donating cord blood?

Have any of you done this? How do you go about doing so? I asked my doctor about it today and she didn't know anything about donating it. She was like , "people do that?!"

Re: donating cord blood?

Yes, I did this at LIJ. Some rep. from the cord blood donation co. came the OR while I was being prepped for my c-section and I had to sign some papers. The next day, I think she drew blood...I can't remember a lot, but I did it. I didn't set it up in advance.

Re: donating cord blood?

We're donating our cord blood. We're using Cryobanks International.
http://www.cryo-intl.com/enroll/donating/

You have to answer some health questions on their web site and then they'll allow you to download the enrollment forms. You, DH, and your OB have to fill some stuff out and then you mail the forms to them. Someone from their office will call you to verify some information and then they send you a cord blood kit via Priority Mail.

The OB does the collection at delivery and a courier from their company is called to pick up the the cord blood.

You have the option to privately bank with them, but then you have to pay fees. If you choose to publicly donate, then there's nothing to pay.

Our OB is used to doing private donations- doing this public donation will be a first for him!

Re: donating cord blood?

my OB was very informed about it - they recommended Viacord.

I thought about publicly donating, but depending on your hospital, they may not have someone available to do this when you deliver and it's definitely not gauranteed to happen.

Doing so privately, you arrange everything before the baby is born and bring the kit to the hospital so it's all set and super easy. then you call the company to pick it up once you deliver