Comments on: Umbilical cord around baby’s neck rarely causes complications

By: Stuart Fischbein, MD FACOG

Stuart Fischbein, MD FACOG — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 06:57:04 +0000

Thats right, about 1/3 of normal vaginal births have the cord around the neck. There is no greater risk of cord compression in this mode than any other. Babies are built for labor. If for any reason the cord does get compressed the baby will tell you via it’s heartbeat. Again, babies are built to tolerate transient cord compression. Under no circumstances is a nuchal cord a reason for elective c/section. Finally, babies cannot strangle on a cord. In order to strangle they have to be breathing air through their trachea. Which, of course, they are not! Stories about stillbirths blamed on nuchal cord are just man searching for a reason for a tragedy. This fear mongering boils my blood, too.

By: Katie

Katie — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 19:49:16 +0000

I am a medical professional, and can’t give you medical advice over the Internet, but can tell you what I know about cord accidents. Cord accidents that cause harm to the baby in pregnancy are knots in the cord, or when the umbilical cord prolapses and gets compressed by the baby’s head (neither of which seem to be the case for your baby!). Cord around the neck is VERY common and is NOT life threatening. Approximately 1:3 babies will have a nuchal cord, and the vast majority of those babies are not affected at all by it. A few who have a tight nuchal cord will experience minor stress towards the end of labour but will still come out just fine. A small number will be stressed in earlier labour by their nuchal cord, and will give clear signs through the heart rate that they are stressed, and may be born by caesarean. It is important for you to know that a nuchal cord seen on ultrasound does not always mean that the nuchal cord will still be there at birth. It is certainly not an indication for a caesarean section, and you will not find any evidence or research or obstetric guidelines to suggest that it is. If your obstetrician is suggesting or recommending something that doesn’t seem right to you, ask him or her for the guidelines and research that support that recommendation. If there aren’t any presented to you, consider that it is not a good medical recommendation, and may in fact be one driven by personal opinion or financial reasons, which is never a good reason to submit to major abdominal surgery!

By: Jen Kamel

Jen Kamel — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 19:43:08 +0000

Shiva,

There have been over 20 comments left via the three links I provided above. Hope this helps!

Warmly,

Jen

By: Jen Kamel

Jen Kamel — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 18:31:10 +0000

Shiva,

I am not a medical professional, so I cannot provide medical advice. That said, no one can predict if your baby will have a cord accident. The chances are very good that s/he won’t, but no one can give you a definitive answer.

While many deaths are blamed on cord accidents, it’s hard to determine, short of an autopsy, the actual cause of death. Sometimes babies die in utero, for reasons that we don’t understand, but rather than saying that, sometimes doctors/parents blame the cord as a way of giving a “reason.”

I’ll post your question on my Facebook profile, the http://www.vbacfacts.com FB page and the Midwifery Today FB page. Check out those links to see the responses.

Warmly,

Jen

By: shiva

shiva — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 17:30:03 +0000

Dear friends,

My wife is in 38th week of pregancy and yesterday doctors told that there is a cord around the neck of the baby. Dr is leaving the suitation to us. We still have another 20 days as per the EDD. As per dr, if you want, you can opt for Cesarean else wait for another week or so for normal labour. They are not giving us any moral support but they are suggesting that there is risk in waiting for normal labour. My wife doesn’t want to go for cesarean as our 1st baby was born 5 years back in Normal labour.
After reading the above messages, i am worried. is it safe to wait for normal labour till EDD. Can some dr/expert suggest us on the same. Also what are the symptoms of danger to baby because of card on the neck. is there any chances of card getting released in 38th week? is cesarean manditory for such cases?

By: Alice Arney

Alice Arney — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 18:25:08 +0000

My daughter just give birth to a baby girl three weeks before her due date with the cord around her neck 5 times. Even though she was only 3 weeks early her baby barely weighed 4 pounds. At birth she didn’t breathe on her own for several minutes and spent 5 days in the NICU. This was my daughter’s first pregancy at the age of 37, therefore she was treated as a high-risk pregancy. She spent the last two months of her pregancy on bed rest, because the baby was not passing all of her “baby stress tests”, plus the fact that my daughter wss showing signs of protein in her urine. During her last two months of her pregancy she was seeing her doctors twice a week with ultrasounds once a week and baby stress tests every visit. She was admitted to the hospital 4 times before delivery because the baby could not pass her “stress test”, each time only to the sent home. Ten days before her baby was delivered by an emergency C-Section, I went to one of her many ultrasounds, right away I could see something rapped around her neck. I asked the ultrasound tech if that was the cord around the baby’s neck, and she just “brushed” it off. My God, if I could see the cord around her neck, why couldn’t the tech? In total my daughter must have had 15 ultrasounds including several 3-D ultrsounds. I hate to think what would have happened if the doctors had waited longer to deliver her. On the day of delivery, my daughter was admitted for induction and a planned vaginal delivery. As soon as she arrived at the hospital the doctors knew the baby was not doing well, no induction measures were done as my daughter was already having very mild contracts (which she could not feel), however the baby could not tolerate, within 15 minutes she was in surgery and the baby was born within 10 minutes. The doctors told us that the low birth weight was probably due to the cord being rapped around her neck 5 times. Again thank God everything is turning out alright. There is a saying “When babies are born they are in the process of leaving Heaven to parchute to Earth. It is uncomfortable sometimes, but everything happens for a reason”. This little angel was certainly blessed.

