Cord blood donation

A couple of people had asked about whether we would have issues doing the cord blood donation, because of the situation of having used a sperm donor. I am happy to report that, for Cryobank International anyway, the answer is a resounding "no problem!"

We just had to complete family disease information for our donor, so as long as you have access to that information, then it's no big deal. (Our donor additionally reported that the only disease in his immediate family was social conservativism on his brother's behalf, but pointed out that it was unlikely to be hereditary and thus being left off the forms.) A week or two after sending off the forms, Stephanie heard back from the blood bank that everything is in order. They're shipping the collection kit soon, and including an extra copy of the forms (we checked on our doula's advice because apparently this has been an issue in the past).

The only thing that can be an obstacle to the donation process now is the timing - we can't donate over the weekend because there's no courier service from Friday afternoon to Sunday... so if we go into labor then, we'll just have to notify them that we couldn't donate after all. This makes me laugh because we encountered exactly the same constraint window in trying to get pregnant in the first place (we were shipping fresh sperm overnight via UPS).

Anyway, I would recommend first checking out your local blood banks and checking if your hospital has any established donation procedures, because then you can donate anytime, not just on weekdays. In the absence of a donation program in place locally, though, Cryobanks International is totally a great way to go... and they don't care at all about Teh Gay.

In the meantime, the next things on my agenda are:

- Pack the hospital bag! (Including the cord blood collection kit when it arrives.)

- Make changing pad covers, possibly while watching some bad romantic comedies I rented.

- Plan our friends' baby shower (BINGO cards, find recipes for cookies and cake, investigate mobile-making station possibilities, buy chocolate and wrapping paper).

- Congratulate myself on being so non-frantic for this point in the quarter! I am all caught up with grading AND my lectures are prepared for the rest of the week!

- And, last but not least, continue to support Stephanie as Thesis Day looms closer and she becomes the Most Pregnant Person Ever To Defend Her PhD. (The alternative, the baby being born first, is not even going to be mentioned in order to keep spousal stress levels low.)