In 2013, I blogged about my 3rd supernatural childbirth and mentioned having delayed cord clamping. I wished I did this for our earlier 2 kiddos but I was not researching well into this method then and only plucked up courage during 3rd pregnancy (same thing goes for placenta encapsulation which I also did for 3rd kiddo)
Sometime during my 37th week of pregnancy with Carolyn, I mentioned to our gynae that if possible, I would like to delay the cord clamping and let my hubby clamps the cord himself. Hubby looked surprise (hehehe I didn't tell him I wanted this) and asked why would I want that and I said "I just want it lahhhh!!!". Actually, other than the benefits I read online, I also wanted hubby to have a part of doing something during the labor process, since he can't give birth to baby, I thought it was pretty nice if he can clamp the cord for his first fatherly duty hahahaha...
Our gynae is agreeable with my request provided our baby is born naturally and given all clear signs (such as loud cry right after birth), else if baby is not crying after birth, the gynae will have to clamp the cord immediately so that the hospital staff can quickly look into baby's care.
Baby Carolyn was born at 5.55pm on 30th September 2013 and she came out crying loudly. Because of this, our gynae granted my wish to have hubby do the delayed cord clamping. We waited for a few minutes (can't remember exact minutes but it was somewhere between 3 to 5 minutes) while baby was placed on my chest for breastfeeding and bonding. Hubby was then passed a device to clamp the cord and was guided by gynae on how to clamp it.
Now, back to the reasons why I opted for delayed cord clamping? Before that, some information about delayed cord clamping:
Delayed cord clamping means to ‘delay’ the surgical intervention of clamping the umbilical cord at birth. The definition of ‘delay’ is subjective and can range from 30 to 45 seconds, 2 to 3 minutes, once the cord has stopped pulsating or after the placental birth. (There is currently no agreed clinical definition of delayed cord clamping, and wide variations exist in clinical trials.)
Benefits of delaying cord clamping (excerpts from articles - link to articles below):
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allows more time for blood to move from the placenta, significantly improves iron stores and hemoglobin levels in newborns and does not increase the risks to mothers.
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a normal, healthy blood volume for the transition to life outside the womb; and a full count of red blood cells, stem cells and immune cells.
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For the mother, delayed clamping keeps the mother-baby unit intact and can prevent complications with delivering the placenta.
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In premature or compromised babies, delayed cord clamping may provide essential life support, restore blood volume and protect against organ damage, brain injury and death.
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Improves infants' antioxidant status and leads to better infant development in the first few days of life
Further reading:
* http://cord-clamping.com/
* http://cord-clamping.com/2011/09/22/delayed-cord-clamping-sharing-the-information/
* http://cord-clamping.com/2012/07/09/delayed-clamping-may-protect-from-trauma/
* http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/11/health/study-endorses-later-severing-of-umbilical-cord.html
* http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/kids-motor-and-social-skills-improve-when-cord-clamping-delayed-at-birth-1.3088257?cmp=rss
* http://www.naturalnews.com/052645_umbilical_cord_newborn_development_antioxidants.html#
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