Question
What should be done if a newborn is found with an umbilical cord wrapped around the neck in the hospital?
Answer
The newborn was found to have the umbilical cord wrapped around the neck for about one week after birth. 26 hours later, there was a twitch on the left side and the lips were clenched. The doctor administered oxygen, which relieved the situation. Since it was only one day after birth, the cause was unclear, and the baby had to be transferred to a larger hospital. During this period, the baby was hospitalized for 15 days and underwent X-rays and CT scans, all of which were normal. Later, upon discharge, it was diagnosed in the medical record as: intracranial hemorrhage, hypoglycemia (the blood sugar level at the time of transfer was 0.01, and upon discharge, it was recorded as 3.00), and hydrocephalus. On the day of discharge, I noticed that the baby’s right side was twitching, but sometimes the hands and feet were disorganized in their twitching, and sometimes they twitched in a consistent manner. Gradually, the head would occasionally move with the twitching. Apart from the twitching, everything else was normal.