# c-section 'baby wrapped it's body twice in his umbilical cord' justified?



## deethai (Jan 15, 2008)

I just heard about yet another case of someone here in Thailand who wanted to have a natural birth in a hospital and ended up with a c-section.

The doctors explanation according to the womans account was that "the baby did not come out because he had wrapped himself twice in his umbilical cord... it was no way he would have come out naturally he simply had no length to come out"

Have you heard about this before and can it resolve itself?


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## barefootpoetry (Jul 19, 2007)

Was his entire body wrapped up in the cord? If so, that must have been one heck of a long cord!

I've seen many birth videos where the cord is wrapped once or twice around the neck. Once the head is birthed, midwife simply slips it over the head like a T-shirt, no biggie. Some say that having the cord wrapped around the neck is actually safer because it makes it less likely that the cord will be compressed during birthing and cut off baby's oxygen.

I've also seen births with "short cords," and while the baby certainly does come out just fine, it can't be moved very far from the vagina until the placenta is born or the cord is cut. I'm no expert, but it seems very unlikely that a cord would be so extremely short that the baby wouldn't have enough length to even be born.


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## Luv2Skydive (Mar 4, 2008)

I don't know if this particular case justified it, but I have seen SEVERAL birth stories where the women were given unnecessary c-sections (usually after inductions) and the doc would say, after the baby was out, that there is no way she could have given birth vaginally because the cord was wrapped and that they *prevented* a tragedy. It usually comes off sounding like they were just trying to further justify the c-section, but I'm sure there are times when it does save the baby's life.


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## deethai (Jan 15, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *barefootpoetry* 
Was his entire body wrapped up in the cord? If so, that must have been one heck of a long cord!

Unfortunately these words are all the information I have about the case.

Quote:

I've seen many birth videos where the cord is wrapped once or twice around the neck. Once the head is birthed, midwife simply slips it over the head like a T-shirt, no biggie. Some say that having the cord wrapped around the neck is actually safer because it makes it less likely that the cord will be compressed during birthing and cut off baby's oxygen.
You know what, how good that you mention that, of course! I never looked at it that way! What else would make more sense than having it where the babys body has the smallest circumference to cause the least compression on it.

Quote:

I've also seen births with "short cords," and while the baby certainly does come out just fine, it can't be moved very far from the vagina until the placenta is born or the cord is cut. I'm no expert, but it seems very unlikely that a cord would be so extremely short that the baby wouldn't have enough length to even be born.
The doctors here in the Thai hospitals are known for giving bogus reasons why a c-section is needed, so maybe it is just one of them.

Another popular reason for c-section seems to be that the woman is too small and the baby too big and I read from so many midwifes by now that this is very hard to tell for sure by U/S before the birth because the pelvis / bones do move / expand to create space, but especially the Thai women who have foreign fathers here just believe it, thinking big foreign father = baby too big for her.
I bet some doctors think foreign father with big wallet = baby needs c-section.


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## alegna (Jan 14, 2003)

It's possible that a short cord wrapped could be a problem. It's also possible it won't.

Dd's cord was around her neck twice and her shoulder once. No problems.

-Angela


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## barefootpoetry (Jul 19, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *deethai* 
The doctors here in the Thai hospitals are known for giving bogus reasons why a c-section is needed, so maybe it is just one of them.


I suspected as much but didn't want to say so right off the bat.







It's the same song and dance here in the U.S. too.


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## jenneology (Oct 22, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *deethai* 
I bet some doctors think foreign father with big wallet = baby needs c-section.

Ha! I bet you are right on that one. Sad, but most likely true.


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## JessicaS (Nov 18, 2001)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *barefootpoetry* 

I'm no expert, but it seems very unlikely that a cord would be so extremely short that the baby wouldn't have enough length to even be born.

It's rare.

My sister and I each had a child with cords under 1 foot in length. My dd's was also in a true knot.


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## JessicaS (Nov 18, 2001)

If it was just the neck wrapped in the cord that is pretty common and not very likely to cause issues.

If the baby got itself all tangled then that might could cause a problem.


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## chumani (Apr 12, 2002)

I have had both experiences, baby #4 extremely long cord, when we measured it after birth it was 44" long, it was wrapped around him in 2 figure 8's, up around his neck, down around his belly, after he was born there wasn't much cord left so my midwife "unrolled" him and handed him to me.

