To Cord Blood Bank or Not to Cord Blood Bank

[Diana3]

Lot's of information, thanks Ladies! Now I definitely want to do the delayed cord clamping, and wait until the cord stops pulsating on its own, if there are no medical reasons not to wait. Looks like there would be a lot of benefits to the baby.

 

[Diana3]

My hospital won't do delayed cord clamping. I asked with dd I would do it if I could! They do let us donate though!

It's your choice. They can't make you cut the cord early, even if they say it's policy. You can say "I will be choosing to do this" and they cannot stop you. Of course they let you donate -- they benefit from doing that, but your baby benefits from delayed cord clamping. (Yes, I'm a bitter person!)

If you don't hemorrhage, the very best thing is to wait until after you birth the placenta. That's what my midwives do as a standard.

With my first birth at home, I did hemorrhage so they cut the cord after about 5 minutes. You can wait to see whether there are any signs of hemorrhage before cutting it. With my second birth, I didn't so we waited until after I birthed the placenta.

Check out physiological vs active management of the third stage. I'm guessing your doctor wants to do active management, but there are benefits for doing it physiologically.

Interesting. It's my first baby so I don't know much about the details, and the birth will be at a hospital. How long did it take with your second baby? How long does it typically take for the placenta to come out? I am not sure if they would be willing to wait longer than 2-3 minutes at the hospital to clamp the cord..

It can take up to an hour or more to birth the placenta physiologically, and that's completely normal, there's no reason to rush it unless you're bleeding profusely. I did it that way both times. With my first birth, it took about 15 minutes. With my second birth, it took 30 minutes. There was no rush, I just cuddled my baby until I felt the urge to push it out, and I just stood up in the tub and pushed it out while nursing him. Nursing helps bring on the contractions to birth the placenta. Like I said above, it is YOUR choice how long you wait -- your autonomy overrides hospital policies, but they like to make you think that you don't have a choice. You do.

Thank you Feronia! And thanks for reminding us that, after all, we are the moms and we have more say in how we want the birth process to happen than we realize. It's true that hospitals can make you feel like you don't have much choice and maybe there's pressure to conform to what they want, but ultimately if there are no medical emergencies, the mom should be able to decide what's best for her and her baby.

 

[MolGold]

Thanks ladies, I really have to remember to find out with my OB about the delayed cord clamping. I hope she does it!

 

[Diana3]

Thanks ladies, I really have to remember to find out with my OB about the delayed cord clamping. I hope she does it!

I hope she can do it for you. My Dr said it is now routine at the hospital I'm giving birth at to wait a minute before cutting the cord, while in the past they would cut it immediately. Research proved that it's beneficial to the baby to wait and the medical community is now acknowledging the benefits. Ask your Dr to research it; my Dr said they had a conference about it.

 

[MolGold]

Is this possible in case Ive to undergo a C-section? I am sorry if that's a dumb question!

 

[Diana3]

Is this possible in case Ive to undergo a C-section? I am sorry if that's a dumb question!

From what my Dr said last time, it can still be done but it depends, and probably not for more than a minute, but apparently even that is beneficial. I will ask her more questions next week.

 

[redneckhippy]

I donated to a public bank. As others have said it's free and can greatly benefit others. My MW was still going to delay clamping and then collect the cord blood, however my son was born with no heartbeat, so they ended up having to clamp immediately to begin CPR. I experienced momentarily what its like to see your child and not know if he will live so I pray that his cord blood can help another family whose child is fighting for life.

 

[Tasha]

I want to do delayed clamping (my hospital doesn't do cord blood banking), I'm naturally what is classed as anaemic (my normal hb is around 8-9) so I feel it's important that baby gets as much of the blood as they can. I'm pretty sure they will want to inject me asap as its baby number six, I'm on blood thinners etc. lots to think about.

