Birthday Buddy

My wife and I recently had our first baby, and we decided to look into Cord Blood Banking. This is where stem cells are preserved from the umbilical cord once your baby is born.
CordBlood.com

These stem cells have the ability to create any cell in our blood or immune system. They have been studied for the past 25 years and have been helpful in the treatment of leukemia, sickle-cell anemia, and about 80 other diseases and conditions.

Think of it as an insurance plan… If you want to plan for a medically safe future for your unborn child in what is a pretty affordable plan, why wouldn’t you?

What’s great about the plan is that scientists are continuously finding new ways that the stem cells can be used for and applied towards. They are even looking at how newborn stem cells may be used in the fight against COVID-19 in helping with respiratory complications and damage caused by the disease.

As a bonus, because this is your child, the stem cells may potentially be used/match up with your family (your child’s siblings, yourself and your partner, and even your parents and in-laws) if a condition appears that may be resolved with the stem cells.

After much research we decided to go with:
CordBlood.com (Use this link to receive a discount!)

They had really good reviews, they have a strong and proven foundation (you wouldn’t want to bank with a company and find out later they went out of business), and they have impeccable customer service. Every time I called with questions, they were quick to answer and very knowledgeable.

As soon as I signed up (a month before my wife’s due date), I received the Cord Blood Kit two days later. What makes this amazing is that this was in late April of 2020, and I was concerned because many companies (Amazon, Costco, etc) were being really slow with deliveries due to the pandemic. Costco 2-day shipping was about a month behind schedule and Amazon Prime 2-day shipping was delayed at least a week or two and prioritizing essential deliveries.

I placed the kit into our go-bag and at the hospital, all I had to do was hand it over to the nurse and she took care of it (not that I was expecting to have to collect the blood myself… but I was planning to take pictures and be there for my wife... and I imagine the process is a bit more complicated than setting up a Birthday Buddy Schedule).

After our son was born and everyone was healthy, the nurse ensured the form was filled out and handed back the completed kit. It was simple for me to prepare it for shipment. I called the number and a courier came by within the next couple hours to pick it up. I had been concerned that I would have issues handing it off due to the COVID-19 enhanced security protocols the hospital had enacted (I was not allowed to leave, and there were to be no visitors allowed), but the courier was able to go right up the door of our recovery room and collect the kit.

Shortly after I received word that the kit had been received and was being tested, and not longer after that I received word that the kit had successfully passed their testing requirements and was in good shape to be stored (yay! If it had not passed their criterion, then they would have refunded my the money).

One of the major reasons we ended up going with Cord Blood Registry was pondering 10 years from now, if we had not banked our child’s stem cells and it was needed / could potentially help with an issue, how would we feel. The answer here was not good. Also, if in 10 years, there was absolutely no need to have gotten the service, how would we feel? Peace of mind that it is stored and ready to use if necessary. There were no regrets in any of the scenarios we pondered.

We do not buy insurance because we think something is going to happen. We actually hope that the opposite is true… we stay healthy, do not get into any accidents, and no disasters occur.

However, we still enroll in insurance because things happen, outside our control. You may be the best driver in the world, but because you’re not the only person on the road, it just takes one other person’s attention to be diverted for half a second to put a dent into an otherwise beautiful day.

Let’s face it, nobody predicted that months ago a pandemic would strike the globe and our way of living would dramatically change so suddenly to the point that chances of being able to score toilet paper, even online, were slim to none for a good while.

Again, here is my referral link to CordBlood.com. If you use this link, you will receive $100 off of storing either cord blood or cord tissue. You will save $200 if you store both.

Take a look at the site and do some research.

I think this makes for a great “birthday” gift (for an unborn child).

• Parents as a gift to their unborn child(ren)
• Grandparents and/or other family members to someone expecting
• Registry item (where friends and family may put down towards the kit)

If you have any questions and want to talk about it with me, feel free to reach out to blog@bdaybud.com