Pregnancy and cord blood

Congratulations on your pregnancy.

I wish you and your child all the best and would like to give you two further tips:

Amniocentesis

If amniocentesis (amniotic fluid sampling) has been recommended to you, or you are considering this examination, please bear the following in mind:

Your child has a 1.5% to 8% risk of dying as a result of amniocentesis (see Wikipedia).

That is the risk of miscarriage after amniocentesis.

Would you expose a person who is most likely healthy, whom you love above all else and who still has their whole life ahead, to such a risk? How small, by comparison, is the risk of a relevant malformation? Even if a genetic defect is found, a completely "normal" person can grow up, because the degree of penetrance of a defect is not examined (because it cannot currently be determined).

Nuchal translucency measurement

Even nuchal translucency measurement is highly problematic, because about 5% of all examined children have abnormal measurements. Only 10% of those actually have an abnormality (see Wikipedia). The remaining completely healthy 90% are unnecessarily exposed to a fatal risk, because the consequence of an abnormal nuchal fold is amniocentesis.

On average, with this approach, three healthy children die in 200 amniocenteses (1.5%, see above). I do not understand how one can casually follow these "recommendations" while worrying about which child seat model is the safest.

Cord blood

Your child's cord blood contains young stem cells that can be obtained after birth from the remainder of the cut umbilical cord and frozen. That makes cord blood an ideal source of stem cells that can be stored for decades and used to treat disease, not only for one's own child but also for other people. Current treatment options are still very limited. I expect this to change substantially over the coming decades. I therefore consider it very reasonable to have cord blood stored.