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?
My wife and I considered this for our first daughter and didn't even talk about it for our second. I'm glad we didn't do it either - thanks for helping me feel less guilty about one thing!
ReplyDeleteHmm ... I wonder if we are still paying for this ...
ReplyDeleteTyler, thanks. It wasn't an easy decision. And of course making that decision involved every decision I've made in life, because I'd been having fun instead of saving for the future, and now I needed money to save my baby's blood, because why else would they advertise everywhere, if it wasn't essential? But it's not. Just like most things you spend money on during the first year.
ReplyDeleteUncool, I'm sure you are, no? Unless it's being used to keep Cheney healthy.
guilt, ah, that most constant companion of most parents.
ReplyDeleteWe didn't save the cord blood either, and that is something I do not feel guilty about.
BTW, so good to see blogs from dads.
Thank you, Kelly. If we don't feel guilty about the cord, we'll find something else to feel guilty about. Hopefully, when he's a teenager, my son will let me know exactly what I did wrong every second of his life.
ReplyDeleteWe have two sons, 13 & 6, and while the discussion did come up briefly before our second born, we never paid it much attention.
ReplyDeleteWe figured it would be great to have, but since there was no hard and firm evidence, I thought it a lot like those stories of people who pursue cryogenics, that they would freeze themselves near death in the hopes of science finding a cure in the future.
No guilt 6 years ago, and certainly none today.
I don't know how it was six years ago, but assuming things were the same, it was very difficult to ignore. This little baby in the picture was looking at us all the time, reminding us that we should have worked harder and that obviously if we couldn't afford this thing we shouldn't have had a baby.
ReplyDeleteStill, the nerd in me wants to freeze himself, just to be able to see the future.