Umbilical cord around the neck - Page 2

[rmzbm]

I love this thread. Going to reread it slowly. My oldest DC's cord was wrapped around his neck 3 times & it, according to my Dr., caused fetal distress. That's why I had my first section. (Well, I do think other things were involved, too...) That one moment in time changed alot of things for me. My fault. I walked in totally uneducated.

[momsmyjob]

1 in 3 babies has the cord around its neck and any midwife out there knows exactly how to deal with it

That kind of worried me for a minute...my 3rd and 6th had the cords around their neck and this is my 9th..yikes! There weren't any problems with either, but since I'm considering an unassisted this time I was thinking I may call my MW.

Thanks Pamela for your posts..I feel much better

[pamamidwife]

The most common type of cord compression with a breech is when the body is born and the cord is between the head and the pubic bone or the tailbone. Some people have been taught to move the cord to the side, but I think the amt of time its compressed is small and the overall effect minimal.

I think breech babies are born a bit depressed because of cord exposure, but they typically come around w/out resuscitation, even when their heart tones are fairly low.

Just what I think, tho.

[sprout 1]

I was worried about this too, but after reading up on it (and the posts in this thread, thanks Pamamidwife!!) I'm not sweating it anymore.
Before I started hearing horror stories it didn't even occur to me that it would be a problem, I just figured it was normal and the baby would 'roll' out of it. After freaking out a little I feel back to normal now

[sarahloughmiller]

ds1 was born with his cord very tight around his neck twice and body once. He took a minute to come around (not abnormal cord or no cord, my sil's baby had no cord and took longer to breath) but was just fine. The twins birth (also at home) is a bit a blur but I am pretty sure neither of them had cords around their necks. I would not worry about and I really think you are way better off at home. I have no doubt they would have taken ds away from me and I would have missed out on those important first moments of his life. Instead he was laying on my chest the whole time and was looking at me the 1st time he opened his eyes

[jmcqabigler]

cord wrapped lots

Hi,
I had my third son born last year underwater at a birth center and I had lots of pre-labor this helped strech his cord he was wrapped two to three times around the neck, twice around his body and around his arm. He never had any distress and I did not do anything extra while pushing him out it just took a few seconds to unwind him before we brought him out of the water.
My second born in a hospital was taking to long to be born: and they gave me pitocin to help me along and he was born with the cord around twice and they could not get enough room to unloop it and cut it instead before he was out then he was taken to the incubator because he was to cold: and it was very hard not having him there with me I did not think until later that he could have just been wrapped in a blanket skin to skin with me. My hospital births both had unnessary interfernece that made my birth harder and the out of hospital birth was perfect.
good luck

[boobyfeeder]

pamamidwife, thank you SO MUCH for posting. What a breath of fresh air you are. You've completely eased my mind about the possibility of a cord being wrapped around any part of the baby. Thank you!

[pamamidwife]

I'm glad it has eased some concerns! Sometimes I fear I come off too brusque...just trying to give another side without belittling anyones experience.

[boobyfeeder]

Originally Posted by pamamidwife

I'm glad it has eased some concerns! Sometimes I fear I come off too brusque...just trying to give another side without belittling anyones experience.

I was just telling DH last night how lucky we are on these forums that MWs and doulas post, so that we can get "professional" perspectives. It's really useful when you have a serious/important question to have you guys jump in and give your two cents. Very much appreciated.

[sprout 1]

Originally Posted by jmcqabigler

it just took a few seconds to unwind him before we brought him out of the water.

Another reason why I love waterbirth! It seems like it would be fairly easy to let a baby roll out of the cord while being supported by the water.