# Marginal Umbilical Cord



## Liz0828

OBGYN told me today that my little guys umbilical cord is not connected to the center of my placenta, rather it is connected off to the side. Anyone else experience this. I have so many questions for my doctor, but when he first told me I was pretty taken aback and my mind just kind of went blank. It wasn't till I got home that I thought of any questions to ask him, and now I have TONS of them. Please if anyone knows anything about this can you fill me in. I am getting really worried about my little guy in there, and I don't know if I am just over thinking it or what, but Ian scared and I don't want to let my husband know that I am scared because then he will worry too.


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## zombiedaisy

I have a velamentous cord insertion with this LO, which is one step worse then a marginal, but is pretty close. Marginal is where the cord attaches to the side of the placenta, however in mine, the cord attaches to the amniotic sac and then branches out into unprotected vessels running through the sac and THEN attaches to the placenta. Mines also a little more complicated with a bi-lobed placenta that the umbilical cord is splitting and attaching to both :shrug: When I was told, like you, I went blank and had no idea what to ask. I then went home and it all hit me and I was a mess. 

Ive read up a lot on it (as ive known for about 6 weeks now on my diagnosis). i think the complications of a marginal insertion are much less then VCI but it can cause IUGR (rarely, but still an increased risk). I know for my case, they are monitoring me with monthly ultrasounds, and then once I hit december, ill be in there twice a week for NST and ultrasounds. Still unclear on delivery though (c-section or vaginal) Depending on how marginal it is, they may do extra monitoring. I know that rarely a marginal insertion can turn into a velamentous cord insertion, so im not sure if your doctor will want to do another ultrasound later on to make sure this isnt the case. 

I know the two are very similar, and I know my risks are IUGR, stillborn if the cord were to rupture due to the exposed vessels, blood clot in the cord, things like that, but these are rare. From the time I found out to having my next appointment, I sat down and wrote down every question i could think of and took it in with me and my MW and specialists were more than happy to answer all of them. Googling really freaked me out because there are a lot of scary things out there, but id def. talk to your MW/OB and see what they say. It may be a minor case, but you wont know until you talk to them. if you cant wait until your appointment, def. call and ask. Maybe they can answer some of the questions over the phone or make a separate appointment in the near future to answer everything.

Since your further along, i doubt yours would turn into VCI, and even with VCI, a lot of women go on to deliver perfectly healthy babies, and since your odds of complications are much less, I would think you shouldnt hit any bumps in the road, but the doctors this way can do increased monitoring when you are in labor (this is when usually there is an issue and baby may not tolerate labor due to the cord inserting improperly). Its great they know now so they can do this monitoring and are aware of it when you do deliver.


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## Bumpblessing4

My sister-in-law had a marginal cord but delivered a healthy baby boy on 1/30/12 vaginally without problems.


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## socitycourty

I had a marginal cord insertion with my LO and she is completely fine. I did have to have non stress tests from week 34 until she was delivered but she was fine. I didn't deliver her vaginally due to her position but the placenta and cord were fine.

Try not to worry too much. I'm sure your dr will let you know if there's anything else you need to do.


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## ohmygoodness

I also have a marginal cord. It was found at my 12 week scan. I had the full anatomy scan at 18 weeks, and the perinatalogist said that it still looked fine. He was pleased that the cord is attached at the top of my placenta, and not the bottom where there would be a chance of compressed cord. I had been reading all the horror stories on google, but after talking to the peri, and my midwives, I am no longer worried. 
They only take low-risk patients at my birthing center, so I had been very concerned that this was going to earn me a hospital birth. However, they said that they have seen a marginal cord but it usually isn't found until birth and that they have never seen a complication arise from it. They still consider me a low risk patient, so that fact alone eased my fears.
I have another scan at 28 weeks, just to double check that it isn't migrating into a velamentous cord, but that chance is slim. Looking online, I realized that there is a worst case scenario for any pregnancy, even 100% normal ones. So I have learned to listen to my doctors and not get worried unless they are. Good luck!


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