 

[Feronia]

It's actually best to leave the cord intact if the baby is born not breathing and resuscitate the baby while still attached. Cutting the cord means that you're cutting off the baby's only source of oxygenated blood, and it can give you precious minutes that you wouldn't otherwise have if you cut the cord immediately.

 

[BabyCleo]

Im donating mine, as my hospital offers it. I will also be doing delayed clamping. If ladies are worried about doctors cutting it early - just write it in your birth plan.

I know that banking the blood is a HUGE expense, but its a very personal decision

 

[Feronia]

Im donating mine, as my hospital offers it. I will also be doing delayed clamping. If ladies are worried about doctors cutting it early - just write it in your birth plan.

I know that banking the blood is a HUGE expense, but its a very personal decision

You can't do both. I mean, you can delay for like a minute (which really isn't much) and donate what's left, but hospitals usually want a certain amount of blood, and that amount is incompatible with delayed cord clamping. And it's your baby's blood -- whatever amount you donate would have gone right to your baby and benefited him or her immediately.

 

[Tasha]

It's actually best to leave the cord intact if the baby is born not breathing and resuscitate the baby while still attached. Cutting the cord means that you're cutting off the baby's only source of oxygenated blood, and it can give you precious minutes that you wouldn't otherwise have if you cut the cord immediately.

Surely that only works if the placenta comes away right away? With my babies the resus stuff has been the opposite side of the room, certainly more than the average umbilical cord length.

 

[Feronia]

It's actually best to leave the cord intact if the baby is born not breathing and resuscitate the baby while still attached. Cutting the cord means that you're cutting off the baby's only source of oxygenated blood, and it can give you precious minutes that you wouldn't otherwise have if you cut the cord immediately.

Surely that only works if the placenta comes away right away? With my babies the resus stuff has been the opposite side of the room, certainly more than the average umbilical cord length.

No, the best hospitals and birth centres have the resuscitation equipment right by where the mother births so that they can take advantage of the baby still being attached to the placenta and receiving oxygenated blood. Midwives generally keep their resuscitation equipment nearby on a transportable tray at home births for the same reason.

 

[Tasha]

That's not the case here. I've birthed in four hospitals one of which is where women are sent from all over the UK and there's are not close enough. The average umbilical cord is 50cm and considering some of that is still inside you, it wouldn't reach up to the resus thing even if that was right next to the bed.

Don't get me wrong, as I've said befor I want delayed clamping and I think it's important just trying to understand the logistics of what you've said

 

[Feronia]

That's not the case here. I've birthed in four hospitals one of which is where women are sent from all over the UK and there's are not close enough. The average umbilical cord is 50cm and considering some of that is still inside you, it wouldn't reach up to the resus thing even if that was right next to the bed.

Don't get me wrong, as I've said befor I want delayed clamping and I think it's important just trying to understand the logistics of what you've said

You can read more about the logistics here if you're interested: https://www.midwiferytoday.com/articles/neonatalresus.asp
You only need a firm surface and gear that can be easily transported, which can be done easily with the cord still attached unless it's a VERY short cord.

"The requirements of medicalized neonatal resuscitation are warmth, a firm surface, suction and access to the umbilicus. Other priorities include comfortable position for staff and the ability to draw umbilical blood for cord gas analysis. A warm firm surface can be the bed or surface where baby is born. In this author’s 2011 poll of 34 midwives from around the world, most reported that they perform resuscitation with the cord intact using the bed, side of a pool designed for waterbirth, part of an adult human body (mother or midwife) or a portable board with a warm pack."

 

[Tasha]

Thank you hun. Like I said I want delayed cord clamping, it's very important to me. So I ask the questions to understand and that way if that situation were to arise then I can push for what's best for our baby. Off to read now

 

[redneckhippy]

I didn't have a say in it. He was rushed to the other side of the room in a separate area and a bunch of people came running in. It was very fast. But likr I said, I'm glad his cord blood will help someone else. And despite his rough start he didn't seem to have any I'll effects from having his cord cut right away.