Cord blood donation
During our information sessions in the hospital last summer, we learned about cord blood donation. In the standard set of documentation received, there were also info sheets. And it seemed so obvious & easy to do: donate my cord blood donation to the hospital's cord blood bank (1 out of 2 in Belgium).
The procedure is painless, effortless and hopefully you can help someone with the stem cells in the blood one day. So I was happy to fill in the donation questionnaire & approval form over the summer and put it on top of the little suitcase that was waiting for the moment I'd need it to go to the hospital. (for some reason you must fill in the sheet before you go into active labour...does that mean women in labour are not capable of making decisions? Do we miss the capacity at that moment??). The document was dreadful but I was happy to have filled it in on time.
When arriving in the hospital during my labour, I was capable though to remind Jan and the nurse to get it out of the suitcase and ensure it was registered. And while I was finally holding our little Kabouter for the first moments on my belly, the nurses tapped unnoticed (by me) my cord blood needed for the donation.
Last week I received a letter from the hospital that my cord blood has not been banked. Apparently they could not extract sufficient quantity to use for the donation. I feel so disappointed now that my donation failed :( . I had truly hoped that it'd help someone someday. Maybe I should start giving regular blood instead. I'm ashamed to say I've never done that so far.
Cord blood is a sample of blood taken from a newborn baby's umbilical cord. It is a rich source of stem cells, which have been used in the treatment of over 80 disease[citation needed], including leukemia, lymphoma and anemia. (source Wikipedia)
The procedure is painless, effortless and hopefully you can help someone with the stem cells in the blood one day. So I was happy to fill in the donation questionnaire & approval form over the summer and put it on top of the little suitcase that was waiting for the moment I'd need it to go to the hospital. (for some reason you must fill in the sheet before you go into active labour...does that mean women in labour are not capable of making decisions? Do we miss the capacity at that moment??). The document was dreadful but I was happy to have filled it in on time.
When arriving in the hospital during my labour, I was capable though to remind Jan and the nurse to get it out of the suitcase and ensure it was registered. And while I was finally holding our little Kabouter for the first moments on my belly, the nurses tapped unnoticed (by me) my cord blood needed for the donation.
Last week I received a letter from the hospital that my cord blood has not been banked. Apparently they could not extract sufficient quantity to use for the donation. I feel so disappointed now that my donation failed :( . I had truly hoped that it'd help someone someday. Maybe I should start giving regular blood instead. I'm ashamed to say I've never done that so far.
Comments
So the letter in fact informed us that we would not need to do those things.