Cord around the neck?

[Quagmire]

So I've always thought a baby who had a cord around the neck was an automatic c-section. Started when I was 11 and my stepmother had a C because my brother's cord was around his neck, and since then every story I heard like that ended in a c. My mom told me a coworker's baby died due to this.

Then I read a post here (by Pamamidwife? not sure...) that cord around the neck isn't a big deal since the baby isn't breathing anyway. That makes a lot of sense! As long as the cord blood can flow, we're good!

So aside from a really short cord (how often does that happen anyway?) is there any reason to worry about a baby with the cord around its neck?

Wondering how to answer this because the question seems to be coming up a lot when I mention the word midwife... :

[kerikadi]

My MW told us that she sees it about 25% of the time. The most she has seen was a baby that had the cord around it's neck 4 times - she just kept unlooping it and baby was born perfect

Keri

[Attached@TheHippie]

My dd had the cord wrapped twice around her neck and the midwife just had me stop pushing and did a little unwrapping and some strange manuvering. DD was fine. I think its pretty common. If the cord is too tight for the body to come out, or to unravel they will just cut it so baby can come out.

[Tummy]

I have five (5) children. My first born was an E-C/S at 10 cm due to fetal destress. His cord was around his neck. I never one time pushed (was 10cm for 2 hours). Day after my E-C/S the Dr came and told me that I was lucky, that had I pushed even one time that they would not have been able to save my son. He was a blue baby at birth. The Dr said they had to put the clamps into my uterus and cut his cord just so they could pull him out. His cord was 3X around his neck.

My next four VBACs all had cord around their necks. With my last, I pushed til her head was out. Then stoped to just feel her for a moment. My MW looked at me and said "C, her cord is out!" I immediately knew what this ment. You can see on my video when she says this I began to push as hard as I could.. I did not even care if I riped. I knew this baby had to come out NOW!


I guess according to the PP MW that I am so not the average.

[2Sweeties1Angel]

I was born with the cord wrapped tightly around my neck and I did almost die from it. I was born near death with purple/blue coloring and had to be revived. I wasn't a c-section but probably should have been.

[TCMoulton]

My 1st DD was born with her cord wrapped tightly around her neck four times and she did spend her first few days in the NICU but only had to stay one night more than me and she is a healthy 3 1/2 year old now!

[TiredX2]

DS was born with the cord around his neck, then around his chest and then all the way around his shoulders. He got fairly stuck and came out blue and limp. With a bit of O2 he pinked right up and had an apgar of 9 by the 5 minute mark.

I was SOOOO glad that he was born at home so he was not whisked off to the NICU!

My friends baby was recently born with the cord twice (midwife in a hospital) and they immediately cut the cord and revived him away from her but still in the room. No problems.

Cord around the neck is actually pretty common from what I understand.

[Lady Madonna]

Originally Posted by TiredX2

My friends baby was recently born with the cord twice (midwife in a hospital) and they immediately cut the cord and revived him away from her but still in the room. No problems.

This is what happened with my DD (except it was an OB in a hospital). I stopped pushing, the OB cut the cord, and I pushed the rest of her out. My DH went across the room with her, and she was pink and yelling in about 2 minutes.

[Karry]

My first was having fetal distress while I was pushing. They did an episiotomy and the cord was tight around her neck. The doc cut the cord while only her head was out. They took her away to check her and she was fine, she pinked up right away.

My second was coming really fast so I don't know if he was having any fetal distress, but the cord was also around his neck. The doc just lifted the cord over his head and then they placed him on my tummy. He stayed kind of dusky and took longer to pink up, so the nurse took him and gave him some blow by oxygen.

My third didn't have the cord around his neck at all.

[calicokatt]

My third child had a very short cord wrapped around her neck. We didn't know it until she crowned and my uterus started to prolapse. The Dr. told me to stop pushing, braced her hip against the baby's head (weird, I know) and cut her cord while she was still inside. She was delivered with one push. She came out very dark, but perfectly fine.

[mamaverdi]

I was born in the hospital with an OB: with my cord around my neck. There was a big hooplah and a huge cut then tear for my mom and forceps. But all that was cuz I wasnt coming "fast enough". I had to be given oxygen, but I still have an IQ well over 130.

My second son was homebirthed: born with his cord 3 x neck, 2 x left leg. He took about 5.5 hours to get just right position and for the cord to stretch and then about 1/2 an hour to push out. They looped some of the cord off his neck, but then I just pushed him out.

I knew he was going to be wrapped in his cord before birth.

