Umbilical Cord

MedlinePlus describes the umbilical cord as the cord connecting the baby to the mother's womb (uterus). The Spanish dictionary of the Real Academia Española defines cordón umbilical as the set of vessels that join the mother's placenta to the belly of the fetus, so that the fetus is nourished until the moment of birth. MedlinePlus notes that a low pH in a newborn's cord blood might occur when the baby does not get enough oxygen during labor, and that one reason could be that the umbilical cord was compressed during labor or delivery.

When a baby is born, the umbilical cord is cut and there is a stump left. Sometimes, instead of completely drying, the cord forms pink scar tissue called a granuloma, which drains a light-yellowish fluid and most often goes away in about a week. MedlinePlus tells parents to contact the baby's health care provider immediately if the baby has poor feeding, a fever of 100.4°F (38°C) or higher, lethargy, or floppy, poor muscle tone, and to contact the provider if the stump has not fallen off in 4 weeks.

If cord blood is to be drawn, a second clamp is placed 8 to 10 inches (20 to 25 centimeters) away from the first, the section between the clamps is cut, and a blood sample is collected into a specimen tube. Cord blood testing measures items such as the baby's bilirubin level, blood sugar level, blood type and Rh, and complete blood count (CBC). MedlinePlus adds that parents can also decide to bank or donate cord blood at the time of delivery, and that cord blood can be used to treat certain types of bone marrow-related cancers.

Cordón umbilical is the term MedlinePlus en español uses, and the Spanish dictionary lists it as a set phrase under cordón, marked as a masculine noun: el cordón umbilical. MedlinePlus en español defines it as el cordón que conecta el bebé al vientre de la madre (útero). Once the full term has been given, the same page also writes simply el cordón, as in se sujeta el cordón con unas pinzas y se corta, and it calls cord blood sangre del cordón.

The piece left on the newborn is el muñón (the stump): se corta el cordón umbilical y queda un muñón. Other words on these pages are pinzas (clamps), recién nacido (newborn), secreción (drainage), enrojecimiento (redness), hinchazón (swelling), tejido cicatricial (scar tissue) and granuloma. The cord blood test is titled Examen de sangre del cordón umbilical, and banking cord blood appears as guardar en un banco la sangre del cordón umbilical. Where the English page says womb, the Spanish page says vientre.