Umbilical cord around neck during birth
Nuchal cord and birth hypoxia
The umbilical cord has umbilical cord blood vessels that maintain the life of the fetus. It gives them all the blood, oxygen and nutrients that they need. When the umbilical cord wrapped around the neck, it is twisted and compressed to a lesser degree, clinical symptoms do not occur. However, tight winding will affect the blood flow of the umbilical cord, causing fetal hypoxia and even death.
A nuchal cord is when the umbilical cord is wrapped around the baby’s neck. It is a very common finding during pregnancy. Therefore, during the prenatal examination, pregnant women will always be told that their fetal umbilical cord wraps around the neck, which is actually a relatively common phenomenon.
When the fetus grows in the belly of the pregnant mother, the probability of umbilical cord winding around the neck is close to 25%. The probability of a round of umbilical cord around the neck is higher than 80%.
What to do if the fetal umbilical cord wraps around the neck for a week
1. Pay attention to the number of fetal movements
There are formulas for the number of baby’s fetal movements within 12 hours, that is, the number of baby’s fetal movements within one hour in the morning, middle and evening will be multiplied by 4. Generally, a normal fetus has more than 10 fetal movements within 12 hours.
2. Take a left side sleep
During pregnancy, pregnant mothers should try to sleep on their left side as far as possible, so that the fetus in the abdomen will become cleaner, the number of movements will be less, and the umbilical cord will be alleviated around the neck.
3. Touch the stomach less and exercise less
If the baby’s umbilical cord wraps around the neck for a week, normally, this situation will gradually disappear in the second trimester. However, during this process, pregnant mothers should try not to touch the belly as often as possible, and they should not exercise too frequently to avoid the situation of the baby’s umbilical cord around the neck due to external stimulation.
Mode of delivery of a Nuchal Cord
It is often that entanglement of the umbilical cord can affect the development of the fetus by decreasing the blood flow to the fetus. There is a risk of changing the fetal heart rate, hypoxia, suffocation, and even death. In fact, the key factor affecting the prognosis is not the circumference of the neck, but the length of the umbilical cord remaining around the neck.
The umbilical cord itself has a certain length and is flexible. If it only wraps around for 1 week but the relative length is too short, it can still cause a tragic ending. Often, nuchal cords do not impact pregnancy outcomes, you can choose normal delivery. However, if the umbilical cord is short, the number of loops around the neck is too many and very tight, operative delivery is preferred.
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