The umbilical cord acts as your developing baby's lifeline, working constantly by carrying essential nutrients and oxygen that your little one needs for continued growth and development. With advances in ultrasound technology, umbilical cord complications are frequently diagnosed during pregnancy.

Several unusual complications can affect the umbilical cord. It can be formed either too short or long, become knotted during the course of a pregnancy or feature other complications that can be potentially life-threatening to both mother and child if left undiagnosed.

The umbilical cord begins to form very early in pregnancy, approximately five weeks after conception, and its growth becomes very progressive. "The mean length at term is 55 to 65 centimeters, though there can be a lot of variation, with some evidence that fetuses that move a lot have longer cords and those whose movements may be decreased by low amniotic fluid, for example, are shorter," explains Dr. Sarah H. Poggi, a perinatologist at the Brock Family Perinatal Diagnostic Center at the Inova Alexandria Hospital in Alexandria, Va.

Inside the umbilical cord, there are two arteries and one vein. The vein carries oxygenated blood from the placenta to the baby, and the two arteries bring the deoxygenated blood from the baby to the placenta. The three blood vessels are protected with a cushioned gelatin-like tissue called Wharton's jelly.

According to the March of Dimes, single umbilical cord arteries occur in about one percent of single pregnancies and about five percent of pregnancies of two or more babies. The exact causes of this condition remain unknown and can only be diagnosed via ultrasound. When ultrasound discovers this condition, and if the developing baby appears to have no other health complications, the baby is likely to be born healthy.

However, recent studies have suggested that 25 percent of babies diagnosed with single umbilical cord arteries in the United States may be diagnosed with other birth defects such as cleft palates. "It is associated with renal and cardiac anomalies in the baby [and] chromosomal abnormalities and can also be associated with fetal growth restriction and possibly fetal distress," says Dr. Poggi. "It can also be an incidental finding in an otherwise normal pregnancy. We follow these patients very carefully, but it is not an uncommon finding and most often the babies do well, particularly if it is an isolated finding."

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