{"id":65,"date":"2015-06-16T03:39:28","date_gmt":"2015-06-16T03:39:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.yaronglazer.com\/?p=65"},"modified":"2015-06-16T03:40:47","modified_gmt":"2015-06-16T03:40:47","slug":"the-futurist-father-cord-blood-banking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.yaronglazer.com\/?p=65","title":{"rendered":"The Futurist Father – Cord Blood Banking"},"content":{"rendered":"

My first child was born last week. Shortly after the delivery, I was handed a pair of surgical scissors and asked to cut the umbilical cord. Blood shot out and sprayed everyone within spitting distance, and my baby daughter was rushed aside to be cleaned and stabilized while two nurses went about collecting the remainder of her cord blood and samples of her cord tissue. Later that night, a courier came for the collection kit, and by the next afternoon Aviva\u2019s cord blood was in cold storage somewhere out in Arizona. Probably in a top-secret, state-of-the-art facility deep beneath the desert.<\/p>\n

The ritualistic nature of the birth experience lingered with me for days after. By ritualistic I mean to include the physical processes of labor, and the sharing of birth stories with friends and family before and after, rituals that extend back to the roots of humanity. I also mean to include the cutting of the umbilical cord, a distinctly modern ritual with no lineage I can trace, no doubt an attempt to nudge fathers from spectator to participant. But I mean to include as well the banking of cord blood and tissue, an option today that may yet become a ritual in its own right.<\/p>\n

Whether to bank your newborn\u2019s cord blood and tissue is almost certainly the first decision with futurist implications that you as a parent will get to make. (There are plenty of pre-natal decisions with such implications, but technically you\u2019re not a parent yet when you make them.) As with most thorny futurist topics, it presents an optimization problem without a simple or universal answer. I\u2019ll try to help by spelling out some of the pros and cons and suggesting a good framework for making your decision.<\/p>\n

Cord Blood Banking Explained<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cord blood and tissue are rich in certain types of stem cells, which can be used in some medical treatments today, and likely many more in the future. They can be collected from the severed umbilical cord post-birth, cryopreserved, and stored for later use. You can find an informative overview from the Parent\u2019s Guide to Cord Blood Foundation here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Some cons of cord blood banking:<\/p>\n