The cord

I wanted to post more detailed information about a two vessel cord.  I did not want to make the last post any longer than it already was.  During the anatomy ultrasound, one of the things the sonographer looks for is the presence of three vessels within the umbilical cord: one vein (which carries oxygen and nutrients from you to the baby) and two arteries (which shuttle that waste back to you, to be processed and disposed of by your kidneys). Instead of those three vessels, our baby's cord has only two: one vein and one artery. Two-vessel cord — also known as single umbilical artery (SUA).   Researchers don't quite know what causes SUA, though they theorize that the second artery disappears at some point during early pregnancy.  I feel the chance of this happening is higher than 1% because sometimes it is not even identified until the baby is born.  When we were all babies they were not able to check for this.  Do not quote me on this, but I think when the cord develops the heart, kidneys, bladder, and GI tract also form at the same time.  That is the reason they look over each part in great detail to make sure the anomaly is isolated to the cord only.  The thing that I hate the most about this is the thought that while he is in the womb he is working harder than he will once he is out.  I am sure he does not realize it.  So I hope that if all is good and developed he will come a little early.  He is measuring ahead of his due date, so we will see.  Once again we are very thankful that all is well.