Very Short Umbilical Cord

[3daughters]

My sil asked me to do some research for her son's preschool teacher. She is pregnant with #2 and would like to try for a VBAC. Her first child was a c/s and during the surgery they discovered he had a very short cord and they were glad she had had a c/s (for unrelated reasons) because it could have resulted in a bad outcome. Her OB is already recommending a repeat c/s b/c of her history of growing a baby with a short cord.

How likely is it for her to have another baby with an extremely short cord? Is the c/s really medically indicated?

[delfin]

im not a birth pro, but im very interested in the answers because that was the reason for my cesarean too. It was a homebirth transfer. The cord was around neck twice. I pushed 3 hours and the baby wasnt coming down, they gave me pit, i pushed for another hour and nothing. The doc suspected the cord was short but i really wanted to try to birth naturally and the last try was to get an epi, relax the tissues and try to unwrap the cord manually(auch!).
Nothing worked. I got the C, and my partner says that the cord was really short.
But they didnt tell me that will happen again, maybe cause without the cord being wrapped it would have been long enough?
i definetley want a VBAC with my next...
delfina

[Spark]

I'm not a birth professional either but my first had a really short cord. There was no "putting the baby on mother's stomach" because he couldn't reach. He could just barely come all the way out of my birth canal. the thing to remember is that during a vaginal as the baby comes down the uterus contracts smaller, too, thus allowing for a baby even with a short cord the ability to be born. So, a short cord should never be a problem... unless we're talking that it was like 1 inch short or something! My son's was no longer than 3.5 or 4 inches. It was SHORT, but he was born posterior with his hand up at home just fine.

My other two babes had regular length cords.

[Reha]

The length of the cord is totally up to the baby. So, having a history of having a baby's with a short cord doesn't make you inclined in any way to have another baby with a short cord! Cord length is directly related to baby's activity in utero. Super active babies generally have longer cords than mellow babies.

[Reha]

Originally Posted by Spark

the thing to remember is that during a vaginal as the baby comes down the uterus contracts smaller, too, thus allowing for a baby even with a short cord the ability to be born. So, a short cord should never be a problem... unless we're talking that it was like 1 inch short or something!

:

[MidwifeErika]

I haven't been able to find any studies that say the likelihood of a short cord repeating with a future baby. There seem to be certain things that may make a baby more likely to have a short cord such as not being really active or having certain abnormalities. So, unless those are likely to repeat, then I don't think there should be any higher risk of another short cord.

I have had personal experience with this as well. My middle child had a 12 inch cord that he was wearing over his shoulders like a feather boa. He was born vaginally although he was much harder to push out than my other 2 children were. His neck was bruised from the cord pulling, but that was his only issue. My next baby (and my first baby) had perfectly normal lengths of cord.

[3daughters]

Thanks for the info ladies. I will relay this all to my sil.

The teacher really wanted to know if there was anything dietary or exercise that she could do to ensure a longer cord this time.

[Reha]

Originally Posted by 3daughters

The teacher really wanted to know if there was anything dietary or exercise that she could do to ensure a longer cord this time.

Nope, not all all. (Other than eating well to help grow a generally healthy baby and not smoking....but those things simply affect the overall health of the baby. A depressed baby is less active and thus will have a shorter cord. But, there are plenty of healthy babies born with short cords to totally healthy moms.)

[delfin]

thats good to know...i really dont want another C next time

[jul511riv]

yeah, I would suggest she supplement with alfalfa. This is excellent for building a strong bag of waters and my hunch is that it wouldn't hurt in buildign an umbilical cord as well, what with all those minerals, it certainly couldn't hurt!

B'sha'ah tova!

[dianna11]

I was just chatting with a mom friend of mine about umbilical cord lengths! Her first baby had the longest cord her midwife had ever seen, and strangely, her second baby had the shortest cord she had ever seen (same mw for both births).

[mama to 2 girls]

I'm no birth professional either but dd2 had a short cord, they were BARELY able to put her on my stomach after she was born...but she came out just fine.