[twilight girl]

Just thought this might be useful to someone considering or trying to convince a partner of a homebirth.

I went to an OB appt. today, and as he is u/s happy, he did one today, and discovered that the baby's cord is around his neck once. He said that thanks to u/s they now know that this is very common, 1 in 4 pregnancies will have the cord looped around the neck once.

I asked if this is an issue of concern as far as the homebirth goes. He said, "Nah! Not at all. You just monitor everything like you would normally, it's not a problem at all for homebirth." He even said that studies are showing that it is best if they (OBs) don't even mention the cord being around the neck as it stresses out the mother, but doesn't have adverse effects on birth outcomes. (But he knows we're pretty clinical and like knowing what's up without getting hysterically emotional).

Keep in mind that this comes from an OB! They should all be more like him!!

(on another topic, he also told me that the C-section rate here in Costa Rica, at private hospitals is somewhere between 70% and 90%

)

 

[weliveintheforest]

interestinG!

 

[heket]

Wow, I guess we were that 1. Dh wound up delivering ds since our MW missed out on the timing. But I remember him saying, "Ok, don't push. I'm removing the cord from the neck..."

 

[lyttlewon]

Nice OB! Just wanted to chime in and say I was a UC with the cord around my neck and here I am.

:

 

[MissMommyNiceNice]

Our DS's cord was over his shoulder, but was birthed at home w/o problems. our mw just slipped it off and out he came!

 

[crsta33]

Both of my babes had nuchal cords. Both slipped over quite easily. Ds was a little "stuck" b/c of his...my midwife couldn't reach him when I was in the pool and I had to move from the birth pool to the bed so she could untangle him and let his shoulders be born. We knew he was going to be big and she may have been a little concerned about a possible shoulder dystocia, but he came out fine...his face was very bruised though and he passed mec as he exited, but I think that may have been from the stress of moving from pool to bed with his head born.

Christa

 

[mom3b1?]

Quote:

Originally Posted by twilight girl Just thought this might be useful to someone considering or trying to convince a partner of a homebirth. I went to an OB appt. today, and as he is u/s happy, he did one today, and discovered that the baby's cord is around his neck once. He said that thanks to u/s they now know that this is very common, 1 in 4 pregnancies will have the cord looped around the neck once. I asked if this is an issue of concern as far as the homebirth goes. He said, "Nah! Not at all. You just monitor everything like you would normally, it's not a problem at all for homebirth." He even said that studies are showing that it is best if they (OBs) don't even mention the cord being around the neck as it stresses out the mother, but doesn't have adverse effects on birth outcomes. (But he knows we're pretty clinical and like knowing what's up without getting hysterically emotional). Keep in mind that this comes from an OB! They should all be more like him!! (on another topic, he also told me that the C-section rate here in Costa Rica, at private hospitals is somewhere between 70% and 90% )

Cool OB.

I've actually heard MWs say that it's a good thing, because then the cord won't prolapse, which can be very much worse.

Kiley

 

[applejuice]

Yes, mom3b1?, my Father told me that most of the babies he delivered, including me, had the cord around the neck. He told me he felt it was nature's way of preventing a prolapse in most deliveries. This was in the 1960s. He said he never understood why it was considered an emergency in the hospital.

 

[pamamidwife]

Yeah, I guess I don't understand why this OB thinks it's normal thanks to routine ultrasound. I would venture to say there are lots of nuchal cords at birth - but I think even pulling them over the head is risky....I like to just let the baby be born and then unwrap them.

 

[HeatherB]

Interesting thoughts re: prevention of prolapse. Neither of mine were around the neck, but one had it wrapped around his arm. Doubt it would've caused much of an issue, though docs tried to pass that off as a good reason why our c/s was "necessary."

So good that this OB is so laid back about it, and supportive of homebirth! The c/s rates are just *insane!*

 

[twilight girl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pamamidwife Yeah, I guess I don't understand why this OB thinks it's normal thanks to routine ultrasound. I would venture to say there are lots of nuchal cords at birth -

Good point! I guess he was meaning to say that they are identifying the nuchal cord during pregnancy, thx to u/s, as opposed to seeing it at the birth. IN other words, it's not happening during the birth process, but rather is a "preexisting condition," so to speak.

 

[4daughters]

Sound like a smart OB. I remember my first birth dd had cord around her neck and my OB said it outloud and at that point I felt I had to push the baby out fast so it wouldn't choke. But everything was fine, except my OB was horrible.

 

[mendomidwife]

I can't tell you HOW many people I meet, when I tell them I do home births have said...."OMG, my baby had the cord around it's neck....if I would have had a home birth, who knows what would have happened....".....or THEY say that to my clients who then come in and ask me about it.
Thank goodness for your OB....giving you the support you need and not scaring you.

Carla

 

[mlsantarem]

Living on and off in Brazil for many years I have heard this u/s looking for cords around the neck thing and as a midwife in the USA looking a mexican women´s health records and seeing more than once the indication for c-section was cord around the neck on US. I have never seen this documented on u/s in the usa but I have not been working there for years now.
I believe is just looking for an excuse for a c-section. brazil has one of the highest in the world and in the private sector, it´s 5pm on friday, can be a legitamate indication. In many private hospitals it is not usual to have only an OR in their maternity units.
I had a homebirth with an MD in brazil and his doula asked me if I was going to have an u/s. I said if I needed one but at the moment there doesn´t seem to be a need and she also brought up the cord detection thing. I said why... her response ´would you rather know` I just said no...
I do like the thought of it being natures way of preventing cord prolapse.
There is a Canadian midwife who used to be in Costa Rica doing homebirth suppporting kinds of things...
Good Luck
ML

 

[guestmama9908]

Both of my babes had nuchal cords. The birth of my DS was with an OB. He freaked and started doing all kinds of crazy things trying to cut the cord off while DS was still being born and trying to hold him in the canal while he did it etc. DS was blue and not breathing at birth.

DD was born with a midwife. She had a nuchal cord as well. My midwife let her be. She was born pink and breathing and beautiful.

 

[Mom2Madolyn]

My dc suffered brain damage (was stillborn) from that and is lucky to even be alive! GET A C-SECTION!!!!!!!! I am serious! You are so lucky to know ahead of time!
It is NOT WORTH taking the chance with this just because some people have had good outcomes with a cord around the neck....it only takes a few minutes to cause death and brain damage.

 

[guestmama9908]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mom2Madolyn My dc suffered brain damage (was stillborn) from that and is lucky to even be alive! GET A C-SECTION!!!!!!!! I am serious! You are so lucky to know ahead of time! It is NOT WORTH taking the chance with this just because some people have had good outcomes with a cord around the neck....it only takes a few minutes to cause death and brain damage.

Mama. I'm so sorry for your DS.

My OB knew about my DS's nuchal cord ahead of time thanks to ultrasound as well. He didn't even mention changing our plans because of it.