What is it like cutting the umbilicol cord?

[mameulah]

Does anyone out there have any experience they would like to share? I don't think that my husband is keen but I would quite like him too, circumstancing permitting and all. Thanks!

My dh said it was like cutting through a bit of beef! I think it took him two or three goes to cut it right through but he was really pleased he got to do it.

You could do it yourself if your dh isn't keen?

Wow! It didn't even occur to me that I could do it myself. Glad you said beef and not poo, that really would have put him off.

my dp cut most of ours, but ds1 cut dd's as he was there for the birth. they can be quite 'tough' to cut, ds1 said it was like cutting chicken! but it is a moment i will always treasure and ds1 will as well :)

i thought about doing it myself, but the position i give birth in and the logisics of holding a baby and trying to cut the cord dont fill me with confidence, i imagnine it might be nice tho :)

its quite tough and rubbery.

yes rubbery! very interesting tho as you can see the three seperate veins in it that supplied your baby with blood/nutrients etc, its also a sort of see through colour, looks almost bluish green? not flesh coloured as i kind of assumed it would be when i had ds1!

It's harder thank you think. I cut my own because DP didn't want to. Was quite entertaining juggling attached baby and scissors in a birthing pool.

Wait til all the blood has gone out of the cord into your baby before you cut.

itsallgoing how did you manage it in the birthing pool? i thought about it, ds4 was born in the pool, we actually waited till the placenta had been delivered and then cut the cord, i wanted to make sure he got all the good blood etc, it is def a good idea to delay clamping the cord till it stops pulsating :)

but dp cut it, i was still a bit woozy from LOTS of gas and air and didnt fancy trying to hold 10lb 13oz ds4 in the water and cut the cord!

I think the MWs were a bit worried as they couldn't tell how much blood I was using. I'd said in my birth plan I wanted to delay cord cutting until blood was out of cord.

When it was she asked DP if he wanted to do it, and then me. Complete spur of the moment thing.

Delivered placenta into bowl in toilet then hooked up to drip (had been lovingly reasonable amount of blood)

I think I had baby in left arm, MW held placenta and I cut with right. They may havhave been draining the pool again atthat point, I can't remember

Surely they wouldn't let you cut the cord unless all the blood was wherever it should be? That all now sounds quite worrying?

mameulah they clamp the cord before they cut it, if you have the injection to help the third stage (delivery of placenta) they like to clamp the cord asap, if you have the third stage naturally, it is good to let the cord stop pulsating so all the blood etc gets to the baby. this is something to discuss with your midwife and do a bit of research on, depending on your personal circumstances and on how your labour goes, ie any drugs such as pethidine etc they then like to give the injectino for the third stage.

chat to your midwife, have a read on mnet. waiting for the cord to stop pulsating before its clamped and cut has benefits for the baby :)

they like to give the injection as it helps make third stage quicker and to prevent unnecessary bleeding, but if you dont have it, they can give it to you at any time if it seems necessary, its not an either or situation and your midwife will moniter you adn the baby and advise on what seems best :)

Chompy

DH didn't want to cut the cord with our first, so the mw did it. I cut dd2's cord myself- it is pretty tough! DH cut ds's cord, and didn't enjoy it- he said the scissors were blunt and it felt "wrong", think because it is cutting human tissue (I'm a vet, so it didn't bother me at all!) I blame DH for ds's slightly outsy belly button- the other 2 have lovely neat insies!

No help I'm afraid my dh wouldn't do it for any of my 3dc
I never realised I could do it

Tell your dh that's it's a great thing to do and to make him feel part of the process! I did it with both my dcs. It's rubbery and tough to cut, but doesn't cause anyone any pain and there's no blood splatter or anything.

Tell him to have some skin to skin time too, he can always have a shower later!

I did it as DH didn't want to.

I had a natural third stage so was sitting on the 'potty' to deliver placenta, had the baby in my left arm/lap and cut with my right hand. I was surprised how tough it was, it felt like cutting through a thick bit of gristle!

Just asked DH and he said he would have really regretted it if he hadn't done it. It helped him feel like he was involved in part of the birth.

Gristley and that was after the cord had stopped pulsating i.e. the baby had got all its blood back.

Dh didn't want to do it either. I thought he was the only one; most men appear to want to do it so they can feel they've 'done their bit', but dh felt that it was meanignless, seeing as I'd done all the hard work.

Gross, gristley!
I only did it because it was an emergency (blue baby) and the doc was new and froze and they needed to get the baby on the crash table and the MW didn't have 8 hands! (baby was fine!)

I really don't see the novelty for dads! I think its meaningless too!

Thanks, we had another chat about it this evening and whilst he is open to changing his mind when we are in the moment it is definitely not something he would be looking forward to. Thanks everyone.

Not anything that I noticed-I would just leave it to the midwife-it never even occurred to me! I wouldn't want to anyway.

I cut the cord with DS1 and was quite surprised to find it tough and rubbery and then also when I managed to spray blood around as I cut through - not sure how I managed that but it was quite a comical moment....