Today we will discuss why does your baby’s umbilical cord matter in the context of a traumatic brain injury at birth. The type of brain injury that we will be covering is a hypoxic brain injury.
Understanding the umbilical cord gas can be critical in ensuring the baby’s well-being. This post will cover the significance of the umbilical cord gas and whether a recent hypoxic event may have occurred.
What Is Umbilical Cord Gas?
The umbilical cord connects the baby to the placenta, allowing for the exchange of oxygen, nutrients, and waste products. When we say umbilical cord gas, we are referring to blood that circulates in the cord. The blood in the cord can contain things such as oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and other gases.
Why Does Your Baby’s Umbilical Cord Gas Matter?
One of the main jobs of the umbilical cord is to provide oxygen to the baby. One does not have to be a medical doctor to understand that if there is a problem with a baby’s oxygen flow there can be serious problems for a baby, especially if the oxygen issues remain for some time. Not only can the baby suffer a hypoxic brain injury, but death can be the result in some cases.
Umbilical cord gases are not uniformly gathered. For example, some things might require one hospital to run the gases and another hospital with the same facts might not. In general, the gases might be gathered if there is an APGAR score of 6 or below, an emergency C-section performed because of problems on the fetal tracings, or a medical professional sees the need for the gases to help with the baby’s care.
If cord gases are needed the sample should be double clamped and done as soon as possible. Most umbilical cords will be 3-cord vessels. Sometimes there will be a 2-cord vessel. Once a sample is taken it will provide a venous sample and an arterial sample. It is important to see if the 2 samples are in the normal category. If they are not, then a strong argument can be made that the baby has recently experienced a hypoxic stressor.
To speak with me further about your baby’s hypoxic brain injury I invite you to call me at my info below. There is no money cost to talk with me initially about your baby’s story.
Marcus B. Boston, Esq.
9701 Apollo Dr. Suite 100
Largo, Maryland 20774
301-850-4832
1-833-4 BABY HELP
