Category: Cord Blood
I’m a certified childbirth education instructor. So, it will come as no surprise that I believe every expectant parent should take a childbirth education class. While formally preparing for labor, birth and postpartum doesn’t guarantee a specific outcome or experience, it does provide a wealth of information. And when it comes to something as unpredictable …
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Something expecting parents should take time to consider is banking their child’s cord blood and cord tissue. Most people I talk to have never even heard about cord blood and tissue banking, so I like to try to raise awareness about what it really is and why it makes sense. It’s actually very simple and …
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Whether you’ve known from day one that you’d be asking for an epidural or have your heart set on a medicine-free birth, here’s the lowdown on epidurals and how they can take some of the pain out of labor and delivery. Remember that we are all individuals and our different thresholds of pain span the …
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This common question comes up often when researching cord blood banking. Why do some banks only offer, 18, 20 or 25 years when other banks offer lifetime banking? Here’s what we know: Cord blood is rich in hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). These cord blood stem cells produce the cellular ingredients necessary for the blood and …
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Tomas’s mom developed pre-eclampsia, a hypertension disorder sometimes developed during pregnancy which can cause serious health risks for both mom and baby, during her fifth month of pregnancy. This high blood pressure pregnancy complication affects kidney and liver function and when left untreated, can lead to blood clotting failure, fluid buildup in the lungs, seizures …
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When leukemia took over young Elham’s health in 2014, her parents were devastated. At just 12 years-old, she would experience pain that no child her age should know. Lost and unsure of how to help their daughter, they didn’t realize that after many unsuccessful tries, their miracle would be what was growing inside of Elham’s …
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Just after she was born, Cameron was diagnosed with Fanconi Anemia (FA), an inherited genetic disorder that attacks cells in bone marrow, eventually leading to bone marrow failure. The prognosis she was given by her doctors caused her family great concern, as most children with this condition do not live into adulthood. At 9 years …
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Bob Knapp is an 86-year-old veteran who has always accepted most of life’s challenges that commonly occur with old age. Recently, however, he developed degenerative disc disease, spinal stenosis and arthritis. The pain affected his back and knees. It became so severe, that he struggled with standing, walking and even getting out of bed. On …
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A patient from London who was HIV positive and diagnosed with cancer, agreed to have a stem cell transplant in hopes of curing his cancer. After treatment, not only was the patient cancer-free, but he is now living his life HIV-free. DNA contains gene CCR5, which almost everyone carries. The CCR5 gene in the stem …
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Baby Zhao was diagnosed with Very Early Onset Irritable Bowel Syndrome, VEO-IBS, just a few days after she was born. This worried Zhao’s parents because they lost their previous daughter to the same disease when she was just a few months old. VEO-IBS is caused by an inherited genetic mutation and is not easily or …
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