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Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

Cord blood/stem cell storage or donation

8 replies

G1nger · 22/03/2011 18:08

Does anyone have any experience of, or opinions on, this, please? I'm not sure whether to do anything at all, or if to store or donate it, or how. Thanks.

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StickThemWithThePointyEnd · 22/03/2011 18:21

I'd rather my baby have the blood from the cord, but if there is a reason I can't have delayed clamping I'm not opposed to donating it instead...

midwifethinking.com/2011/02/10/cord-blood-collection-confessions-of-a-vampire-midwife/

G1nger · 22/03/2011 18:26

Thanks for that Ivy. I had absolutely no idea...

Do you - or anyone else - happen to know if I'll be allowed to deliver the placenta without the cord being cut, and if the injection they might give me to speed up the placental delivery might interfere with this? If not, I can certainly add this to my list of questions to ask a midwife at my next appointment.

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StickThemWithThePointyEnd · 22/03/2011 19:16

is there any reason why you have to have the injection?
there isn't a problem in delivering the placenta without cutting the cord if you have a physiological third stage, but I'm not sure what it's like if you have an active third stage.

With DC1 I had delayed cord clamping, then had the injection because it was an induction, but by the time the cord had stopped pulsating the placenta had completely come away anyway.

MrsBloomingTroll · 22/03/2011 20:54

Yes, we did stem cell storage with DD a few years back. We used Virgin Health Bank. We chose them because we like the concept of them storing some of the blood for your child to use if needed, but then making some available for donation if needed for others.

There was a thread about this recently on 'Childbirth' and someone on there was very adamant that it's all a load of b*llocks, but personally I think it's worth the gamble of a couple of thousand quid if it might save my child's life in future years. We're going to do the same for DC2, due later this year.

I think there are some hospitals in London which participate in a donation scheme. I saw something on TV about it a few years back, but don't recall the details other than a very grateful stem cell recipient telling their story.

Virgin Health Bank were excellent, really good customer service and the pack was clear to understand. The main arse-ache was arranging the on-call phlebotomist (independent of the hospital) to come and hang around until I'd given birth to take the blood. That cost a few hundred quid.

As it happened, DD got her hands tangled up around her head and I was given an injection of some kind and episiotomy in order to help deliver her after a few hours of pushing. Because I'd had the injection (even though it didn't have time to take effect for DD's birth - the episiotomy did the trick!), I couldn't then deliver the placenta naturally, so that wasn't an issue anyway, and DD was a little distressed, so the cord was cut and done very quickly. I didn't even know anything about the placental delivery. It was whisked away for the phlebotomist to do her thing.

My advice would be that if you can afford it, do it.

HTH.

trixie123 · 22/03/2011 22:28

there are 8 centres in the uk where you can donate the cord blood. two of them are Luton & Dunstable and Watford. I think if you just google it you'll find the relevant site.

ladylaffers · 28/03/2011 17:11

I have donated my cord blood to the Anthony Nolan cord blood bank twice now an would definitely recommend it.
my children were born at Kings college hospital in London which promotes this fantastic program.
It doesn't hurt, you do not have to change any of your birth plans to do it and its free! although the blood is not saved for my children if there should ever be a time ( hope never) when a life saving stem cell transplant is needed if enough people can donate, the central bank can grow increasing the likelyhood of a match.
There is more info at www.anthonynolan.org/What-you-can-do/Donate-your-umbilical-cord.aspx

lilly13 · 29/03/2011 12:16

I plan to store cord/cord blood with Smart Cells. Basically, I look at it as an insurance policy which costs are negligible if spread over 25 years (storage timeframe)... There are a few threads from the past with detailed info on companies and individual experiences. You can find them if you do a topic search. I am not sure about donation -- you should ask your hospital...

oggybags · 29/03/2011 15:19

At my group of hospitals they ask if youd like to donate it to the anthony nolan trust for treatment against leukemia etc - is that what you meant, or just private storage?

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