At the birth, I was instructed by the Doctor on where to cut the Umbilical Cord. What wasn’t mentioned, and what did not cross my mind, is what happens to the rest of the cord – the part between where I cut it, and Baby.
For those not familiar, the cord is approximately thumb-like in width, and goes white once cut and the blood flow has stopped. At the end is a clip to stop any excess liquid coming out. It wasn’t until it was time to change a nappy that I wondered what happens to it now, does it get taken off at a later date? Does it disappear into the belly button?
Over the next four days, the cord shriveled up until it was dark and very firm. At day five, the clip was removed. By the morning of day seven what was left of the cord was hanging by a single thread of the cord – this was most irritating as you really just wanted to take / pull it off.
Finally, at the end of day eight, during a nappy change, it suddenly fell off onto the changing mat. Absolutely no reaction from Baby.
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