The Life of Matthew

DON’T PANIC, EVERYTHING’S OK!

Now we all know that a baby is connected to his Mummy by the umbilical cord during pregnancy and that the umbilical cord is cut after birth. What you may not know (if you are like Daddy until he learnt this at an ante natal class) is that the bit attached to the baby is left on until it falls off naturally.

My umbilical cord fell off when I was 8 days old and Mummy and Daddy kept the stump clean with alcohol for two days as instructed by the midwife.

On the third day Mummy and Daddy noticed spots of blood around my stump but instead of panicing and rushing me off to the clinic they looked on the Internet and found an article that said:

After the stump falls off, it usually takes about seven to 10 days for the area to heal over completely. When the stump falls off, you may see a little blood on the nappy, which is normal. Sometimes, when the umbilical stump takes a long time to heal, bits of lumpy flesh (a type of connective tissue) appear in the wound. They’re not a cause for concern and will soon disappear.

There are two points from this post:

1. Don’t panic if something seems to be wrong
2. Google is a wonderful thing

Until next time, bye bye.

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