I received this great news yesterday morning, while enjoying a small sip of decaf, before my own baby girl woke up. I started remembering the wonderful feeling of having a little person growing inside me. I remember the happiness and joy mixed with fear and lack of confidence. If you are reading this and you are pregnant, you can relate too.

My friend is in her last trimester and, as I remember, it is time for preparing a nice little crib and planning for the big arrival. It is her first pregnancy, so she is reading a lot on pregnancy and baby care. I know I did the same and I still feel I should have read more and learned more. Time flies and my baby is now crawling.

She even took courses on how to breastfeed and first aid, just like I did. She is now at the point of having to choose the cord blood bank for the stem cells collection and storage. I can recall what a tough decision this was. I remember asking my doctor, the one who monitored my pregnancy and brought my baby girl into this world. He gave a very evasive answer, but it was the one that helped us make the decision and understand the need for storing stem cells.

Luckily, my dearest friend found a cord blood bank that also offers guidance on this matter. CReATe Cord Blood Bank holds regular seminars to educate medical staff and parents to be on cord blood banking and stem cells. They also offer home consultations, they have a special support forum and other online education programs. They allow a tour of the facility and work with an expert courier to ensure the safe and secure transport of the precious cells.

I believe they should go with this one, as the fees are pretty much similar to those of other similar banks. My husband and I are not living in Toronto, but we chose to store stem cells using the services of a bank from Europe, where we are currently located. We chose this because we needed a safety plan for the health of our child, hopefully children in the future.

As stated previously, the thing that really convinced us was what my doctor said. He first said that they have been efficient in many cases, he explained the rarity of such severe cases and then said that there are people in need of stem cells and who do not have this option, because it was not discovered or available when they were born or when they gave birth. So, considering we all have this option, we should take advantage of it and hope to never need to use the cells!