Hi there. Last November my sister-in -law lost her unborn little girl, with exactly 40 weeks pregnancy. The day that would be her due date she woke up in the middle of the night after have dreamed for the very first time about her baby. She didnt know the gender of the baby but had dreamed that she had a beautiful baby and all went OK with the delivery. But the dream made her wake up and she noticed that she had a bit of blood on the sheets...she went to the bathroom and noticed that was not just a bit but a lot of blood. She called her midwife who immediately came to see her. When the midwife tried to listen to the heartbeat she couldnt find any and they rushed to the hospital where it was discovered that the baby was dead. She still had the delivered induced and a natural labor. Was a pretty and " healthy" baby girl. After the birth they noticed a cut in the umbilical cord and realized the blood in the womb was the baby´s blood and not the mother´s. Few weeks ago the results of all the investigation was announced, And the baby was a perfect girl, there was nothing wrong health wise. The cut they found on the umbilical cord, near where it meets the placenta was clean and the baby had long nails, therefore the only possible conclusion was that the baby cut the umbilical cord herself while probably playing with it. And in few hours she bled to death. It was a shock for all of us and the parents are still trying to cope with this. We keep asking ourselves....how is this possible? Have any of you ever heard of such event? Can it be avoided???
Thank you all for your messages. I also find this truly bizarre!! But although the finger nails are soft, the vains of the umbilical cord are on the outside, on a easy reach and the cut they found on it was a clean cut, only a sharp instrument would be able to cut it....so they could only think about the baby´s nails. Like you all said, despite of how it happened, losing a child like this, on the last day of the pregnancy and knowing she was perfect ,...breaks everybody´s heart. SHe was a very beautiful baby and they made lovely pictures of her on her crib , post mortem, so they could have a bit of her to show later on to her siblings...a girl of 3 and a boy of 1,5 years old who right now dont understand exactly what happened and why mommy and daddy cried so much and so many peopled came by and took care of them instead of their own parents for few days....one day they will understand they had a baby sister....who was meant to be with the angels up there....
Thank you all for the kind words.
As tragic as this is, there's nothing you can do to prevent this.
You can't trim an unborn child's nails. You can't prevent baby from playing with the cord. I didn't know they played with the cord.
I'm having a very hard time believing the findings of this investigation.
Do you know how tough an umbilical cord is?
Any husband who's cut the cord at birth will tell you it's like trying to cut through a garden hose - it's not easy - and that's for an adult man.
Do you know how soft a babies nails are?
Do you know how they twist, turn, kick and bounce all over the place inside you?
I seriously doubt there is anything in the womb that can make any damage.
A crimp/prolapse in the cord during birth or a detached placenta is deadly.
I don't know what went wrong, but the explanation they came up with is not believable.
It's more likely the cut on the umbilical cord happened after delivery.
Placental abruption or an umbilical cord defect are more likely explanations.
My condolences.
However I would take that report with a grain of salt. Your sister is grieving and there is a possibility that the story was simplified for her by the doctor and then passed on to you.... changing a little bit every time it is retold.
If I should venture a guess I would propose that your sisters baby may have had an umbilical cord defect. Either a cyst or ulcer, or even a velamentous insertion can lead to a spontaneous rupture of the cord in late pregnancy. It is possible that the fetus aggravates these conditions by tugging or compressing an already weak cord.... but I would highly doubt that an unborn can cleanly cut the umbilical cord with her fingernails... sometimes doctors will come up with an outrageous hypothesis in cases like this, just to make the grieving parents feel better. After all blaming it on a "freak incident" is better for many people than accepting a "we really don't know how this happened".
It sounds like they could not find the cause of death and grasped at straws just to give the parents closure. You have seen newborn nails, even long they are paper thin and just not strong enough to slice tissue, the most they can do is scratch you or themselves.
Even if it were possible it would fall under cord wrapped around neck and knots in the cord, it happens and it is sad but nothing can be done to stop it.
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More likely there was a weakness in the cord from when it was first formed and with the size of the baby and the crowding that happens towards the end it tore.
How tragic. My thoughts and prayers go out to your family.
my girlfriend gave birth to- by all accounts - a healthy, baby girl 16 years ago....still born. They conducted an autopsy and could find NOTHING wrong with their little girl. NOTHING. No cord wrapped around the neck, no defects, no problems.
