"cracked cord"???

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Specializes in NICU.

So the birth I was at today - babe had a single tight nuchal cord, which was completely empty of blood. Drawing gasses was a bit of a job. She'd been having lots of variables, with a couple of big decels (down to 60) but no lates. Mom was G5P0 and pushed 45min after 1.5 hours of light pit (didn't progress past 7cm for about 4 hours then went all the way in the last 90 min with pit 1-3cc/h). Apgars 7 and 9, needed a little oxygen but otherwise fine. The OB said the cord had been cracked. Now, I can reason through to cracked cord = no blood in it, but how does this happen? Is it common? How bad is it? I'm not asking for homework purposes or anything, just curious. I did a little googling but I do not have mad skillz.

Sorry if I put in a lot of irrelevant info here, I just don't know what's important.

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I have not heard that term before. We recently had a velamitous cord that was torn in utero- probably from the baby kicking.

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I have never heard of this, but if this happens I would imagine it would be an emergency situation. It seems that the baby would bleed out quickly in utero, but maybe I am not understanding what a cracked cord is.

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"Jimmy cracked cord and i don't care...":lol2:

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Specializes in ER.

Something else was cracked IMHO.

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Specializes in NICU.
Something else was cracked IMHO.

did a little more research - I think she meant RUPTURED cord. English was not so much her first language. Babe went to the regular nursery, though.

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All I can say is WOW. Lucky babe and Mom. Glad they had a good outcome.

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