I have mentioned it a couple of times previously, but in a few months, if all goes well, I’ll be the father to a baby boy. This brings a bunch of difficult questions like whether to get a Patriots or Red Sox diaper bag and what is the proper age to introduce him to Firefly/Serenity and Buffy the Vampire Slayer? (It was Patriots in a landslide and the Joss Whedon masterpieces is still open for debate.)

However, there’s one question that I never anticipated… should I save and freeze the umbilical cord for later? My wife and I didn’t even freeze our wedding cake for our anniversary and now people are asking us about freezing human flesh? Fortunately, they won’t be using my freezer. I don’t need that mess getting in my ice cream.

I’m new to this, but the idea seems to be that you freeze the umbilical cord and giving you access to stem cells in the event that they help you later should you develop a medical condition. I haven’t done much research on the topic. I have only a small knowledge of stem cells and I couldn’t tell you what they’ve been shown to help or where it is headed. What I do know is that the stem cells “could” be helpful not only to our baby, but for me and/or my wife as well. It’s not like health insurance in the form of covering medical expenses, but it has the potential ensure you live a longer life.

The price of this protection is around two to three thousand dollars upfront and anywhere from $125 to $250 a year for maintaining this umbilical cord in a frozen state. Perhaps there are cheaper prices if I shop around, but I’m quoting the place that contacted us.

It’s very rare that I instinctively don’t know which way I’m leaning on an issue. This is one of those cases. Perhaps when I get more information the decision will be easier. I know that a majority of society pokes fun at those who have their heads or bodies frozen with the hopes of being thawed out later. However, I think George Carlin had it right:

“I want to live. I don’t want to die. That’s the whole secret of life…not dying! I figured that [expletive] out alone in third grade…

Leave my plug alone. Get an extension cord for my plug. I want everything you got, tubes, cords, plugs, probes, electrodes, IVs. You got something (click), stick it in me man. You find out I got a hole I didn’t know I had, put a [expletive] plug in it.”

With that in mind, maybe I am leaning towards doing it. Give me your thoughts in the comments.