Baby #6 had a very short cord, it was wrapped around his head/neck, his left ear is permanently semi folded as a result, he also has torticollis as a result. During my labor I felt an excruciating pain in the center of my adbomen right under my belly button, the pain overshadowed any pain of labor. My midwife did a vag exam and realized he was presenting the side of his head, she had me go knee/chest and manually re-positioned his head I then sat on the birth stool and pushed his head out, I have no recall of the sensation of him being born the pain in my stomach was so bad, I remember her saying that she needed to cut the cord which really surprised me. He had severe shoulder dystocia and it took 1min34sec to free him. After he was resuscitated and everyone could relax we measured his cord it was exactly 12"inches. Also my placenta had a full 1/3 that was clotted which was indicative of abruption most likely caused by the short cord pulling on the placenta during his descent and birth. When my midwife cut the cord around his neck the cord was already white with very little blood in it, the cord still attached to him looked just like my babies that we waited a couple of hours to cut.

Most of the time cords wrapped around a baby are not a problem, occasionally they are. It doesn't always mandate a cesarean birth.


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## barefootpoetry (Jul 19, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *abimommy* 
It's rare.

My sister and I each had a child with cords under 1 foot in length. My dd's was also in a true knot.

Wow! That's a short cord for sure! Were you able to birth vaginally OK?


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## JessicaS (Nov 18, 2001)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *barefootpoetry* 
Wow! That's a short cord for sure! Were you able to birth vaginally OK?

No, we both ended up with c-sections for that but my sister had a VBAC afterwards and I am planning one.


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## barefootpoetry (Jul 19, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *abimommy* 
No, we both ended up with c-sections for that but my sister had a VBAC afterwards and I am planning one.

Cool. I wish you luck in having a longer cord this time.


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## bellacymom (Apr 3, 2008)

I would say it is somewhat possible. I don't know about being wrapped around the whole body but both of my babies had the cord wrapped around their necks twice and both had to be born by c-section because their heart rate dropped to near nothing.


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## bellacymom (Apr 3, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *chumani* 

Baby #6 had a very short cord, it was wrapped around his head/neck, his left ear is permanently semi folded as a result, he also has torticollis as a result.

My baby had torticollis too and had the cord around her neck but they didn't mention the head. Now I am wondering if that could have been what caused it. She recovered from it wonderfully with physical therapy but I have always wondered what caused it. I thought maybe it was because I am so short and she was very long and 8lbs 10oz so maybe she didn't have the room she needed. *shrug*


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## Ladybyrd (Sep 18, 2007)

My 4th baby had the cord wrapped 4 times around his neck and it was almost 4 feet long. I'm surprised he wasn't more wrapped in it, LOL. The midwife just slipped it off after I delivered his head and shoulders.


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## Soogie (Feb 7, 2002)

I had an extremely long cord (never measured its actual length though) and polyhydroamnios which caused my ds to get entagled in his cord as well. It was wrapped around his neck then down through his legs, up and over his shoulder, and then wrapped around him twice. During labor he was posterior, but during pushing he managed to turn his head anteriorly, but due to being trapped in the cord, his body did not turn and he was born with his head and his body 180 degrees to each other, kind of like the exorcist. He had trouble descending but my midwife sensed enough to reach in and assist him from under his arms. ouch! I was able to birth him at home and he did not suffer any lasting problems. We did take him to a chiropracter at 3 days old, which help resolve the tense muscles in the left side of his back and neck from being so twisted up.


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## Synchro246 (Aug 8, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *alegna* 
It's possible that a short cord wrapped could be a problem. It's also possible it won't.









:

My DS1 had the cord wrapped around his neck with all the slack between his belly and the wrap and considerably less slack between the wrap any my placenta. We had a normal legngh cord. They theorized that perhaps the way it was wrapped prevented him from descending normally and perhaps it is true, though we will never know.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *chumani* 
Baby #6 had a very short cord, it was wrapped around his head/neck, his left ear is permanently semi folded as a result, he also has torticollis as a result.

Mine had torticollis too. The cord was also theorized to be part of that issue. Again, we will never know.

If the cord is wrapped in such a way to inhibit descent or to set the child's head askew, sure it could cause a problem. More often than not a cord wrapped does not cause issues.


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