I thought about it too with Faith but the cost seemed to high. If we do have a third I think I will do it. Since we will not need to buy anything for the third baby it may seem like something we can do. Plus having more than one kid now I can't imagine having to ask one to be hurt to save the other. Even if they would want to I don't think I could see two of my kids in pain.
Jenn
 

I didn't do it but my friend, who has zero worries about finances, did it with at least her first one. She said there is then a maintenance fee for keeping it each year as well.
 

The maintenance fee isn't bad... it's about $100 a year. It's the initial collection fee that's killing me... over $2K. However... IF one of my children ever actually had something where that cord blood came in handy, that $2K would seem like a drop in the bucket. (sigh) I dunno... Apparently, you can also do public c.b. banking, which means the blood would be available for anyone for whom it was a match. However, if you ever needed it, and yours was still available, you could get to it.
 

How long is it usable for? That's my primary concern with it. If you stored it, I read it is only usable for a few years anyways and after that studies are lacking. I'm not doing it, not that I am against it. It's not about the cost per se, more about the likelihood of every being able to use it. The marketing is brilliant b/c who is going to turn down the chance to save their baby, right? But from what I have read the chances of using it are pretty unlikely-- like winning the mega-millions lottery unlikely. My friend just did it for her first baby though. She thought I was crazy not to. I dunno. I should research more myself.
 

The hype of the commercials/marketing is definitely meant to pull at your heart strings (and purse strings). And like you said, it is worth it if your kid gets sick. We didn't do it so I guess we're taking the odds.

Really though, based on what they know about stem cells from cord blood, they should bank everyone's b/c then wouldn't it be helpful to everyone??? That is what I don't understand. But I guess it takes money to harvest/store and where's the money in that for the companies doing it now?