By: Jen Kamel

Jen Kamel — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 04:51:05 +0000

Mum of 3,

Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a comment. I can’t imagine how long that 4 minutes felt. Excruciating probably doesn’t begin to cover it.

I’m glad she’s doing ok now.

You might find it help to google “birth trauma resources” as I suspect there must be an on-line or in-person support group for moms who have experienced similarly scary events around the time of birth. I have always found it healing to talk to people who “get it” and maybe you will find the same.

Thanks again for your comment and take care,

Warmly,

Jen

By: Mum of 3

Mum of 3 — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 03:51:28 +0000

My Babys apgar at birth was 1then at 5 mins it was 4 then the next was 9 .

By: Mum of 3

Mum of 3 — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 03:32:29 +0000

My baby was born on the 2nd January . She had the cord wrapped around her neck 2 times . It was a horrible labour because the baby with every contraction I had her heart rate was dropping dramatically . After a few hours of monitoring her they decided it was best to prepare me for an emergency c-section . Just before transferring me to the operating theatre they checked and I was 10cm so they decided it would be quicker to deliver naturally . My baby was born 4 mins later and didn’t start breathing . They had to resuscitate her and it took 4 mins to get her to take her 1st breath . The silence was the worst time of my life. I didn’t think she would make it. After 8 hours inthe nicu she was with me in my arms for the 1st time ( obviously I didn’t get a cuddle at birth ) I am very lucky to say she is now a healthy 4 week old baby . I still feel traumatised though from what we went through and I wish there was a way we could have known that she was in trouble beforehand. I did however in the last week of my pregnancy feel a dramatic difference in the amount of movement that she was making so I just want to say follow your instinct . If your worried go see your doctor and get them to do a full check because I’m sure if they do a 3d or 4d scan they could have seen the cord there . My prayers are with all of those babies lost .

By: Jen Kamel

Jen Kamel — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 18:10:24 +0000

Hi Degas,

I am so sorry for your loss. I am not a medical professional but to my knowledge, I’m not aware of any fail proof way to determine in utero that a cord wrapped around a baby will injure that baby. I wish there was.

Warmly,

Jen

By: DEGAS ANTONY

DEGAS ANTONY — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 05:40:28 +0000

how we can tackle this cord winding incident from baby?????
is there any solutions in this medical world ??????

By: DEGAS ANTONY

DEGAS ANTONY — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 05:35:01 +0000

December 31st 2011
My babies incident happens on two days before delivery date.announced date for delivery was 2nd jan 2012.we used to consult regularly to doctor in ernakulam medical centre hospital in cochin with experienced gynec.from the begining there was no problems for fetus inside till a day before 31st when she take ecg in hospital, everything was normal…when my wife wake up in the morning of 31st when she checked for movements inside it was silent,no moments..once she felt she suddenly move to hospital with her mom and took scan.dr.found there was no cardiac activity inside baby.then she admitted to hospital and dr.gynec has checked she said something goes wrong inside it my be cord has wounded on baby.then they given trip-medicine for normal birth and the nxt day she dlvrd,the baby has dead cause two cords were wounded on babies neck and her fingers were fold on her neck with cords.as per doctors explanation it was normal it may happen it is no ones mistake……..doctor has always said like this there is no problems everything is normal so u have to admit only on 2nd jan,but instantly all this things happened….
someone can advise whatzzzz really happened????for lose of our baby.
is it some one mistake or natural phenemenon of a utrus one in hundred/????
degas antony
h/of linda
cochin,india.
degascochin@gmail.com

