Baby Care

Posts Tagged ‘Cord’

Future mother often hears chilling stories about the entwining of child’s umbilical cord. What is it? Is it dangerous? How to avoid it? Is it possible to identify this pathology in advance? You can find answers to these questions in our article.

What is it?

In 14 th week of pregnancy, the placenta and the umbilical cord are finally formed. This is a structure that carries out the function of exchanging between a mother and a child. After birth, when cutting the umbilical cord, the child begins to live independently, and only navel recalls his close relationship with his mother.

Umbilical cord is a long “rope” (from 40 to 60 cm and a thickness of 2 cm), consisting of connective tissue, inside which there is an umbilical vein and two arteries. Single umbilical vein, leaving the placenta, enters the abdominal cavity of the fetus through the umbilical ring and carries oxygenated blood, nutrients and drugs that have passed the placental barrier. The blood of waste products of the baby enters the artery and then through the placenta – the mother’s body. In case of the length of vessels (usually this depends on the genes), we can face the problem of “long cord” (70 cm), one of the complications of the fetus and the formation of knots to overgrow.

Why the entwining of umbilical cord happens?

Myths:

Among pregnant women there is a belief: during pregnancy they mustn’t knit or weave, it is fraught with the umbilical cord entwine around the neck of the fetus. This belief emerged long ago, when the birth was taken by midwives. Women in those days were busy mainly with handicrafts: sewing, weaving lace knitting. Children with entwined umbilical cord around the neck were often dying – mostly due to the lack of proper experience of midwives. So only knitting was to be blamed. In fact, knitting is a great way to calm nerves, and simultaneously prepare nice and warm “clothes” for a future baby.

During pregnancy, women often hear that raising arms can lead to entwining of the umbilical cord around the body of the child. The same is said about the active gym. In fact, you should know that raising hands for a short period of time is not dangerous for your baby as well as correctly selected gymnastic complexes.

Reality:

At present, predisposing factors are the intrauterine fetal hypoxia (oxygen deficiency), mother’s frequent stress (elevated levels of adrenaline in the blood), which leads to excessive mobility of the child, and the presence of polyhydramnios gives him/her the ability to perform a greater range of motion. Therefore, future mothers should not be alarmed if their baby’s umbilical cord is entwined. The most important aspect of this problem is the child’s condition – he/she suffers from hypoxia or not.

How to recognize the existence of entwined cord?

Diagnostic algorithm for establishing entwined cord is as follows. First pregnancy, fetal CTG study, during which the likely symptoms of umbilical cord entwining are identified: in this case reveals the characteristic shape of the curve CTG with periodic deceleration of heart rate during movements of the fetus. Using only this method it is already possible to identify signs of hypoxia. Next, the ECG investigation – ultrasound (in many hospitals there is ultrasound without CTG). This manipulation is informative already in the second trimester. The most accurate method in the study of utero-placental and fetus-placental blood flow is Doppler – definition of mathematical indices of blood flow (the speed, etc.). If you suspect the hypoxia problem in a health of a fetus, all these studies should be repeated for several times, as the baby constantly moves before birth and the entwining can disappear.

How the entwining of the umbilical cord can affect the childbirth?

Entwining of the umbilical cord can be single and multiple, loose and tight, isolated and combined (around the neck and limbs of the fetus). The most common kind of entwine is isolated, single, loose entwining around the neck of the baby, that usually does not pose danger to it.

If entwined cord at the time of birth is confirmed, depending on its type, an obstetrician-gynecologist chooses the optimal tactics for giving a birth to the child. The heartbeat of the fetus is monitored on average every half hour during labor and after each attempt. If the heart rate of the baby does not correspond to normal, the doctor may apply stimulation to speed up birth. Immediately after birth the head obstetrician relieves neck of the loop cord, thus preventing its strong tension and disturbance of blood flow through it.

Only a dual or multiple entwining of the umbilical cord van be hazardous. Such case during pregnancy is considered to be a sign of a fetal hypoxia. In case of a tight entwining and the emergence of shortening of the umbilical cord during the second stage of labor there is tension, narrowing the vascular lumen, leading to a sharp decrease in blood supply to the tissues of the Child (acute hypoxia and asphyxia). Also, the tension of the umbilical cord during birth is fraught with premature detachment of the placenta. Therefore, the period after 37 weeks in the presence of such entwine often produce elective caesarean section, and if the fetus is the menacing advance of that date, the operation can be done earlier.

Is it possible to avoid the entwining of the umbilical cord?

In order to avoid this complication, future mother is recommended to minimize stressful situations, often to be in the open air, do gymnastics and do not forget about breathing exercises. All these aim to ensure that the child will not have lack of oxygen, ie hypoxia, which causes increased motor activity of the fetus. In addition, you must promptly and accurately implement all the doctor appointments, take the survey – this will allow to suspect a problem and to prevent undesirable consequences.