Conference moira::parenting_v3

    I wouldn't worry too much - the cord around the neck is quite common.
    Two of my kids had the cord wrapped around their necks at birth, and
    are absolutely fine.  In fact, my last one Joshua had his wrapped three
    times around his neck!  The doctor's first move was to unwrap it. I
    don't think he was even completely out yet!
    
    It is a scary thing though, frightening to witness.  But the little
    guys are pretty resilient, ususally they come through without a
    problem.  If you are upset about it perhaps it would ease your mind to
    talk to your sister about it.  She may have more information about it
    from the doctor that would make you feel better.
    

    RE: blue color - Is this common, does it indicate anything? I still
    am surprized when I think of how blue my son was - I was not at all
    prepared to see a blue baby! He did not, to my knowledge, have any
    problem with the cord.
    Curious,
    JR

    The blue color indicates that the blood lacks adequate oxygen.  Whether
    there is damage to the baby depends on HOW LONG the baby is deprived of
    adequate oxygen.  But, as others have said babies are resilient and
    while the lack of oxygen is hardly desirable if it hasn't lasted too
    long (greater than several minutes) chances are the baby will be
    completely ok? 
    
    Jeff

    Our children were all Caesarean births and I witnessed the last two.
    
    The thing I noticed when they were born was, that although red and
    bloody, at the same time they had bluish tinges that I noticed appeared
    to be due to the mucous membranes.  These will tend to exaggerate any
    blue baby appearance from lack of oxygen.
    
    Stuart

    As well, the blue colour can be indicative of a more serious problem.
    (Not that I want any new parents to get into hysterics over this, I 
    am relating a relatively rare incidence).
    
    My cousin was born with a large hole between the lower two chambers of 
    her heart. The doctors were not optimistic about her chances at birth.
    She was of course, very blue then, and DID frighten her parents a lot.
    She had open heart at 6, where they fixed a few other things but still
    said she wouldn't live to adult hood.
    
    Happy ending: she's 36, and nine years ago pulled a second small
    miracle in the way of my god-daughter, the small and delicate Lisette.
    She had heart-specialists and OB's going nuts during the pregnancy.
    They all said abort, and she refused to consider it. Lisette was born
    8 weeks premature at barely 2 pounds. She will be petite for the rest
    of her life, but what's that.
    
    So maybe I AM being positive here -- even if the babe is really blue, 
    it has a chance.
    
    BTW, my mother-in-law says my husband was born with the cord around
    his neck; also 3 times. The doctor actually eased the baby back a bit
    during birth to unravel it. "Stop pushing Mrs. Barney. Stop!"
    (things I have to prepare myself for....)
    
    Monica
    

      My son also had the cord around his neck three times. He is a very
    happy, healthy 1 year old. I also have a 2 month old that was blue, even
    though there was no problem with the cord. My doctor told us that this
    was common and nothing to worry about. I am sure if there was a problem,
    they would have let your sister know. 
                                                   Cheryl

	Actually almost ALL babies have at least *some* blue tinges at birth.

	If you remember your Apgar scores, you could get up to two points based
on appearance.  0- all blue. 1- extremities blue 2- No blue.  Our childbirth 
instructor, a nurse with 15 years experience in labor and delivery, said that
about the only time you'll see an APGAR score of 10 at 1 min is when the parents
have a friend in the delivery room staff. :-)  

	Sure enough, when Katie was born, her Apgar at 1 min. was 9.  The 
missing point was for blue extremities.  By 5 min. she was up to a 10.

	Another example of resiliancy:  a friend of my husband's had a baby with 
a 1 min APGAR score of *1*!  (The one point was for a heartbeat I believe.)
The baby was in ICU for a few days, but has shown no damage since and is a 
healthy 6 month old now.


Tracey

    I clearly remember during our childbirth classes the instructor said
    "now prepare yourselves, your baby will be blue-jean blue when he/she's 
    born and that's something that is normal, DON'T be upset".
    
    If the baby got the proper treatment immediately - sounds like little
    Mark did - then there's not much to worry about.
    
    My sister-in-law had what they were calling a "blue baby".  I guess
    there were BIG oxygen problems.  But the baby was fine after some rushing
    around,  She's 3 now and is a normal happy kid.
    
    Babies are simply amazing and like other noters said "resilient". 
    
    NF
    
                   

    As .8 mentioned most babies are a (well more like bleached) blue jeans
    color at birth.  Generally, just because of SOP, babies are given
    "whiffs" of Oxygen just after birth and usually pink right up.  
    
    For all the birth I've had the priveledge of witnessing as an EMT, the
    color at birth scares the living daylights out of me! (no pun intended) 
    As long as they cry fairly soon after birth the bottom line is they'll
    be OK!  Rest assured if there were even the smallest possibility
    something was wrong the doctor will tell you, and then do something to
    hopefully rule out any problem.
    
    I can't speak from my delivery experience, my son was a C-section and I was
    out cold!
    
    Lyn

    Nathan had the cord around his neck, and his fist up against it.   This
    defined the birth process, every time he slipped down, he squeezed the
    cord, and his heart rate dropped.  Before he was out, the midwife eased
    him back in to let up on the cord a bit to unwrap it, and he started
    screaming.  As soon as it was loose, he was loose, and got apgars of 9. 
    He had us frightened all along, with all sorts of monitoring because of
    his varying heartrate.  He's very healthy and hapy now!
    
    Adrienne
    

    Both of my children were born with the cord wraped around there necks.
    The first one 11 years ago the doctors were more worried than the last
    one a year ago.  Both times I was confined to the bed with the monitor
    on all the time because of the cord being not only around there necks
    but for some reason even getting up to go to the bathroom would cause
    fetal distress.  Anyway they are both very healthy and have no
    problems.  But I was wondering if anyone that had this happen once had
    it repeated.  I found out yesterday that I am pregnat agin and was
    wondering if I could expect this agin.  I would like to have labor one
    time and be able to move around.  Because of the cord both times I had
    to be induced and labor progressed very slow the first time ending with
    forcepts at 8cm dialated and the second time started pushing at 6cm
    dialated. Pushed for over 2 hours.  I figure if I could get up and move
    around things might go faster.
                                              Mary