Not The Cord’s Fault, Either.

Fairly regularly you’ll hear someone tell a birth story that includes the dramatic climax “And the cord was wrapped around her neck!” Or there’s the many cesareans that turned out to be necessary because “The cord was around his neck TWICE!”

Cord wrapping is very common. Some babies are born with the cord wrapped all around their body, like a life jacket. Many babies have nuchal cords, when the cord is wrapped around the neck. Serious cord tangling can happen. Sometimes, it prevents a baby from descending in the birth canal, at the point of crowning. But rarely.

The cord is designed to be wrapped without causing a problem. Babies wrapped in their cords are born vaginally, without any kind of assistance, every day. The uterus descends with the baby.

I found this video by accident when looking for something else. I have watched the first 40 seconds of it probably 10 times. I can’t get over it. The cord is wrapped around this baby’s neck at least 6 times. Try counting yourself.

Graphic cord wrapping birth video.

If you didn’t watch the video, the baby is born with the mother squatting on a hospital bed. She then picks up her baby and proceeds to unwrap his nuchal cord…6 times or more.Scientific discussion of nuchal cords abounds. There is a fabulous (and famous) post on Midwife Thinking about nuchal cords. The author of the post did doctoral work on cord wrapping. She advises that you do nothing during birth, not even check for cord after the head is born. It’s a worthwhile and scientific (but easy) read.

http://midwifethinking.com/2010/07/29/nuchal-cords/