"true knot"

MarBug7 · Nov 10, 2011

Just had a baby and mom in postpartum that had a true knot. Baby and mom were perfectly fine, baby was born lady partslly. I did not even realize how rare it was until I researched a little bit!

Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP · Nov 11, 2011

I think I've seen maybe two or three. I think all were born lady partslly and none detected beforehand.

patty554 · Nov 11, 2011

My sister had twins doctor said they were miracle babies, both had true knots and both were healthy, hate to think of what could have happened if they did not come 1 week early,,

allnurses Guide · Nov 11, 2011

My daughter had a true knot in her cord. It didn't cause any problems during her VBAC delivery. I found out when the doc said "oh look at this!" and held it up to show me. Then I tried to visualize how that occurred.

prmenrs, RN · Nov 11, 2011

BABIES: do not play jump rope w/your umbilical cord!!!

npeters · Nov 11, 2011

My second son had a true knot in his cord. He was born at 29 weeks gestation. I went in to get monitored because I wasn't feeling much movement and sure enough he wasn't doing well in utero. After a couple days of monitoring and shooting me up with steroid shots he was delivered by c-section and the knot was found, he was also wraped 3 1/2 times around the neck and had his arm caught up in the cord. The doctors best guess after delivery was that something was causing him to metabolize the umbilical cord itself and as he moved it pulled tighter and tighter on the knot restricting blood flow to the baby.

Out of curiosity - why do you ask?

LouisVRN, RN · Nov 11, 2011

My second son had a true knot in his cord. He was born at 29 weeks gestation. I went in to get monitored because I wasn't feeling much movement and sure enough he wasn't doing well in utero. After a couple days of monitoring and shooting me up with steroid shots he was delivered by c-section and the knot was found, he was also wraped 3 1/2 times around the neck and had his arm caught up in the cord. The doctors best guess after delivery was that something was causing him to metabolize the umbilical cord itself and as he moved it pulled tighter and tighter on the knot restricting blood flow to the baby.
Out of curiosity - why do you ask?

I ask because my second son had one. He was delivered at 41 weeks, no problems with the pregnancy, no problems with the delivery, had a normal, unmedicated lady partsl delivery, midwife held the placenta up to show me and was like "Look at this" she said she only seen a couple in over 700 deliveries. Talking with some of the nurses I know that work LD some of them had never seen one but they all kind of acted freaked out about the complications that "could" occur. I've always been interested in LD, I think maybe one day I'll end up there, so just wanted to see out of those with more experience how common an occurrence this was and if the "OMG there are tons of risks" is founded in reality or the majority of cases come out perfectly and its just the rare cases that have tragic consequences. Some of my co-workers also said that if its detected prior to labor they will automatically do a c-section. But basically I ask because the rare occurrences in any field are fascinating to me.

elprup, BSN, RN · Nov 11, 2011

I saw one during nursing school. Obviously I had never seen one before. Baby was born lady partslly, mom was over 40 and was diagnosed with preeclampsia when she came into hospital in labor. Both were fine. I actually did a home visit with the family and told them about the true knot. Nobody had told them. He was their true miracle baby. So sweet.

MomBabyUnitRN · Nov 11, 2011

I remember two I've seen so far.

The first one, a very cute baby boy born without any problems whatsoever.

The second wasn't so lucky. :sniff: His was very tight.

I was glancing through a nursing book today and there was a picture of a placenta with four different true knots in the cord. AMAZING that the infant survived. It didn't state what the strip looked like.

Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP · Nov 11, 2011

I just remembered a mom I took care of who had an IUFD of mono/mono twin girls. Cords all knotted together, which they were certain caused the FD. Mom kept a pic of those cords alongside the pics of her babies, just to remind herself that there was no way on earth she could've caused nor prevented it from happening. That's a bit of a special situation, though, mono/mono twins.

Nicky30, BSN, RN · Nov 11, 2011

I have only been a midwife for just over 2 years and I have seen one true knot. It was a scheduled section and not known prior to delivery.

Mum and bubs were fine.

:redpinkhe