Private cord blood banking (Melbourne)

Hi All,
we are thinking about doing private cord blood banking for our 2nd child due in about 6 weeks. For our first, 4 years ago, this was unavailable. During this 4 years a lot has changed and is now available almost anywhere.
Wanted to find out any experiences you may have had with private collection. We live in Melbourne and I am giving birth in a public hospital. (this is relevant since there is a fee for collection in a public hospital).
There are 3 companies that I found (Cellcare, Cryosite and Stemlife) and they all offer the same service for a similar fee. ($2995 - $3270 with all fees in a lump sum payment). I have an opinion on all three companies and wanted to know if any of you went with any of them and what were your experiences.
Thanks very much!

Hi barb I don't know much about it. But have a read about how important delayed cord clamping is then decide about storing it. Good luck x

Thanks Boomba. Unfortunately delayed cord clamping and cord blood collection are not compatible. They either do one or the other. I know how important delayed cord clamping is, unfortunately I hear that it's absolutely up to the present doctor's view to delay it or not. And unfortunately usually the latter happens no matter what the mother's views on it. If the hospital could guarantee that they would not clamp the cord for x minutes I would not hesitate to go with that instead of the pricey collection. I give birth in a public hospital (Monash) so I don't even know which doctor will I have. If I was private I could perhaps talk to my doctor about this. IF ANY OF YOU HAD ANY EXPERIENCES WITH THIS IN A PUBLIC HOSPITAL PLEASE LET ME KNOW! HOW DO YOU INSIST ON IT? And in the heat of the moment I can't even trust myself to pay attention to a detail like this....
Thanks again!

On the delayed clamping in a public hospital thing... I had that, as far as I know. My doula and husband both let midwives know, and I think I brought it up at some point too. Make sure your "team" know how important it is to you, and have them watching and making sure it's done. Even if the cord is clamped early, as long as it's not cut it can still be unclamped!

Where did you read delayed clamping and blood collection are mutually exclusive? I've read the opposite - you obviously don't get as much blood, but they can still collect the leftover blood once the cord had stopped pulsing. There's also the option of going halfway by clamping a little later than usual, but not letting the cord stop pulsating, and then collect it.

You do have options, I promise!

Hi Barb,

We did delayed cord clamping through a public hospital, with DS. I spoke to a midwife at my 30 ish week appointment, she was very against it and told me (some absolute rubbish) it was dangerous and I would be risking my sons life but ultimately it was up to me. I stuck with it, write it into my birth preferences (birth plan). The midwife on the day followed my both plan to the letter, but if she hadn't my DF was there and would have pulled her up on it.

I think having it in writing helps as it's harder to ignore and it goes on record. I also made sure I was well educated on it so I could argue my case if need be.

HTH

I'm quite passionate about delayed cord clamping, but also think the idea of storing stem cells is great too. I had a couple of discussions with the people from Cellcare (who were great on the phone) and they basically said that they now have the technology to work out the quantity of stem cells in a blood sample. They used to have a minimum amount of blood that they would store (so if you did delayed cord clamping then couldn't get enough blood it wouldn't get stored). They are now able to determine how rich the blood is with stem cells and if it is rich enough they will still store it. This means that you can do delayed cord clamping and still have stem cells stored if they are able to get a sample that is rich enough in stem cells. No guarantee though and the collection kit costs $500 regardless of whether they get a viable sample or not.

As for ensuring delayed cord clamping in a public hospital, well it should be the same as in a private hospital. Take a copy of your birth plan on paper and give it to the midwives when you first arrive. They should put it on the top of your chart. Make sure your partner of birthing partner also know about it. A good thing is to ask them to let you feel the cord once it has stopped pulsing. It's not a common request, so one that should stand out to them and be remembered. I felt the cord after both of my daughter's were born and confirmed that it had stopped pulsing. The midwives at all three of my births were fantastic about it and even made sure I didn't get the synthetic oxytocin injection while the cord was still attached (as per our request). Remember, the midwives generally really do want you to have the best birth possible, and as that differs for each woman, you need to let them know what your ideal birth would be :)

We had delayed cord clamping too at public hospital. We were very insistent abt it. I had an independent midwife & DH there. I think the midwives knew not to challenge us too much because we fought for a dark room, we fought to control the gas, we fought for more and more delays, so I think they expected it. The cord wasn't clamp for at least an hour +.

I think they keys are plan, persistence & clear instructions with a diplomatic level of assertion. Understand your reasons for why you want it. We also asked specific questions like 'why do we need to clamp it now? How does this affect me? How does this affect my baby? How long can we leave it on for max? What are the risks?'

When you start asking the intricate questions I find they tend to back down. All the best!


Sent from my smart phone using Tapatalk.(Occasional fat fingers syndrome might occur)

I have been at a birth where cord clamping was delayed for around 1 minute, and then cord blood was taken for treatment (of another sibling) so to do both is possible. However if you want to do delayed cord clamping all you have to do is insist on it. Have it in your birth plan and, if possible, have midwifery care rather than obstetric care as midwives are usually very used to delayed cord clamping. If you have obstetric care you will still have a midwife so ensure that they are aware of your wishes but it is so commonplace nowadays to delay cord clamping that I doubt it will be an issue for you.

With my last baby I used Cryosite for the cord blood storage. I gave birth in a public hospital too. The company will actually assign you a person who will come out and do what needs doing. Obviously you need to tell them when you go into labour and then have a guesstimate of how long it will be. Midwives can usually tell :) My guy had to come from Sydney so he needed the extra time to get up to Newcastle. We didn't do delayed clamping as we needed a lot of blood but he got heaps - thank goodness. Cryosite were great to work with. We paid the initial fee and then when bubs was born we paid another $1000 and then got to pay it off over a few months. Hope this is the type of information you needed.