Nope, it's not an alien egg. It's a stem cell!

Who knew that all of that fluid that makes up so much of the pregancy weight gain could be useful for something AFTER pregnancy?!

How does this work? Amniotic fluid is the fluid which surrounds a growing baby during pregnancy. The fluid is made up of a variety of chemicals and such as well as cells that the fetus sheds during the normal process of growth.  Recent studies have shown that amniotic fluid also contains mesenchymal stem cells which a differentiate into variety of cell types, including bone, fat, kidney, brain, muscle and liver.

Now, in addition to banking cord blood cells, the technology has become available to help women bank mesenchymal stem cells from amniotic fluid as well.  So basically, all women will be able to collect a sort of time capsule of cells from their pregnancies to protect their offspring from future problems.  Pretty cool, huh? To my understanding, these amniotic cells do not replace the necessity for cord blood cells, because they are a different kind of stem cell entirely.

Elizabeth Battaglino Cahill, a registered nurse and the Executive Director of HealthyWomen, a nationally acclaimed organization which provides health informantion to women, is working to educated pregnant women about their options and hopes that "stem cell banking becomes a routine consideration during pregnancy planning and that women become educated early on.”

For more information about Amniotic Fluid Awareness day or amniotic fluid banking, please visit http://www.biocellcenter.com or call 1-866-246-2720.