I'm giving birth "very soon" and I am considering storing the umbilical cord or actually the stem cells of the umblical cord once my child is born. Do you have any experience in this and do you know of the benefits or and the advantages? Is it absolutely necessary and if the child was to be sick is it certain that these cells can be used? Is it just a commercial trick by these private laboratories to earn money? Thank you for your time and help!

Yeah, I'm doing it. I asked my doctor and he said in future they will be able to regrow entire organs from stem cells. Just recently I watched a program on television about stem cells and they actually 'restored' one guy's spinal cord with those cells and another was taken of the heart transplant list after receiving stem cell treatment. Granted it was in China as the procedures aren't allowed in the rest of the world yet, but it's evidence enough that there's a good future for the science.

ATM they can treat about 50 different diseases with stem cells (approved), including leukemia, and it's easier to use your baby's stem cells, which will be a perfect match, than trying to find a matching donor. Also those stem cells can be used for siblings and have a chance to match the parents if they ever need it.

I've done a lot of research on the subject, and I think it's worth it. It's a little expensive at first (where I live anyway), but I really see it as an investment in my child's health. We all hope we'll have healthy babies and that nothing will go wrong with them, but what if something does go wrong? We just never know...

For me, it's totally worth it.

EDIT: Stem cells aren't just used for diseases. In the future they will be able to regrow a severed spinal cord (for instance) or patch up a heart that was damaged by a virus. They're already performing these procedures with great success in China, the reason it's not allowed in the rest of the world is because they don't know what the long term effects of the treatments are and it needs further study. But as with all new medical treatments, the kinks will be sorted out in due course and in 20 years who knows what they'll be able to do with stem cells (which can be stored indefinitely in cryo).