Can the umbilical cord detach before birth?

Answer 1

That is the preferred way for babies to be born. The end of the umbilical cord that is attached to the baby obviously comes with the baby. Once the baby is safely delivered you go into stage 3 of labor, your uterus starts clamping down and you may feel a slight urge to push. Usually the placenta comes out intact with the "other end" of the cord attached to it.

Your doctor or midwife will examine the placenta to make sure there are no tears or pieces missing and they will check the umbilical cord to see that there are 3 blood vessels. (occasionally there are only 2 cord vessels).

A condition called placenta previa means the placenta is coming first or is blocking the baby's exit, a condition called Placental abrupture means the placenta is pulling away from the uterine wall before the baby is delivered. Either of the conditions are reason for an emergency c /section when a woman shows up at the hospital.

A woman who has a placenta previa generally bleeds frequently throughout the pregnancy so it usually diagnosed in the 2nd trimester. There is also a good chance that the placenta will move up off the cervix before labor starts, as the uterus grows.

Answer 2

well it's not likely but I'm sure there is a way to make it detach before so that would be a yes

It can happen. It is very rare, but results from an abnormal insertion of the of the cord into the placenta. I had this and the cord had begun detaching. My daughter is a walking miracle!

Answer 3

The short answer is yes. However, I have never heard of this happening while the baby is still inside the mother. Generally, when a baby is delivered, there is very little tension on the cord, and it can be easily manipulated to minimize the amount of pulling that is done to the end attached to the baby. After the baby comes out, the doctor or nurse or midwife will clamp the cord in two places fairly close to the baby's tummy. Then the cord will be cut between the clamps. Now the baby is free to be checked out by the pediatric team, and the doctors attention turns to the other end of the cord, which is attached to the placenta. When I've delivered babies, I generally placed very little traction on the cord. The uterus has a normal mechanism for expelling the placenta, and if the person delivering the baby will simply massage the uterus through the skin of the lower abdomen, it will usually cause the speedy completion of this process. If too much traction is placed on the cord, however, or if the placenta is abnormally adherent to the inside wall of the uterus (a condition known as placenta accreta, it is possible for the cord to snap off of the placenta. This can be a pretty serious thing. Sometimes it requires surgery to remove all the placenta fragments. Sometimes it can even require emergency hysterectomy (removal of the uterus). Fortunately, this is very rare.

Answer 4

Yes. In some rare cases the cord can wrap around the baby's neck as it comes out and the cord ends up strangling the baby.

Yes, it can inside the womb and outside. I was actually a baby that COULD have died because of it.

Answer 5

Yes, the umbilical cord attaches to the placenta, which is attached to the amniotic sac.