What did the umbilical cord look like?

[emkana]

When I had my dd's I was really surprised that the umbilical cord looked all curly, a bit like a telephone cable when it is pulled.
I thought it would be straight. When I watched ER the other night a baby there was born and the cord was straight.
Do some people have straight umbilical cords? Am I weird or is ER unrealistic?

mine was curly.... i would say ER is a bit false when it comes to things like that....

I can only really remember clearly my last baby's cord as it was quite unusual and the midwife commented on it. It was so thick that it looked almost straight but with slightly undulating look about it. The midwife's comment was "you obviously didn't smoke then?"

bump

bump again

Come on, a few more answers please?

mine looked like a bit stick of rock with dd. can't remember with ds.

Minging!!!

But straight if I remember correctly.

umbilical cord pictures

The cord has a big vein running through it with 2 arteries wrapped round it. It is covered in Wharton's jelly which can be quite thick. Depending on the size of the vein and arteries and the thickness of the jelly, the cord can look straight or it can look curly. Some even have knots in them.

can I gatecrash and ask Mears something? when ds born I heard the mw say the placenta was a "dirty...." what would she have said? was a sort of comical name...

'dirty Duncan'

What that means is that the placenta delivered itself inside out if you like. The side that was attached to the womb was on the outside - like a turned inside out umbrella. When it peels off the womb it often comes shiny side first (side next to baby) with the side that was attached to the womb on the inside.

picture of placenta shiny side up.

thanks, Mears! keep thinking she said Dirty Sanchez but dh tells me that is v rude!
why Duncan?

Maned after a Dr Duncan - can't remember the full name. Will come back to me no doubt.

Matthew duncan (1865 ish) describes the delivery of the placenta in this way.

thanks so much - that has been bugging me for ages!
sorry to hijack!