The Umbilical Cord
The Umbilical Cord is an important structure, it is essentially a tube that connects the baby and the placenta. The tube usually starts developing from 5 weeks of gestation and grows until the beginning of the third trimester at ~28 weeks.
The umbilical cord consists of 3 blood lines; 2 arteries and 1 vein and basically acts as a supply line between the placenta and the baby. You can see why it is an extremely important structure as it delivers nutrients and oxygen to the baby and removes the baby’s “waste” materials.
The cord can grow up to 80cm, but the average is ~55cm, a longer cord can be associated with entanglement and possibly some complications during labour. Some potential complications in the pregnancy are related to the umbilical cord, such as Vasa Previa. The umbilical cord is cut at birth and the residual usually dries and falls off within 2-3 weeks.
In the video attached you can clearly see the umbilical cord attached from the placenta to the baby at just 12 weeks of gestation!
At City Ultrasound, the umbilical cord is just one of the important structures we check at any scan from 12 weeks. On our website, we have in-depth information about our process and types of scans, but if you do have any questions at all, please feel free to get in touch with us!
