disintegrating umbilical cord?

[momto4kids]

HI there ~ I'm not the doula for my sister in-law, but she did ask me if I knew what would be causing this. Since I really couldn't find any answers online I thought I would ask here......

~ what would cause this?? My sister in-law was told that they want to induce because this may be going on and asked me to find some info on it. If she does not have my nephew by the 29th they will be inducing her.

FYI ~ she is due in 3 wks, has GD and is insulin dependent (has been since 12 wks), and has NST every 3 days. Baby is under 5# right now (she is having weekly u/s do monitor his growth) and has not been growing well according to her Dr.

Any info would be great ~ she will be seeing her Dr on Monday, but may not get many answers to this.

Thanks!
Dana

[amyro]

My best guess is that they are referring to the results of doppler velocimetry. This does not measure disintigration of the umbilical cord but rather resistance to blood flow (which theoretically means the placenta is not functioning well). I do not know much about this test, but I did find one article about the use of this test in women with pre-existing diabetes and it found that it was not a reliable test. The test is likely to be even less reliable in gestational diabetic women, since the risk of an adverse outcome is even lower than for pre-existing diabetes. Here's the link to the article:

http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi...6.2003.00094.x

I hope that helps.
-Amy

[momto4kids]

Thanks for the suggestion...I'll have to check into that.

Dana