And the midwife said that if you give them enough time, the cord will stretch on it's own. Have never heard this before, but it makes some sense.

mv

[BookGoddess]

My brother (now in his 30s) was born (vaginal delivery no meds) with the umbilical cord wrapped tightly around his neck. He was a blue baby who had to be rushed to the adjoining room to get supplemental oxygen. He spent his first day or two away from my mom and under observation. He's perfectly fine today.

I worried about the cord being around DD's neck because she had a two-vessel cord. But she didn't have the cord around her neck at all. Whew!

[Jane]

That's why most midwives use fetal monitoring (using doppler or fetoscope) during labor. If the baby doesn't tolerate contractions or desending through the pelvis, they try lots of tricks to get the baby happy again (positioning, oxygen, etc). If the baby doesn't respond, then a c-section or really fast birth might be considered.

[Lizzardbits]

my daughter had a short cord wrapped 1x around her neck, that nurse had me stop pushing so she could cut the cord before my daughter came (quickly) out. Apgars of 7/9.

this and shoulder dystocia are the 2 things that i worry about with a UC, if i can convince my fiance' on a UC, so i plan to educate educate educate

[kerikadi]

I am surprised by how many MWs and OBs cut the cord when only the head is out. I asked my MW about this when I intereviewed and she said she would never cut the cord because 'What if the shoulders get stuck?' Her feeling is that if the cord is still intact the baby is getting some oxygen via the cord but once the cord is clamped and cut with only the head out and the shoulders get stuck your time is VERY limited because baby has NO oxygen. I guess it depends on the circumstances. Maybe some caregivers can tell if the shoulders aren't going to get stuck? Or maybe they just have a lot of confidence that Mom will be able to push the baby out. I guess I can see it both ways. My MW said in her 27ish years she has never had a cord so tight it couldn't be unwrapped but maybe she's been lucky.

Keir

[MamaRabbit]

Thai women in general, if they can afford it, will do a C-section. Not my friend BeBe (who is also the only Thai woman I know to EBF for 9 mo!). She was so determined to have an unmedicated vaginal birth. The baby was a normal size, her water broke, she went into labor, but the head just would not move past -2 station. They tried everything. She finally consented to a C-section. The cord was wrapped so tightly around the next 3x that (like a PP said), they had to cut the cord inside. I doubt that baby would've come out alive vaginally.

[MagentaMom]

My youngest, now 19 months, had her cord wrapped around three times. The cord was loose enough not to be a problem, but was short enough to make her mal-postioned and very high up long after she should have dropped. She was turned to present correctly by my ob while she was being born and the cord was unwrapped asap. She was bruised all over, but okay. Oddly enough though she LOVES having things around her neck. I'm always having to watch that she isn't going to choke herself.

[Tofu the Geek]

Originally Posted by kerikadi

I am surprised by how many MWs and OBs cut the cord when only the head is out. I asked my MW about this when I intereviewed and she said she would never cut the cord because 'What if the shoulders get stuck?' Her feeling is that if the cord is still intact the baby is getting some oxygen via the cord but once the cord is clamped and cut with only the head out and the shoulders get stuck your time is VERY limited because baby has NO oxygen.

Okay, I know this is a dumb question, but if the head is out, why wouldn't the baby have oxygen? Can't the baby begin to breathe the oustide air?

ETA: Okay, I thought about and think I answered my own question! I am guessing the baby's head is out, but since the cord is around its neck, it can't breathe the outside air because the cord is choking it. Thus, NOT cutting the cord should ensure the babe gets oxygen from the cord. Am I correct here?

[lilsishomemade]

All of my babies have had their cords wrapped around their necks, all have been delivered vag. My first did go to the NICU for loss of volume or something like that. This last baby born on Wednesday was "swaddled" in his cord, but it was extremely long and he had no problems being born.

[Quagmire]

Originally Posted by TechnoGranola

Okay, I know this is a dumb question, but if the head is out, why wouldn't the baby have oxygen? Can't the baby begin to breathe the oustide air?

ETA: Okay, I thought about and think I answered my own question! I am guessing the baby's head is out, but since the cord is around its neck, it can't breathe the outside air because the cord is choking it. Thus, NOT cutting the cord should ensure the babe gets oxygen from the cord. Am I correct here?

Ok, I have a dumb question to stem off of yours then Just to confirm: if the cord is wrapped too tight around the baby and cutting off blood flow in the cord itself to the baby, then there's trouble. And if you cut the cord before the baby emerges as a result of that you'd better push that baby out really fast because for that period of time between cutting and baby being completely out, the baby is getting no oxygen. Major catch-22...

So given the above, it seems like there are a lot of risks to having a cord around the baby's neck - I'm getting that even just from reading this thread... am I interpreting that right? Can we assume that in all the instances where the baby was blue or needed O2 that the cord was tight enough to cut off blood flow to the baby?