born sleeping due to umbilical cord

gracie5107

If your loss was due to an umbilical cord problem what did your doctor say he/she would do to avoid this in a subsequent pregnancy?  For example, what type of monitoring will you have/will you be under the care of a specialist, etc?  I have my follow up appointment on Thursday and this will be a question of mine.  I would like to know how your doctor's answers compare it to my doctor's answers.  Thanks for your help!

kel0303

I am interested in knowing this as well.  Our loss (37 weeks) was due to compression of the cord which my OB said was a "freak accident".  I go back on Friday for my 6 week check up and plan to ask her these questions.  I will post once I get out.  

gracie5107

I know the common belief is that this is a random occurance, but when things like this happen part of my way of coping is to research, and some of the research I have found suggests that there is a higher chance of this happening again (however, there is definitely a lack of research out there). I've also read 2 blogs about mothers dealing with this and they both went on to deliver healthy babies, but they both also had cord issues again. The reason they were able to deliver healthy babies was because they were heavily monitored and the beby was delivered at the first sign of the cord problem. But it seems "in real life" most ob's say it's just bad luck and won't happen again. Definitely interested in the experiences of others out there!

gracie5107

rsigler said:

Siggy..... I hope you don't mind me answering this. I don't spend as much time here as I used to, but I'm almost always lurking, and I feel like I can add some insight to this situation because of where I'm at in my journey. I lost DD in Aug 2012 to a true knot and nuchal cord x3, and went on to deliver my rainbow baby in Oct 2013. My OB was of the mindset that cord accidents (unless caused by a structural issue such as a shortened cord) are unlikely to recur. But she was also ok with doing whatever necessary for me to gain peace of mind and maintain my sanity throughout my subsequent pregnancy. So we started twice weekly NST's around 34 weeks, and had several 3D ultrasounds to look at the cord (28 weeks, 32ish weeks, and 36 weeks, if I remember correctly). We also scheduled a repeat csection at 38w, 5d, in order to avoid surpassing my loss milestone (which was 39w, 3d). Overall, I was treated as high risk, and my OB had an open door policy for me to come into the office whenever I needed peace of mind, which was very reassuring. I also had a few random freakouts during non-office hours, so I went to l&d for monitoring. My advice is to ease up on researching online. I know it's a hard habit to break (believe me, I know!). But sometimes having too much information can add unnecessary anxiety. A subsequent pregnancy will be difficult enough. I made a pact with my therapist to stay off Google during my pregnancy and call my doctor instead if I had any medical questions. Luckily, my OB was very patient and understanding. If you don't have an OB who's willing to give you extra monitoring, I highly suggest finding a new one.

I do think that is good advice, as long as you completely trust your doctor, and thank you for your perspective.  I think some of my stress comes from thinking that my current OB will not do enough/not take the time to answer my questions seriously.  I likely will be looking for a new doctor if and when there is a new pregnancy. But, I will wait and see how she is at the follow up appointment before making any final decisions.  And we have a long road ahead before we will be ready to TTC again. 

Congratulations on your rainbow baby!  I am very happy for you.   

JessicaG220

**siggy warning**

@rsigler, I think you gave very good advice and perspective.  My doctor also maintains that it was a rare occurrence and unlikely to happen again. 

I am currently pregnant, and my OB office encourages me to come in whenever I'm feeling nervous or anxious. I love that.  My doctor plans to induce before 40 weeks, for both emotional and medical reasons.  I will get extra monitoring and ultrasounds as my pregnancy progresses as well (I have a uterine septum that will be monitored, too).

Good luck at your appointment and be sure to write down your questions so you don't forget them!  Sending you lots of hugs.

gracie5107

@arogosta You're right, I have seen Dr. Collins' research.  I plan on asking my doctor if she has heard of it and if she views it as legitimate research or not.  My only other issue is that I haven't been able to find any studies that actually show that it doesn't reoccur, just statements made in articles.

In my case, there is a part of me that thinks my loss with J could have been prevented if I had known to do kick counts or if I had been more vocal about noticing decreased movement (due to an anterior placenta I didn't feel J move a ton anyway and as things progressed I assumed the decreased movement was due to her preparing for birth/running out of room), etc. etc.  However, there is another part of me that believes this was destined to happen and there wasn't anything I could do.  I know mom guilt is always rough, but this type of mother's guilt is unbelievable for me.

I'm hoping my obgyn refers me to MFM team at my hospital.  I have worked with them before and I do think they would do whatever I need.  I just need to see if that is her plan and if it's not I need to figure out how to make that the plan. 

I wish you the absolute best of luck in your pregnancy!