S-T-R-E-S-S-E-D out!

It has been a stressful week for the mom-to-be. Nannies backed out day prior of their scheduled medical exams. (God, please give me more patience...) I got an unbearable extremely itchy lower tummy. (it's making me unhappy, stress marks?) Postponed/cancelled baby shower and out of town vacation. To top it all off, I was down with flu sans fever (thank God!), first time to happen since I conceived. Who want's to be sick while pregnant? God knows how I've been so careful. It must be the very hot and humid weather here in Manila, (our air conditioner is giving up...) some virus I got from my SIL, (argh!) having difficult time looking for a certain medicine I need weekly (out of stock on all Mercury drug branches and warehouse!) and stress from too much thinking and all.  

Bee, please come home soon... 

54 days to go...

...and we will meet our little ones.

Can't describe the feeling. 

Cordlife - one chance, one choice

Expectant parents are concerned about many ways to make life safe for their children. They do all kinds of things for safety's sake even before the baby is born, the works! 

DH and I will do everything to ensure our babies are safe. To further protect our children from harm, we've signed up with Cordlife. 

Cord blood banking is a procedure where the doctor takes blood from the umbilical cord at birth and stores it for a fee in a private blood bank (Cordlife or Stemcord). Since the blood is rich in stem cells (cells that have the ability to transform into just about any human cell) it could someday be used as treatment if your child ever became ill with certain diseases. It might also be useful for a sick sibling or parent. Banking cord blood is a way of preserving potentially life-saving cells that usually get thrown away after birth. 

Deciding to bank your child's cord blood is a personal decision. Some people feel that the potential benefits are too few to justify the money. We believe that it's a worthwhile investment specially now that the world is changing and different illnesses are at range.

We've signed up with Cordlife yesterday. I'm glad that they now have a bank here in Philippines and rates are better compared to Singapore. We were able to save much for our triplets. Also, they have discounts for those signing up during their promo period and more rebate when you refer a friend and signs up, too.

Here's what you get once you sign up.

3 boxes for our littles ones...

freebies, wish they have the pink bibs...

 

To learn more about Cordlife, click here. 

Cord blood banking

Sometime in 2006 (I was still single) in Singapore I had the opportunity to visit Stemcord and met the General Manager, Valerie Wong. I was with a Chinese couple/business partner who had their baby's cord blood stored with them years ago. The reason why we visited Stemcord was for them to check their baby's record. I was lucky enough to see their facilities, etc and the process was thoroughly discussed to me. Valerie gave me a business card which I kept all these years. I promised myself when my turn comes, I will definitely consider cord blood banking / Stemcord.  

Years passed and I had friends who conceived. I never got tired of mentioning cord blood banking to them so they can consider. Maybe due to lack of knowledge, exposure and information from the companies,  nobody (as far as I know) considered it. Well, it's a personal decision anyway. 

Even before I got pregnant, I've been asking Dr. A. about Stemcord and I was glad to know that he is very much knowledgeable about it not only in theory but he does the collection of the blood of his patients and babies. According to Cordlife (competitor of Stemcord), Dr. A. is an expert already. I'm proud to be one of his patients, really! Worry-free pregnancy.

Some videos to share basics about cord blood banking: