It’s 2:00 am and your awake. Between your soon to be bundle of joy kicking, and the heartburn (A sign of a head full of hair!) you have found yourself here. Now that you’re here why don’t we discuss Stem Cells, and the promise they can hold for the baby’s and your family’s future.

Unlike other kinds of cells found in the body, stem cells are cells that have the unique ability to divide, and renewing themselves over long periods of time. This ability separates them from other cells in the body like blood cells, brain cells, and muscle cells. These cells do not divide or renew themselves. When they are damaged or die they are gone forever.

Stem cells naturally reside in the adult body, and tend to generate the type of cells of the tissue in which they reside. An example would be bone marrow. Stem cells in bone marrow tend to generate into healthy blood cells. Bone marrow transplants have been used for years to help treat illnesses like Leukemia.

Stem cells are the building blocks of our tissues, blood, and immune system. Because of this they hold great promise for treatment of various illnesses and diseases. Today stem cells are used in the treatment of close to 80 diseases. New research is working on ways to use stem cells to treat all kinds of damaged cells. Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and spinal cord injury.

What’s this got to do with my baby? Plenty. When you give birth there are two things that could become of what was once considered “Biohazardous Medical Waste”

This waste is the placenta, the umbilical cord, and the blood contained in it. This former waste is an abundant source of YOUR baby’s stem cells. You can either waste these stem cells or you can BANK them.

Just like a savings account you can bank your baby’s stem cells into what commonly called a “Blood Bank” or more recently a “Stem Cell Bank”. Stem cells are removed from the cord blood in the laboratory and then cryogenically frozen for future use.

Until recently only the stem cells from the cord blood could be harvested. But now there is a new process for harvesting stem cells from the Placenta as well. This allows you to bank 2 units of stem cells not just one! These stem cells can be used to help your baby, a sibling, or another family member in the event of illness.

There are lots of critics who will say that this is not necessary. They will tell you that the research into treatments using stem cells are years away! Not so. Treatments for illness and disease using stem cells are being performed everyday. With the promise of several more in the future.

If you told my mom when I was born in 1964 that man would soon walk on the moon. That before my current mid life crisis that I would be able to get on the phone and drive all over the county on a phone in my ear, that I could take a TV dinner out of the freezer and be able to eat it hot in 5 minutes, that I could write an article and in 2 minutes people all over the world could be reading it translated into their language, that I could take her picture and look at it in a frame in under a minute, she would ask the doctor to give you a DRUG TEST! Of course they did not have those readily available in 1964 either. You get my point. The promise of the future is endless. So why not give your baby, and your family the most hope for their future as possible. Bank your baby‘s placenta and cord blood stem cells. For more information please go to my web site to find out how easy this process is and how to do it.