Cord Blood Banking

Is anyone planning on doing this? My doc mentioned it yesterday and said that NSLIJ Manhasset doesn't collect anymore (I think for the NYS bank?) and he gave me brochures for CBR and VIACORD and recommended if we decide to do it that we should do it for both babies....I haven't done any research yet so I figured I'd start here and see if anyone else has some info on it...Thanks!

Re: Cord Blood Banking

I just got a folder from LIJ Katz & it had the brochure about them collecting donated samples...etc

We were just going to do that

Cord Blood Banking

We did it with ours. We went with Viacord but my friends just had her babies and she went with CBR. She said it was better? When I was pregnant we went to a seminar and ended up signing up with viacord. I don't know what the differences are but I figured it is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I hope it was a big waste of money and I never have to use it but I am glad it is there. I wish we had done the placenta saving thing too though since that is supposed to be better for treating cancers. I saw on TV that 1 in 3 women and 1 in 2 men will have cancer in their lives. I regret not doing both. My friends had a son before we had kids and they didn't save his blood even though they could definitely afford it. He is 3 now and is autistic. I just saw something recently about cord blood and autism and I though about them and what that could possibly have meant for him.

It's pretty unlikely that you will actually need it but if you can afford it it is a once in a lifetime opportunity. You do need to save both though because some of the treatments only work with your own cord blood. You can get public donated cord blood, even though a sibling can be better, but your own treats much more than getting donated CB.

They have payment plans so you don't have to pay it all upfront.

Re: Cord Blood Banking

A friend of mine just told me that NYS doesn't collect on Saturdays and if they do collect on another day you are not guaranteed to have your samples available when you need them (because someone else might be a match for them before you godforbid need them). I'm gonna call CBR today because I also heard "they're better"...who knows who's better, hopefully none of us will ever have to use them!!

Re: Cord Blood Banking

Just thought I'd share what I learned from CBR in case anyone is interested...

Total cost for cord blood banking for 1st year for twins (includes sample pick up at hospital, processing and storage for the first year) is $2890 (which includes a $1000 discount for twins and an additional $350 off because I would be making my decision before my 31st week of the pregnancy). Then each year the cost for storing the two samples would be $250 total.

They also offer cord tissue collection and storage which would be $720 for the first year for one baby (only recommend that its done for 1 child because it has a broader use for the family as opposed to cord blood) and storage would be an additional $125 per year after the first year.

They have payment plans and also offer interest free financing for 1st year through Care Credit (credit check required). They told me a number of advantages of choosing them over some other companies or NYS banking. If it weren't for the high cost I would have agreed to everything over the phone but the cost is definitely holding me back...This is definitely something that DH and I need to sit down and really think about!

Cord Blood Banking

Viacord was about the same. I don't know why CBR is better. We just got hooked in at the viacord seminar. They explained why THEY were better than CBR, but I really have no idea if thats true or not. I think they are pretty much the same.

We did 12 payments and they charged our CC each month. Then we paid the credit card back with our tax refund.

I agree , I hope it was a biggest waste of money we ever spent :O)

Message edited 10/3/2012 3:29:05 PM.