I don't know how many people think about their baby's cord blood, but my new doctor gave me some pamphlets at my first visit plus there was some discussion on the DC Urban Moms forum about Private Storage vs. Public Donation so I've been thinking about it quite a bit.

After doing some research we've discovered that the odds that our child or anyone else in our family would be able to use the cord blood is somewhere in the 1:2,700 to 1:20,000 range. At those odds, I don't see the point in paying $2000 to collect the blood and $125/year to store it. While the stem cells from cord blood can be used to treat diseases, if our baby has leukemia, the cord blood is going to have leukemia and won't be of any use to anyone. Since we both come from pretty healthy families we've opted to donate the cord blood so it might help someone else or go towards research.

Unfortunately, my hospital doesn't participate in the donation program, but the National Marrow Donor Program refers people to Cryobanks International which will arrange to provide the doctor with a collection kit. They will also send a courier to pick up the cord blood from the non-participating hospital and will forward the donation to the National Marrow registry.

It does say to submit the paperwork before the 34th week of pregnancy to make sure all the arrangements can be made in time. I've passed the initial screening and have downloaded the 14 page application. Four pages about the program, risks & benefits, confidentiality, etc. followed by seven pages of yes/no questions and then a few more pages for the doctor so she knows my intention to donate and that I am consenting to HIV screening for the donation.

At my most recent prenatal visit I told my doctor I was interested in cord blood donation. She said wasn't aware of such a program in our area, but I told her there was an agency that would pick up the blood if the doctor was willing to collect the sample. As a registered marrow donor herself, she seemed enthusiastic about the donation option and asked for more information. I'm very excited that it looks like we will be able to be donors.