When the line turned blue a month after we moved from Canada to Malta , there were many decisions we had to make, many things we were unsure about. Where will we find a doctor we'd like to assist the birth of our child in this new country? Will I be able to have the natural childbirth I wanted? What will we name the baby? There was, however, one point that both my husband and I agreed on - to bank the baby's stem cells. We had been reading about the benefits of the procedure, and it seemed obvious that we should give this precious, one-time gift to our child. The next hurdle was finding a bank that would offer the service to us in Malta , since there is no such facility here. We sent out for information packages to various companies, and narrowed it down to 3. This was a very important decision for us, which would have repercussions in our family's future should we ever need the stem cells.

I prepared a checklist of what we were looking for - mainly focusing on friendly, open, and honest communication between us and the company, promptness in replying to our concerns, down-to-earth approach, knowledgeable about the procedure and the technology (both present and future direction), and flexibility in accommodating the needs of customers from another country where the procedure has never been done before. While the cost was not a factor in itself, I did consider value for money, as defined by the other factors, and flexibility in the payment arrangements.

SMART CELLS won our confidence hands down. Justine, the representative we were working with, reassured me when I had concerns, answered my doubts professionally and humanely, offered me viable alternatives when I needed them, introduced me to other team members when she felt they could answer my concerns better. Everybody we dealt with at SMART CELLS was always very prompt in replying to my always-urgent emails and returning my phone calls.

Once we decided upon where to bank, the rest fell into place. We picked a doctor who was willing to help us collect the cord blood - like I said, this was the first time the procedure was being carried out in Malta . The doctor we picked also runs a private hospital that includes a childbirth facility that supports natural childbirth. We located the doula and midwife that would support our birth plan, and our birth team was all ready and prepared.

As the delivery date drew closer, SMART CELLS sent us the collection kit and information package for the doctor. I made myself familiar with the procedure; it seemed pretty straightforward, and I wanted to make sure I'd be aware of all that was going on during the delivery and the cord blood collection. We packed the collection kit with the hospital bag, and it sat by the front door until the estimated delivery date came and went. Eventually, on April 21st, I went into labour. Having opted for a natural childbirth, one free from drugs and medical interventions, labour lasted for 13 hours from 1cm dilation to delivery of our baby girl at 9:30 a.m. on the 22nd April.

It was an incredible experience, incomparable to any other I'd had in my life. I never felt more empowered, more in touch with my inner guidance and my instinct, more satisfied with the outcome of my hard work, more proud of my achievements. The moment she was born, however, it took me more than a moment to click to the reality, mostly because the second I heard her first wail, my brain switched gears to focusing on the correct collection of her cord blood. So while my husband cried over the miracle that he had just witnessed and the doctor brought out the SMART CELLS instructions again, I started barking orders at my very patient and competent midwife, directing her to clamp the cord close to her body, to sterilise the cord where she intended to prick, and when she couldn't extract any more blood, to try pricking further up the cord.

When she had about 60ml and assured me that no more blood could be collected, I was satisfied. The doctor took over the packaging, and the midwife and my husband went off with my little girl. It was only then that her birth actually registered in my consciousness, and I asked for them to stop washing and weighing her and checking her out, and bring her to me so I could breastfeed her. While my doula guided me, I watched her as her beautiful big eyes locked with mine and we studied each other's faces for the first time, and I threw out everything I ever believed about love and redefined it.

Later that day, after we all woke up from some much needed sleep, we called DHL to pick up the cord blood and have it delivered to the bank in Belgium . SMART CELLS includes very well-explained directions for doing this, and even takes care of the courier payment, so all we had to do was fill in the packing form, include our baby's birth information sheet, and dial DHL. A couple of days later, Justine emailed me again to let me know that the stem cell extraction was successful.

We've had a very positive experience working with SMART CELLS on the collection of our daughter's cord blood, and I will be eager to recommend the service to other families in Malta who want to give this unique life insurance policy to their children. I hope more people educate themselves about the benefits of the procedure so they can make informed decisions about this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

We called our daughter Eva… meaning "life giver"… the perfect name for Malta 's first SMART CELLS baby!