HYDERABAD: A 32-year-old pregnant woman and her baby were saved on Monday in Hyderabad, after the woman suffered a rare and life-threatening problem known as ‘umbilical cord prolapse.’ The woman, who was eight months pregnant, had an umbilical cord hanging between her legs and amniotic fluid swiftly draining out. She was shifted to a private hospital for treatment where she immediately underwent a caesarean surgery and the baby, weighing 2.45 kg, was delivered.
The woman was saved by a team of doctors led by Dr Prameela Shekhar, Senior Consultant, Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Apollo Cradle and Children’s Hospital, Kondapur. The hospital, through a press release, said that the umbilical cord prolapse, though a rare phenomenon, is a medical emergency during pregnancy, necessitating urgent caesarean surgery to save both the fetus and the mother.
The press release read, “Umbilical cord prolapse manifests when the amniotic sac which holds the fetus, breaches, leading to the amniotic fluid spilling out of the sac and the umbilical cord coming out of the uterus.
“While hanging out of the uterus the cord is likely to get squeezed between the baby and the mother’s womb, thereby depriving the fetus of its supply of essentials including oxygen needed to survive. This can be fatal to the fetus leading to stillbirth and can be lethal to the mother as well.”