Delayed Cord Clamping

[buttonnose82]

I was just reading in the green parent magazine that rachel_c sent me (thankyou!) about delayed cord clamping

It is certainly very interesting and I am going to ask my midwife about it (when i can finally get a blooming appointment!).

Did any of you girls do delayed cord clamping and if so how accepting of this choice were your health care professionals?

I was shocked when i read that if you cut the cord right away you could deprive the baby of 54 - 160 mls of blood which in a newborn baby could be up to a half of their total blood volume!

 

[milkmachine]

i didnt have faiths cord cut until her cord had gone white. the midwife was respectful of this

 

[Tacey]

I waited until the cord stopped pulsing. The midwives didn't find this an odd request at all. I then had a physiological third stage.

 

[JennTheMomma]

We wanted to with Hunter, but OB told DH to cut cord right away so he could be on oxygen. We're planning a homebirth with a Midwife this time and she is in favor of not cutting cord until it stops or until placenta is out.

 

[kirsten1985]

I didn't do this but will be doing next time. I would like to wait until the placenta is delivered before the cord is cut.

 

[saraendepity]

I wanted to do this but in the end i didnt write a birth plan and i forgot to tell the MW i wanted to wait and i wanted to have a natural 3rd stage.....ended up getting cord cut straight away and getting jabbed in the thigh next time i will tho definately

 

[anothersquish]

Had a natural third stage this time and his cord wasnt cut til the placenta was delivered (was about 20 minutes)
I had a homebirth and it seems its a common request to the community midwives, they were all perfectly accepting of my wish to have a natural 3rd stage and delayed cord clamping.

 

[madasa]

I am planning to wait before cutting the cord this time round... preferably until it goes white and stops pulsing.

Linkage! https://academicobgyn.com/2009/12/0...ng-should-be-standard-practice-in-obstetrics/

 

[PinkyLou]

I wanted the cord to be left til it had finished pulsating both times, first time though Indie had to be rushed to the recuss trolley thing cause she swallowed some of her own meconium, second time the mw didnt read my notes

 

[Rachel_C]

I didn't know about waiting when I had Leyla. Next time I would like to wait until the cord stops pulsing. I was shocked by that article too!

 

[mummypeanut]

ive requested DCC and the midwife has agreed it no questions asked. They did say that if its something you feel very strognly about to make sure you tell them as well as putting it on ur birth plan - belt and braces approach, it just makes sure the info doesnt get missed by a lazy midwife who doesnt read your plan properly

 

[bunnyg82]

OOh good thread - I have heard about this before and ever since really wanted to do this but was worried about the midwives reaction. Obviously as long as baby doesn't need urgent medical help (fingers crossed!) then I would love for this to happen so will put it in birth plan, try and remember to tell midwife and also make sure hubby is on board too x

 

[TigerLady]

I had never heard of this!

Silly question... is it possible if you have to have a c section? Or do the HAVE to cut the cord right away in a section?

Sorry if that is a dumb question, but I know nothing about DCC.

 

[madasa]

I would imagine they would need to cut the cord so that they can stitch the mum? But even a delay of, say, a minute, would be beneficial. I don't know a lot about surgery, so I don't know what sort of delay would be feasible

 

[TigerLady]

Yeah, that is what I was wondering. I think they cut it as soon as possible so they can clean the placenta out and sew mom up.

I wonder if I could get them to delay even a minute or so... or is that even applicable in a section? Does the whole thing change and become moot for a section as it isn't a "natural" birth anyway with baby going through the canal? It is not as if baby says, okay, I am ready to come now.

@ Otter for staying breech and dooming me to sections!

 

[madasa]

Waiting until it goes white and stops pulsing would mean that baby gets his full blood volume. I imagine that waiting a teeny bit would have some of the same benefit even if the baby has not come out the "normal" way. If there is still blood in the placenta, then there is benefit to waiting for some of it to cross regardless of how he comes out...? This is me GUESSING here, just trying to think logically...

 

[adzuki]

TL, sorry, but here they wouldn't do it. I had requested it, but when I had the c section, that (like everything else on my birth plan) went out the window. I was told it is too risky for the mother to be lying there open, and so they want the baby and placenta out as fast as possible to prevent infection.

Sheesh, and I just realized that I still have a lot of strong negative feelings about how my birth went. Just when you though you'd worked everything through!!!


A

 

[Parkep]

i have a question i guess if you want to collect cord blood cells you couldn't wait for it to turn white could you? sorry if its a stupid question.

 

[buttonnose82]

parkep -no i don't think so as it turns white as their is no blood left

TigerLady - I think in regards to a section it would depend very much on the hospital, in the article I read they said it is possible and all they need to wait is 30 seconds for a baby to get a good dose of the blood back

I spoke to future hubby about it this morning and he is all for it yay!

 

[Vici]

I was going to and it was in my birth plan but had an em c section and Imi had to go straight to resus and i needed sorting after losing over a litre of blood, it just wasn't possible!