Banking On Cord Blood

On an initial visit to my OB/GYN’s office early in my pregnancy, I couldn’t help but notice the brochures about banking my baby’s cord blood. Once I started reading them, I got scared. All these diseases my child could get! Banking cord blood seemed like the only way to save my child’s life! 

It seemed like a no-brainer until I decided to do a little research and discovered there is a lot of missing information and misinformation in those brochures and posters.  Let me be clear that I am not a medical professional.  I am just a mom who did extensive — but not exhaustive — research about cord blood banking. There is no substitute for doing the legwork yourself and coming to your own conclusions.

My Son's First Birthday

This morning when we went downstairs for breakfast, my husband announced to everyone, “It’s my son’s first birthday!” This seemed like a huge turnaround in his attitude from just a week ago. As Aiven’s first birthday approached, Alex begrudged much of my preparations. To him, it wasn’t worth it to make a big deal about his birthday since he wasn’t going to remember it anyway. Also, since money’s tight right now, he felt that it would be better spent on other things or kept in reserve. A few days ago, in a moment of frustration, I blurted out that Aiven’s birthday was as much about me as it was about him.  It was an epiphany for my husband and myself.