May 2016 Moms

Marginal Cord Insertion

So I had my anatomy scan yesterday, and little guy looks great. They said he's growing quite nicely, and is about 12 oz. (I'll be 20 weeks tomorrow). They did say, however, that I have something called a "marginal cord insertion" because the umbilical cord is coming out of the edge of the placenta instead of the center. Have any of the rest of you had this diagnosis on this pregnancy or a previous one? The doc said to not stress myself out about it... that it is pretty rare that it causes a complication. She said that she's only seen 2 babies have issues growing well because of it, out of hundreds. I hope she's right! They scheduled me to come back in at 28 weeks for another scan, just to make sure that he's growing as he should.

Trying to not to worry about it, but everything pregnancy related worries me these days after I had my miscarriage last year.

Re: Marginal Cord Insertion

  • Hi there! I had this issue with my last pregnancy, along with a couple of other complications. All that was needed was to do regular growth checks via ultrasound. My MFM said it's unclear if the cord placement has any impact on the efficiency of nutrient absorption, so they monitor growth just as a precaution. If growth becomes an issue at all, it's usually only when you're at or near full term, when baby is taking in a lot more "food".

    At our regular growth checks, my DD was measuring in the 5th percentile, so they induced at 39 weeks to make sure she wasn't being starved. She was diagnosed with Low Birth Weight, but in her case it meant she was just really small, but perfectly healthy.

    I know it's kind of nerve wracking, but in the vast majority of cases it's not an issue, and the growth checks are just a precaution to see if baby will need to be induced when you're much closer to your due date. Fx that all is well with you and baby, and try not to worry about it too much!
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  • Thank you so much! That makes me feel better!
  • I've never heard of this, but I hope it's benign for you and baby! Sounds like your doc has the situation under control either way.
  • Hi! I was just diagnosed with this today. Everyone says not to worry. I will also be going back to follow up with regular ultrasounds and what they called a "behavior test" which I think is a nonstress test but I'm not positive.
  • I have my appointment with my OB today so I am going to ask her for any more information about it then. Everything I've read says it's pretty rare to have major complications, so I am choosing to not worry about it. Besides, catching something like that on an ultrasound is a pretty new thing (in the grand scheme of things --- since my mom's generation didn't get sonograms)
  • edited January 2016
    I have this too. I will be having more frequent scans due to this issue. I won't be surprised if the baby is on the small side only because our toddler is (and always has been, full term and healthy too) and we are not huge people either.
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