Charitable Decision

Anyone who is pregnant now or has been pregnant (recently, anyway) probably has experienced the influx of "coupons" and informational packets that come with things like buying maternity clothes. I know that any coupons or information that come to the house for "Stephanie Pavlov" have come from companies who bought a list from the Destination Maternity store in Cherry Hill. For some reason, they can't get my name spelled correctly there.

Anyway, so a lot of the information that comes to the house, or to my e-mail, is about cord blood banking. Once your baby is born, you have the option of preserving his or her cord blood. Because it's full of all the goodness that helps fetuses grow -- i.e. stem cells -- it holds promise to help cure any number of diseases and disorders, or at least participate in finding those cures. From what I've read, it's not necessarily useful for the baby him- or herself, though, because if that baby develops any kind of genetic issue that would require stem cell-from-cord blood intervention, well, then the genetically diseased stem cells wouldn't solve the problem. However, siblings and other family members -- or others -- can benefit from the nutrient-rich blood. It seems like a waste to me to just throw away this resource.

That last point brings me to my decision. Unfortunately, because it's still so rare, cord blood banking is awfully expensive. It's about $1,000 to harvest the blood once the baby is born, and then it's about $125-$150 per year to store it. Given that you are never sure when, or if, you'll be using this, the baby's blood could be stored in this bank for years and years and years. Who can afford that?

Donating this cord blood, however, is free if your hospital collects it. It just so happens that Virtua -- where I'll be delivering -- does. I'll contact the New Jersey Cord Blood Bank a month or two before the baby is born, and they'll determine if we (the baby and me!) are an eligible donor. Then the baby's first act, basically after taking that breath, will be a charitable one!