By: Joanie

Joanie — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 01:49:36 +0000

I lost my daughter August 2011 to what they believe was a cord accident. I felt less movement but still some movement. The confusing part to me is that some people say you will naturally feel less movement in the final weeks, as the baby becomes engaged. But then others say you will still feel the same amount of movement. And yet even others say that if you feel erratic, more constant movements then you should be concerned. There is so much conflicting information! My husband and I went to my weekly appointment at 38 weeks, there was no heartbeat. They said there was nothing they could have done about it, even if I had been in labor at the hospital. If they had saved her by emergency c section, she most likely would have been born with severe brain damage, as too much time would have passed with not enough oxygen/blood flow.
They induced my labor, she came out 24 hours later. Perfectly healthy, gorgeous baby. Cord around her neck several times…nothing else wrong. They believe that had to be it, there was just nothing else wrong. I had a perfectly blissful, uneventful pregnancy. (morning sickness excluded
It is frustrating that those of us in this minority are swept under the rug so that other expectant mothers don’t have to worry that they will be one of us. I bet none of us thought it would happen to us…but guess what? It did. However, has anyone else considered that God chooses these babies? People claim to be religious, yet when something extraordinary happens many chalk it up to bad luck. Each soul has to enter this earth for a certain amount of time, some very brief some very long. Has anyone considered that the reason this is a rare occurrence may be because these babies are needed for something, or perhaps too pure for this earth? They fulfilled their mission on this earth that God had intended for them, and now they are back in the arms of God where we should all be so lucky to be one day. (and not all of us will get there). Let’s not put all our faith in doctors and science. Doctors are not God and cannot control everything.

By: Heather

Heather — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 13:59:40 +0000

Eff,
I truly understand your point of view and wish you every sucess with your pregnancy. My advice would be to stop looking at websites for things that could potentially go wrong as they will not be able to help you in any way. Yes, I lost my daughter and I will not keep this a secret as I am immensly proud of her but PLEASE do not see this as some kind of warning to pregnant women. I had her at home and if I could go back in time I would NOT change that. There was absolutely no way of knowing what was about to happen and being in hospital wouldn’t have changed anything unfortunately as there was no reason to suspect any problems. Sadly, I am just part of a tiny and hugely unfortunate minority.

To all pregnant women reading this I say do whatever feels right to you. It is natural to feel scared about this life you so desperately want to protect but every chance is in your favour. You are doing literally the most natural thing in the world and if pregnancy and birth were so dangerous then the human race would have died out long ago! Life is full of risks and I truly believe your instincts are the ONLY way you can decide what is best for you and your child. Unless you already know of a problem with your particular pregnancy then PLEASE don’t go looking for reassurance on the internet as all you will find will be more things to worry about! Enjoy your beautiful pregnancies and beautiful babies. I hope to join you in this again next year!
Heather x

By: Heather

Heather — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 13:43:54 +0000

Hi Nancy. So sorry to hear of your loss. Not sure if you are still checking for responses but I felt I had to send you a message. My daughter was born on 7th September this year at home. Everything seemed fine during the labour and her heart beat was absolutely normal throughout – no signs of distress. However, when she was born she had no heart beat or breathing. The cord was ‘just’ (as the midwives put it)around her shoulder NOT her neck. Our fantastic midwife got her heart re-started and she was rushed to hospital. Everyone kept saying how terribly long she had been without oxygen which we just couldn’t understand as her heart had been beating normally and was last monitored as such 3 minutes before she was born. She kept fighting for 5 days and started doing half her breathing for a while but this also stopped again and as we began to see the suffering and difficulty of the fight taking its toll in her beautiful face, we were gently pushed to make the same unbearable decision as your son and his wife. Not that there is any ‘decision’ involved in such circumstances. The leading expert in London had looked at the results of her MRI and agreed that even sustaining her own life in the most basic form was impossible and we were so so lucky to have enough warning to be able to arrange saying goodbye in the most wonderful EACH hospice.

Here’s the point though – the cord was wrapped around her shoulder. It was pulled so tight whilst I was pushing her out that the oxygen supply was cut off within the cord. Our consultant explained that the heart can carry on beating normally for 20 minutes or more after oxygen has been cut off to the brain, before a sort of herat attack eventually occurs (which obviously hadn’t happened yet to your grandchild and had happened about the time of birth to our daughter). This was more than long enough to do all that damage to such a young brain. At least now we understood HOW it had happened but of course we are currently a long way from being able to accept what has happened and the absolute shock at the moment of what appeared to be a perfectly normal birth.

I try to take comfort in the fact that as her heart rate showed absolutely no sign of distress at any point, that the birth and problems with the cord did not cause her any pain or panic. I hope this helps, although you may by now have found answers for yourself. May I wish you and your family every possible positive thought at this time which I know personally is so terribly difficult and agonisingly painful for all of you and I suppose always will be.

Heather xxx