Ignorance is bliss

As of today, I'm 35 weeks pregnant so only a week more of bed rest to go! I've been a bit crampy this morning, but nothing too consistent so I'm hopeful that a hospital visit is not in our future for today. So far, so good!

I've been wanting to cover the topic of cord blood banking and newborn screening for a while, but it's a pretty hefty topic to tackle (in my opinion), which has left the task daunting. I think what makes it so hefty is that we now have these expanded options (at a cost, and some of the costs are quite significant), so if you knowingly have the option and opt out of this extra security or knowledge, what does that say about you? This is the battle that I have personally struggled with. For example, you can bank your baby's cord blood and keep it just in case a genetic condition is diagnosed. Now, my understanding is that most cord blood isn't even beneficial for the actual child, but potentially siblings or other family members ... so do you take out this extra insurance policy, for thousands of dollars, just in case?

And then there's newborn screening. We live in New York, a state that tests for quite a few rare diseases (I believe 50 in total), but there are four that are not screened for. So do we pay the extra $250 for those four diseases, that are SUPER rare and without treatment options? They aren't even recommended by the March of Dimes (NY does test for all of those, and some extras), so who is the organization that is saying they should be screened for? I honestly don't know. It was something the cord blood banking company threw at me when I told them we weren't going to bank our baby's cord blood. And why didn't they bring up this option before we had made that decision? Then it seemed like they were just trying to sell me something, anything, and it felt like going to Babies R Us and being told I needed a diaper wipe warmer (by the way, I don't think we need one and don't have one, nor want one) and if you don't get one, you're a bad mom. Sales people are sales people.

Ugh.

Our decision has been no to both, in part because it was honestly too much to think about! Now this may sound lazy, but there are so many other things that need to be researched and learned during this 9 month period and I honestly found it overwhelming to add one more thing. And due to the multiple thousands of dollars of costs associated with cord blood banking and storage, I didn't think it was a decision that we should make without doing our homework. And certainly, not everyone can afford to do this, so what does that say about our healthcare system and our society, if it is so important?

And what if something happens to our child or maybe the next kid and we could have made a difference by taking out, what is essentially, this extra insurance policy? Then I will feel incredibly guilty, but from what I've heard, guilt and parenthood are two words that go together often.