Risk and Prevention For all of the reasonable concern one might have about an umbilical cord accident, they are actually quite rare. This is because the cord is filled with a slippery substance called Wharton's jelly which surrounds and cushion the arteries and vein.
About 1/3 of babies are born with a nuchal cord (the umbilical cord around the neck) or the cord entangled around the baby's torso.
One or more loops of the umbilical cord may wrap around a baby's neck during pregnancy or labor. Your doctor will call this a nuchal, meaning neck, cord and they're actually quite common, occurring in 20-30% of pregnancies.
An umbilical cord prolapse occurs when the cord drops into the vaginal canal before the baby during delivery. Prolapse usually happens when the amniotic sac breaks too soon, with a premature baby, in the case of multiple births such as twins, excessive amniotic fluid, a breech delivery, or a long umbilical cord.
Umbilical cord cysts are sacs of fluid in the umbilical cord. They're not common—less than 1 in 100 pregnancies (less than 1 percent) has an umbilical cord cyst. Your provider may find an umbilical cord cyst during an ultrasound.
Meredith Shur, MD, FACOG, is board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology, as well as a certified medical examiner. According to research from the Stillbirth Collaborative Research Network, umbilical cord accidents account for around 10% of stillbirths.
Common signs of umbilical cord problems include an irregular fetal heartbeat and decreased or low fetal movement. Umbilical cord problems can be a serious threat to the child's health and should be carefully monitored and treated as necessary.
In fact, 25 to 40% of babies are born with their umbilical cord wrapped around their neck (called a nuchal cord). There is nothing that can be done to prevent this. But, there is no need to worry.
There's no way yet to prevent nuchal cords or unwind them from a baby's neck in the womb. But when a baby is born with a nuchal cord, your doctor will know what to do because it happens so frequently. The colored sections of the ultrasound show that the umbilical cord is under the baby's chin.
Switching positions: Sometimes changing your position (from lying on your right to your left side, for example) can help alleviate compression and get more blood flowing to the baby. Oxygen administration: Receiving supplemental oxygen may help regulate the baby's heart rate and prevent further compression.
It's visible via ultrasound. Your practitioner can detect a nuchal cord about 70 percent of the time during routine ultrasounds, although it's usually not possible to determine if the cord is short or tight around the neck. Baby is suddenly moving less in the last weeks of your pregnancy.
The most common signs of fetal distress are: Changes in the fetal heart rate (lower or higher rate than normal). The fetus moves less for an extended period of time. Low amniotic fluid.
Although rare, the umbilical cord can “strangle” a baby by cutting off oxygen flow to the brain or compressing the carotid artery. The umbilical cord may also become compressed against itself or the baby's neck, which reduces the flow of oxygenated blood through the umbilical cord.
Signs of a problem
Much like a scab, the cord stump might bleed a little when it falls off. However, contact your baby's health care provider if the umbilical area oozes pus, the surrounding skin becomes red and swollen, or the area develops a pink moist bump. These could be signs of an umbilical cord infection.
When an umbilical cord is knotted, kinked, or tangled around the baby's neck, it can result in a complete loss of oxygen. This can significantly compromise organs, muscles, and brain tissue, resulting in permanent brain damage and even death.
Cord compression during pregnancy is a common problem. In fact, according to the American Pregnancy Association, compression occurs in about one out of every 10 deliveries.
At or after 40 weeks, the risk of stillbirth increases, especially for women 35 or older. Their risk, research shows, is doubled from 39 weeks to 40 and is more than six times as high at 42 weeks.
You may have heard that fetal hiccups in late pregnancy could indicate a problem with the umbilical cord like umbilical cord compression or prolapse. But that theory is based on limited studies in animals, and hasn't been validated in humans.
Increased risk
being over 35 years of age. smoking, drinking alcohol or misusing drugs while pregnant. being obese – having a body mass index above 30. having a pre-existing physical health condition, such as epilepsy.
Miscarriage, development problems or health conditions at 20 weeks. Most 20-week scans show that babies are developing well. It might help you to know that the 20-week scan is unlikely to show that there has been a miscarriage. After about 13 weeks, miscarriages are uncommon.
Fetal movements in utero are an expression of fetal well-being. However, a sudden increase of fetal movements is a sign of acute fetal distress, such as in cases of cord complications or abruptio placentae.
The umbilical cord can become compressed when the baby's weight, the vaginal walls, or the placenta strain the cord during pregnancy, labor, or delivery. Cord compression can restrict blood flow and oxygen to the baby, risking fetal malnourishment, brain damage, or even death.
There are at least 3.2 million stillbirths worldwide every year. Umbilical cord abnormalities account for 3.4–15% of stillbirths. Among these, rupture of umbilical vessel is estimated to occur in about 1:6.000 deliveries and when rupture does occur in utero, the fetal mortality rate is of approximately 50%.