Cord Blood

I had no idea what the current state of stem cell research was. It turns out that the blood in the umbilical cord and placenta is useful for treating blood and immune disorders. The question of a public or private cord blood bank comes down to whether you think it's useful to keep your baby's cord blood in case your child is afflicted with some sort of blood disease.

A private bank lets you cryogenically preserve the cord blood for up to 18 years. There's an upfront cost (something like $1000 or so) plus a yearly maintenance fee. According to the article on Wikipedia, treating a child's blood-related disease with their own cord blood may not be wise or effective if the disease relates to their own immune system.

We've decided to contribute our cord blood to a public bank. In Ontario, one of the private cord bank companies also operates a public bank called Victoria Angel Registry of Hope. There's a bunch of forms with medical history to fill out. Once you're accepted, they provide forms for our midwives to complete at the birth and a collection kit. Victoria Angel sends someone to the hospital to pick it up, or, someone can drop it off at Toronto General.