Cord Blood Registry
When you are expecting a new baby it is a very exciting stage in your life. It is exciting to choose names, decorate the nursery and be prepared for when your little bundle of joy arrives.
Although pregnancy sometimes seems to drag on forever, before you know it the big day has arrived and your precious new baby is placed in your arms. When a baby is born the Father often has the privilege of cutting the umbilical cord. One thing you may not have thought about is that the umbilical cord still contains blood – very precious blood.
Cord Blood Registry
The umbilical cord is usually labelled as medical waste, along with the placenta, and is discarded. However, you do have the option of keeping that cord blood by using the services of the cord blood registry; after all you never know if your baby could benefit from that blood at some point in the future.
The practice of storing cord blood has been around for decades and stem cell research has come a long way over recent years. The ability of cord blood to be used to save lives is incredible. As more and more is becoming known about the amazing ability of cord blood, storing cord blood is becoming more and more common.
There has been some debate in the past among doctors with the cord blood registry debating over the benefits of using public over private cord banks. As a parent, your main concern is to do what is best for your child. You want to give them the best opportunities and the best treatments available when it comes to their health.
The debates arise over whether a person should keep their baby’s cord blood for use by their own family if they ever require it or whether cord blood should go to a public cord bank to be used by anyone that needs it. The most obvious choice by a parent is that they keep the cord blood private for their own use should their child ever need it.
It is a Doctors job and passion to help people and save lives. If storing cord blood for public use can save more lives, then that is they choice a Doctor would want. However, as a parent your number one concern is the health of your own child and if you can store that blood to help your own child then that is the choice you would make.
If a person develops a disease that is blood related and they don’t have stored cord blood readily available, they will need to find a loved one that can donate. This is a time consuming process as loved ones are tested to see if they are a match.
If there are no family members that are a match for the child’s blood type, then the next step is to find someone from the public that could be a match. The best hope the child has is that there is a match in the public cord blood bank. If you bank your baby’s cord blood when they are born then you can skip these steps and go straight to using that blood that is already stored and ready for use. This choice is the best choice for your child and their fight against the disease.
It is a tough decision to make when you are deciding to keep cord blood exclusively for your child or to make it public to perhaps save other children. You should weigh the pros and cons before your baby is born as the decision will need to be made when that time comes. Cord blood registry isn’t the easiest decision to make but you need to make the best decision that you are comfortable with and that will most benefit your own child.