Terribly sad stuff happens. The doctor's couldn't give my dear friends closure because they couldn't figure out what was wrong. Yes, they went on to have one more child. No problems. They have 4 live children - two are now off to college and one is graduating high school this year and the other will be 13 this year.
I doubt VERY seriously the infants nails cut, sliced or did any damage to the umbilical cord. Infant nails may be long, but they are, in my opinion, not strong enough to "cut" through anything. Umbilical cords are STRONG and pliable. I would figure they are giving the parents closure because there is no medical cause for the death to happen.
I wouldn't run back to my sister in law and tell her "that's not possible". I would tell her how sorry I am that her baby died and leave it at that.
That is incredibly sad and unheard of. I would bet the odds would be something like 1 in 500,000,000.
My oldest child got tangled in his umbilical cord at 36 weeks, and we just barely got him out in time before he strangled to death. He was nearly dead when they took him out (c-section.) Oddly enough, he's been drawn to wrapping things around his neck his entire life--phone cords, blind cords, jump ropes, shoelaces, etc. so we really have to watch him.
I doubt that there is anything that can be done to prevent an unborn baby from playing with the cord. It is just tragic.
ETA...but, with future pregnancies they will probably have her do Non-Stress Tests to check for adequate fetal movement. I now do them with every pregnancy during the 3rd trimester.
I'm so very sorry.
I've heard a lot of freak stories over the years... And a lot of common ones.
You commonly hear about blood flow cut off right at the ende; My son was born live... With the umb cord wrapped around his neck so tight (several times) the doctors didnt know how he was kicking up the fuss he was.... Meanwhile my neice was born stillborn just a few weeks later, movement stopping the night before, with the cord only wrapped around her neck once, it cut off blood to her brain. My SIL never forgave me. Not that she blamed me, per se, its just how it goes.
But uncommonly? My best friend in primary was born with a full set of teeth. As we're here brother & sister. But here baby sister was a full term loss...She was delivered ... because she chewed through her mum's uterus (unsavable uterus). My family is in medicine, so that's one we have all kinds of crazy photos of that. My grandfather strajght up didnt believe ghe OB (surgeon himself) and launched an invesfigation. It was a solutely what had happened. Never heard of it before or since, although Im sure its neither the first or last time.
One thing that made it especially hard on my friend's mum was other people's disbelief after the investigation. ESP people casting blame on either her or her husband (was he beating you? We're you not in pain? Checking for movement? Eating enough? just done having kids? Taking medicine/drugs? Etc. etc. Etc). Or decided they were lying to cover things up :(. (From hysterectomy as birth control, to adultery, STDs, etc.).
It was brutal for them. Not only did they lose their baby, but then people are trying to make themselves feel better, by blaming the parents.
Freak accidents happen.
Freak or common... People WANT to blame the parents (or doctors), because that makes them feel 'safe'. If there's a cause, you can avoid it, and won't lose your own baby that way, kwim?
My heart goes out to you & yours.
I'm so very sorry.
I have never heard of this. At first I was sure this was going to be a question from a troll, because it sounded so unreal from the title, but all I can say now is that I am truly sorry for your loss.
I have never heard of this either. Umbilical cords seems so thick and strong, watching a new father cut through one , it appears he has to put a little muscle behind it (I will have to ask my husband what he remembers about that later)...it's just so hard to imagine that a tiny little fingernail could do something like that. Tragic, nonetheless, so sorry for your family's loss.
First, I am so deeply sorry. Please accept my condolences for you and your whole family-especially the parents of this baby.
In my experience, fetus's play with their umbilical cords all the time, they pull, tug, bat at it etc. I have never heard of this happening where the baby cuts it. It takes effort and sharp instruments to cut at birth. I would suspect that the baby had a defect in the cord and therefore it was weak. I am not sure why this happened. But am so sorry!
Take good care.
I also assumed this was a bogus question at first although I recognized your name. I've honestly never heard of anything remotely like this and I have to believe there must have been some huge defect in the umbilical cord since baby fingernails are notoriously soft. It's got to be horrendously devastating - such a loss is so traumatic, but to have it happen through some freak chain of events is perhaps even worse.
Such a tragic thing, Mom. I'm so sorry to hear this. I have never heard of this - I would assume that it's rare.
I'm sure that the results of the investigation only give a measure of closure.
Dawn
I am so sorry. Terrible to have to live thru that. Strange things happen. There is no always an easy explanation or any at all. Prayers to your family
So very sorry. Life is so much stranger than fiction!
