As if you didn’t have enough to worry about, now you’ve got to figure out if storing your child’s umbilical cord blood might just save his or her life. With the advent of amazing and clinically tested stem cell treatments, today’s expecting parents are faced with the real possibility that their child may one day require a stem cell transplant. Umbilical cords, with a host of hematopoietic (blood-developing) stem cells, may be puffy tubes filled with the equivalent of medical miracles. So, to store or not to store, that is the question. Let’s take a look at the benefits, costs, likely uses, and possible alternatives to freezing the umbilical cord blood of your baby. There’s a video about the collection method itself, after the break.

Here’s a short list of horrible illnesses that your child could develop and that might keep you awake at night: leukemia, lymphoma, aplastic anemia, severe sickle cell anemia, immune deficiencies, and heart disease. Each of these disasters are can be treated with hematopoietic stem cells. While you could get these cells from a bone marrow transplant, an umbilical cord allows a child to provide it’s own donation. So, if you chose to store your child’s cord blood, and he or she gets hit by one of the above disasters, you may be on your way to the ‘most cautious and loving parent award.’

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