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From: ajs@hpfcla.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.med
Subject: Re: Orphaned Response
Message-ID: <17400008@hpfcla.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 26-Sep-85 19:28:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: hpfcla.17400008
Posted: Thu Sep 26 19:28:00 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 2-Oct-85 09:05:05 EDT
References: <1485@brl-tgr.UUCP>
Organization: 26 Sep 85 17:28:00 MDT
Lines: 26

Re: navels

> ...it takes a few minutes [after birth] for the circulation to be
> rerouted to the lungs...

Before my daughter was born I studied a little on fetal circulation.
It's amazingly complicated and wonderful.  Also one of the best
arguments I've ever seen for evolution -- no sane creator would design
in such a weird reversal (or would she?), just so the navel ends up on
the abdomen instead of the chest, where a more straightforward
circulation would be possible.

> ...has implications for when in the birth process the umbilical cord
> should be cut.

We delayed a minute or so just to be sure Megan started out with as much
of her own blood (from the placenta) as possible.  Bad move; she had
jaundice almost bad enough to require bili-lights.  (Jaundice happens
when the liver doesn't come up to speed fast enough to start processing
blood breakdown products, I think.  The more blood in the system, the
worse it's likely to be.)

-- Still, no answer to the question of why navels don't heal...

Alan Silverstein, Hewlett-Packard Fort Collins Systems Division, Colorado
{ihnp4 | hplabs}!hpfcla!ajs, 303-226-3800 x3053, N 40 31'31" W 105 00'43"


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