Remember your first visit? Remember grabbing all of those brochures? Remember those cute little babies looking at you, trying to make sure you do the right thing? After all, what kind of a parent are you if you can't even find the thousands of dollars to invest in preserving your newborn's umbilical cord blood?
And then, after a while, you see these babies everywhere. They're on the doctor's wall, the blood bank company's name is on the doctor's pen. The hospital's welcome package. Hiding between all the paperwork you get in the classes. Do these companies own our hospitals? And since when are we so clear about Class in this country? Aren't we supposed to hide the fact that rich people live longer and better?
So then you either get the money to save the blood, or you don't. And if you don't, you hope for the best, spending your time wondering if you've done the right thing. After all, you could have just applied for a new credit card, no?
So it's always a small joy to read an article that says that in Australia, not only do many hospitals refuse to allow the collection of the blood by private companies (parents can still donate the blood for free to a public bank), but a report indicates that although Australian parents have spent millions in storage costs, none has been used yet.
Maybe it's one less thing to feel guilty about? At least until the next time?
