on the fence about cord blood? this may help...

i have done previous posts on cord blood.  we all have our opinions about it, right?  here is an article on today's cnn.com about how most kids cannot be treated for the very diseases that the banks advertise (leukemia, sickle cell anemia and more) with their own cord blood cells, because the cells have the same "problematic dna".  here, this pediatric bone and marrow transplant doctor, haydar frangoul, says it better:

"it would be ridiculous to use the child's own cells.  it would be like taking someone with cystic fibrosis who needs a lung transplant and giving them back their own diseased lung."

the article has good info on how there are now free public banks that we will likely all benefit from in the future.  plus, as suspected, the private banks will have an abundance of cord blood that may not be able to be used for the original newborn donor.

photo via here.

great site for natural health information

most of us can gather western medical information pretty easily....call your doctor, ask your mom, or google a topic.  but where can you go when you want to learn about the other end of the spectrum?...meaning, perhaps an eastern philosophy on health or homeopathy or curing/avoiding illness with nutrition.

there is a website that--yes some may call fanatical--i always go to because it is very thorough and is good about listing its sources.  it is mercola.com and run by dr. joseph mercola who is a doctor of osteopathic medicine.  an osteopathic physician's training is similar to an md, but has a greater emphasis on primary care and holistic health. he is legit, has been published in the british medical journal on numerous occasions, and has incredible information on his site.  he's truly down for the cause.

here are just a few of his many articles about pregnancy, infants, etc to check out:

"having a baby?  do it naturally."

"clamp the umbilical cord early and risk injuring your child's brain"

"letter from parents to their doctor on their upcoming delivery"

"antibiotic use by pregnant women should be minimized"

"very important vaccine question"

try to check out the "related articles" list at the bottom of each article if you would like further reading.  plus, also at the bottom, readers write in and comment which can sometimes be helpful.  finally, mercola offers a full assortment of natural products ranging from pink himalayan salt to safe sunscreen to a set of non-teflon, non-toxic ceramic cookware.

cord blood--to bank or not to bank?

this is just one of those things in life where you have to go with your gut and make your own decision (darn it!). do you want to interrupt stem cells from flowing through the umbilical cord into your baby after birth in order to remove blood for banking? will the baby benefit more from getting all of the stem cells at birth---or some at birth and maybe some later?  we believed that getting all of them at birth would help our baby build a strong immune system that would ultimately help prevent diseases.

we also suspected that there may be an excess of banked cord blood/stem cells if we were ever in need.

while we're on the topic, after your baby is born, it is best to allow the cord to pulse until it completely stops before doing anything to it (clamping, etc).  also, the baby should ideally be lying on your belly or in a similarly low position so the blood can flow smoothly through the umbilical cord to him.  if you feel strongly about this, be sure it is in your birth plan.

pregnant? worried about what the placenta feels like coming out?

let's put it this way, if you are doing an unmedicated birth...you don't even need to worry for 2 seconds about whether it is difficult or painful to "push" the placenta out. i had a natural birth and everything after the baby came out was a blur.  meaning, the doctor mentioned something about a couple of stitches and maybe at some point the placenta came up in conversation...but i basically felt none of this.  pushing out a baby's head trumps everything so far.....and immediately thereafter, you are on the biggest high of your life---flooded with love and love hormones galore!

UPDATE : spoke recently with a friend who had a natural birth and her placenta did not detach quickly on its own, so doctor had to manually remove it.  this is a painful procedure, yet very rare.  if you have an epidural, pain is minimal.