iCloud Backup Question

I backed up my iPhone 4S before JB, and it turns out something went wrong with the JB (something messed up several days after I had initially JB the phone). I start the process of restoring my phone, and when I get to the part where I select which backup I want to use, the one I had made before JB was not there. Only the backups from the past few days were there (which were all backups of the JB phone). Frustrated, I just went ahead and restored the phone as a "New" phone. I have the phone exactly how I want it before I attempt JB again. Now for my question(s). Has this happened to anyone else? and is there a way to make sure a backup is not deleted and is usable whenever I need it? I would really appreciate it if anyone can help me and sooner rather than later. Because, I would really like to JB my iPhone asap.

*Note* I did all of my backups with iCloud and had the phone automatically backup whenever it was charging.

 

Yeah it did, thanks. I will try doing it that way, and if I need to restore my phone again, hopefully the iTunes non JB backup will still be there.