Babies on a plane!! (and also cord clamping)

Editorial Team / Admin · Jul 5, 2015

One of the surgeons I work with said he actually had a question about what to do if attending a birth outside of the hospital without time/resources to get to a hospital. He mentioned hoping he was wearing shoes with laces...

AOX4RN, MSN, RN, NP · Jul 5, 2015

When I woke up, I realized that I had a question about cord clamping: even if you're in an emergency, non-hospital situation, you have to find some way to clamp the cord ASAP, right? Otherwise, I'm guessing that the newborn is going to hemorrhage through the umbilical arteries into the placenta. How the heck would you do that? Just hold pressure?

Easy. Don't cut the cord.

In a perfect situation, deliver the baby to mom's chest and cover with warm blankets and stimulate it to cry to clear it's airway if needed. In about five minutes the placenta will want to deliver... keep it connected to baby. No hemorrhage and baby gets what it needs, especially if you're unequipped to deal with it bleeding out the vessels or it needs resuscitation. The vessels physiologically clamp themselves shortly after birth anyway.

Apgar10, BSN-RN (and licensed midwife)

adventure_rn, MSN, NP · Jul 5, 2015

One of the surgeons I work with said he actually had a question about what to do if attending a birth outside of the hospital without time/resources to get to a hospital. He mentioned hoping he was wearing shoes with laces...

Lol, I can only imagine! Get us some shoe laces, STAT! Glad to know I'm not the only one who has been totally confused.

**LibraSunCNM, BSN, MSN, CNM** · Jul 5, 2015

Yes, clamping the cord is completely unnecessary. No "hemorrhaging" occurs---look up newborn cardiac physiology. And yes, I dream about delivering babies in weird places all the time.

Red Kryptonite · Jul 5, 2015

Yes, clamping the cord is completely unnecessary. No "hemorrhaging" occurs---look up newborn cardiac physiology. And yes, I dream about delivering babies in weird places all the time.

Thank you so much for this post. I knew that sounded wrong but am not as educated as I'd like to be and didn't want to say anything wrong. Seems to me lotus birth would be impossible if it were true that the blood would all flow back out of baby into the placenta. It's funny, sometimes, the crazy ideas we moderns get into our heads, thinking our technology can always improve on a system nature spent millions of years refining.

canigraduate · Jul 5, 2015

I can't get Samuel L. Jackson out of my head now. All I can hear is "motherlovin' babies on a motherlovin' plane!"

Thanks, OP for a cool post.

vintagemother, BSN, CNA, LVN, RN · Jul 5, 2015

I can't get Samuel L. Jackson out of my head now. All I can hear is "motherlovin' babies on a motherlovin' plane!"
Thanks, OP for a cool post.

When I saw the snippet of your reply and the title of the thread r/t babies, I thought you were going to reference Samuel Jacksons reading of his children's book go the @@@@ to sleep! Bwahaha!! Here's a link to it!

Samuel L. Jackson Reads "Go the F**k to Sleep" - YouTube

canigraduate · Jul 5, 2015

I love that video.

I sent it to my brother, who has two hyperactive kids with insomnia. He was highly amused.

Hijack over.

adventure_rn, MSN, NP · Jul 5, 2015

When I saw the snippet of your reply and the title of the thread r/t babies, I thought you were going to reference Samuel Jacksons reading of his children's book go the @@@@ to sleep! Bwahaha!! Here's a link to it!
Samuel L. Jackson Reads "Go the F**k to Sleep" - YouTube

:roflmao:

They should stock this book on every floor for the night shift folks.

Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP · Jul 6, 2015

If this does ever happen, I just want you to dry your pink screaming baby off and keep him warm. Preferably between mom's breasts, and covered with a blanket or shirt. Don't worry about the cord or the placenta. By the time it's time to get worried about the placenta, you'll hopefully either have more hands on deck to help, or you'll have gotten the happy family to a care facility. :)

musingmom · Jul 6, 2015

I was an EMT before becoming a nurse. The EMS standard for an out of hospital birth is largely to DO NOTHING. Make sure baby is breathing and keep it warm, preferably on mom's skin. Otherwise, don't touch anything. Transport. Turns out, nature pretty much has the process perfected.