I know I'm new and haven't posted a lot, but here's my obligatory 'I work in the industry and here's my spiel" post.. I just want to give you a few different sides and considerations, not to sway you in any way. This is a decision for you and DH to make, and you do what you feel is best for you and your family! This is a long one. I'm sorry in advance!!!!!
I work for a public cord blood bank & pediatric transplant program. I'm going to be honest, CBR/Viacord and all of those types have HUGE marketing budgets and schemes to make it seem like if you don't bank, you're doing a disservice to your family and your child. However, currently there are no medical indications for using a child's own cord blood. If you have another child with cancer, or any of the rare metabolic diseases they list in their marketing materials, hands down you need to bank your baby's cord blood.
If something should happen to one of your children, such as cancer or the aforementioned diseases, you cannot use the child's own cord blood. A sibling cord blood has a 1 in 4 chance of matching, and you have higher odds of finding a better match on the public registry _most_ of the time.
Also, many private cord blood units have too small a cell count or volume, or are contaminated and cannot be used. We published a paper describing the poor quality of private vs. publicly banked units. A private cord blood bank will take your unit (and your money) no matter what, even if it's not able to be used.
Now that doesn't mean there aren't advances that are going to come using cord blood. Currently, we're doing a study on using the child's own cord blood for children that have been diagnosed with cerebral palsy. It's still in the early stages, and we need to do a lot more research, but it is possible that it can help children who have acquired brain injuries like this. We are also developing treatments by using donor cord blood, too.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends public donation rather than private donation. I personally highly recommend public donation. These units go to children around the world who are in need of a transplant and desperately depend on public donations to live. There are kit programs that you can work with at no cost to you to donate your baby's cord blood (this goes for anyone!). For more information about public cord blood donation http://marrow.org/Get_Involved/Donate_Cord_Blood/Donate_Cord_Blood.aspx