You\u2019re in the middle of your pregnancy. The sickness has subsided slightly and you no longer have to keep it a secret. But with that comes a whole new world of problems that you just hadn\u2019t accounted for. None of your clothes fit, you\u2019re tired and you\u2019re craving everything that you know you shouldn\u2019t be eating.<\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s the advice. Oh, there\u2019s a whole world of advice being thrown at you. Every single person you know (and some who you don\u2019t know) has a little nugget of important advice to give you. Which usually conflicts with the advice that somebody else gave you just yesterday about the exact same thing. Eat this, don\u2019t drink that, you have to shop here, you have to buy this, get this on your birth plan, you need to go private, you should make the most of the NHS, have a home birth. The list is endless and it swarms around in your already tired brain, helping your good friend Pregnancy Insomnia to perform its job well.<\/p>\n
But there are some things that you do need to consider. What sort of birth you want to have, what sort of parents you want to be, names, bedrooms, car seats and cord blood banking.<\/p>\n
What is cord blood banking? It\u2019s a relatively simple process, where a trained healthcare professional attends your birth and takes the blood from the umbilical cord and a sample of the cord tissue. It\u2019s then sent off to a laboratory where a team of clever scientists process them before storing them in liquid nitrogen for 25 years or more.<\/p>\n
And the reason you\u2019d do this is simple; there are millions of cells inside this blood and tissue called stem cells. They can be used in treatments for over 85 different diseases. These treatments are already taking place in the NHS and have been happening for almost 30 years now. But the NHS can\u2019t always source a sample of stem cells that match your DNA. Storing your child\u2019s stem cells at birth could literally save their life one day. You can simply call the cord blood bank, ask them to release the sample and it\u2019ll be sent to your Physician or Consultant to use in a transplant. The best thing is that this is a perfect match to the DNA of your child, meaning that their body won\u2019t reject the treatment. Plus, there\u2019s a 1 in 4 chance that their siblings could use it and Mum and Dad have a chance, too. Like insurance, this is something nobody wants to have to use. But like insurance, it\u2019s a fantastic safety net to have.<\/p>\n
All seem a bit sci-fi to you? It did to me, too. I hadn\u2019t realised that these treatments are already happening, but they are! The technology is already in place to use these stem cells if you need them. And there are over 300 clinical trials happening at the moment into new treatments and therapies, so a sample stored now could be used for any number of treatments in the future.<\/p>\n
What illnesses can be treated using stem cells? There\u2019s a huge list, which I won\u2019t go in to now. But in short, the blood stem cells treat blood related diseases such as leukaemia, anaemia and thalassemia. The stem cells from the tissue are going to be used for regenerative therapies and will hopefully treat things like autism, brain damage and heart disease, to name a few.<\/p>\n
So how do you choose the blood bank for you? Luckily, there are only a few in the UK to choose from and they vary greatly in size and experience. When you\u2019re looking for a scientific organisation to take care of these treasured cells for you, you need to be looking for a few key things:<\/p>\n
Firstly, you want a company who are experienced and heavily regulated. The Human Tissue Authority license is the bare minimum in this industry. I\u2019d be looking for a company who go the extra mile to prove their high quality by earning an MHRA license or authorisation by the American Association of Blood Banks. Those guys are strict, so you\u2019ll know your blood bank are able to provide a quality service if they\u2019re regulated by them.<\/p>\n
Secondly, you\u2019ll want the staff of the company to be efficient and helpful, but not pushy. If they\u2019re emailing you constantly or making claims that they can magic up a load of extra cells, they\u2019re probably not being entirely honest with you. Find the company who listen, advise and don\u2019t push you. Birth is a beautiful but tiring and occasionally stressful process. You don\u2019t need to be dealing with a pushy sales person at that time. You need somebody who can do the job quietly and efficiently with minimal interference in your first few days as a family.<\/p>\n
So what\u2019s next? Once you\u2019ve chosen your company and signed up with them, they should do all of the hard work for you. You will just need to let them know when you go in to labour and they\u2019ll take it from there. You\u2019ll also need to let your Midwife or birthing team know what you\u2019re planning to do and make sure it\u2019s noted on your birth plan.<\/p>\n
What about delayed cord clamping? You should take advice from your Midwife on this. If your baby is very weak or pale, they will probably want you to allow the baby to get some blood before they cut the cord, to give baby more energy and strength. Up to 2 minutes shouldn\u2019t affect the sample too much, but there is only a certain amount of blood in the placenta, so delaying for too much longer may affect the success of the sample. Every birth is different and opinions vary. You need to do what is right for you and your baby at the time.<\/p>\n