able to tell you about the process. Good luck.

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.
Good luck with the rest of your pregancy and I'm glad you're looking into cord blood banking. :-)

There is a local blood cord banking company in Irvine, CA called PacifiCord. Their process of banking cord blood is impressive and really worth looking into. They also offer monthly payments without interest which makes it really afforable. They also offer tours of their facility. The donation of cord blood is good, however something like 60% of donations are thrown out because they have certain criterias that need to be met. It wouldn't hurt to look into PacifiCord...that's the company I'm going with after much research into all the big large companies. Good luck!

Hi S.-

My son is now 11 and the benefits of cord blood was just then becoming public and main stream. We didn't know about banking the cord blood but we did donate it to the blood bank. If you choose to donate it then I would call your local blood bank and ask them what the details are. In my case, I had a kit that I brought to the hospital. The Dr. put the blood in the kit and then called a number and the blood bank picked it up. It was soooo easy, and hopefully we saved lives by our donation. Our children were born in San Diego so we went out of the San DIego Blood bank. If you don't get the answers in your neighbor, SD Blood bank has a 800 number, maybe they can steer you in the right direction.

Good luck and Congratulations!

Stephanie

i have also read that the cord blood is not only beneficial for your child but in the future because it has the mother's blood as well-if the mother is sick in the future SHE may benefit as well. something to think about in terms of private banking...

It does not take a lot to make happen but you will want to talk to your doctor/hospital to be sure they are aware of your intent. There is paperwork you will have to complete in advance. Unless something has changed, I believe at least of the companies will provide the first year for free (or the collection, I forget which) if your child's APGAR score is below a certain number. I was set to do it IF the number was low....it wasn't and our daugther is perfectly healthy (Thank GOD!)

I realize you're talking about donation, but I thought I'd bring another aspect of this subject up, in case it's relevant to yours or anyone else's situation. I definitely recommend it, especially if yours is a mixed marriage and there's ever a need for a match that may be difficult to find. We arranged for our daughter's cord blood to be harvested & stored at California Cryobank, which is near our home. The storage is $125 a year & definitely worth the peace of mind, as she is of mixed nationalities. Neither of us would likely be a match anyway, as we are an adoptive family. At the time of her birth, we had no idea what kind of relationship, if any, we'd have with her birth parents, so we did what seemed the best plan at the time. I can't recall what the cost for harvesting her cord blood was, but it was eleven years ago, so it would be different now. In my opinion, it's one of the things that we absolutely had to do.

In reading the responses I noticed one by a midwife who does not advocate the practice, as apparently it's done while the blood is pulsing. I didn't know about that, and I supposed I'd have really agonized over it if I'd known before our daughter was born, in the fear that it would cause a problem. If you do decide to do it, ask if there is a way of waiting for the blood to stop pulsing. I am very grateful to know that if my daughter is ever diagnosed with an illness such as leukemia, her own cord blood cells will be there for her to help in her treatment.

Congratulations on the upcoming birth of your child. I wish you & your family all the best,
Colleen