[Chemistry4me (OP)]

When a baby is in the womb, the umbilical cord connects it to the mother. After birth, it is cut, so how does the belly button form? I mean, there can't just be a hole there before and not be there afterward, how does the belly button form, or is there still a hole there, just smaller, and covered by skin?

[JnA]

The belly button is just the scar tissue from the umbilical cord. AFAIK the difference between an 'inny' and 'outy' is where the attending doctor ties it.

[Chemistry4me (OP)]

But how can there be a hole there before and not be there now?

[JnA]

Like when you cut yourself and the skin knits together to form a scar.

[Chemistry4me (OP)]

Does that mean that for a while after birth the belly button is actually a hole and things can move in and out?

[JnA]

well it's an open wound. There is no 'hole' to speak of.. the umbilical cord is not hollow. On the temp change from inside to outside the jelly substance inside the cord starts to collapse and provides a 'natural clamp'... so even without cutting the cord it starts to naturally 'heal' so the, now useless, cord can wither and drop off.

[DrN]

After birth, the baby is still essentially attached to the placenta, so the cord is clamped and tied before being cut to separate baby and placenta.

As JnA said, this results in what is basically an open wound, so the baby would lose blood if it wasn't tied up. You can think of it as a wound that has had stitches to close it - eventually the wound will heal and the 'hole' will become sealed.

[Chemistry4me (OP)]

Okay, I think I finally get it! Didn't realise that the unbilical cord was not hollow.

[lyner]

There is no 'hole' to speak of.. the umbilical cord is not hollow.

How could it carry all that blood if it didn't consist of arteries and veins?
Clearly, it isn't absolutely necessary to cut and bind the cord - humans are the only mammals capable of doing that. As soon as the baby starts breathing, there is a major, once-off 'switchover' of the circulation system to get blood through the lungs and not through the placenta. The umbilical cord will just heal up and shrivel, with the placenta being expelled a bit later and that will fall off quite soon. Many animals chew the cord which must help to stop it bleeding and provide some food for the mother.
Cutting and tying is a lot less messy, of course.

[Chemistry4me (OP)]

Yes, the changes in the baby's circulation at birth is quite amazing. The blood system has to undergo a fundamental change within seconds of the baby taking its first breath.

[JnA]

There is no 'hole' to speak of.. the umbilical cord is not hollow.

How could it carry all that blood if it didn't consist of arteries and veins?
Clearly, it isn't absolutely necessary to cut and bind the cord - humans are the only mammals capable of doing that. As soon as the baby starts breathing, there is a major, once-off 'switchover' of the circulation system to get blood through the lungs and not through the placenta. The umbilical cord will just heal up and shrivel, with the placenta being expelled a bit later and that will fall off quite soon. Many animals chew the cord which must help to stop it bleeding and provide some food for the mother.
Cutting and tying is a lot less messy, of course.

ok.. so it's got two veins and one artery in it.. so it's not 'empty'. But as I was saying the gelatinous goo (there's a name for it but I can't remember) changes its structure once the baby is born.. this is started by the change in temperature (AFAIK).

I guess modern medicos cut and tie (or clamp as they seem to do these days) because it's faster and probably helps keep infections down. If they didn't cut the cord (and I especially requested that they didn't for both of my births) it stops pulsing itself after about five to ten minutes, naturally starting the process that they create in hospitals.

The placenta is packed full of great nutrients.. and women should be encouraged to eat it (but we need to get rid of the gross factor first). In a normal western lifestyle the essential nutrients can be obtained from other sources (so put your cook books away) If your diets is lacking and/or food is scarce, eating the placenta would be the best thing for mum and bub.

[Chemistry4me (OP)]

Don't they sell cow and/or sheep placenta for people to eat these days?

[JnA]

Do they? I expect it's quite a delicacy for some.


It's really no grosser (IMO) than eating tripe, eyeballs, testicles or brussel sprouts.. all not something I would order in a restaurant.. but in my more daring travelling moments I might be tempted to try stuff...

would you?

[Chemistry4me (OP)]

I was watching this movie about people being trapped in the Andes (I can't remember the name?) and they had no food left but a lot of dead people, and some of the live ones started eating the dead ones RAW. My question is, if you were trapped somewhere without food would you resort to cannibalism? a) if there was no fire, would you eat? b) if there was a fire, would you eat?

[Chemistry4me (OP)]

Heres some sheep []
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And its a product of Australia [] []

[JnA]

I was watching this movie about people being trapped in the Andes (I can't remember the name?) and they had no food left but a lot of dead people, and some of the live ones started eating the dead ones RAW. My question is, if you were trapped somewhere without food would you resort to cannibalism? a) if there was no fire, would you eat? b) if there was a fire, would you eat?

You are talking about the movie "Alive"  and it's a true account about a real soccer team. 


and your question is a difficult one to answer without the desperation of survival digging at my heels, but I think survival instinct would win out over morals for me...

[Chemistry4me (OP)]

Alive, yes thats the one, and obviously some of them had decided to turn into cannibals (not that I'm blaming them). If I was going to do that though, I couldn't possibly eat raw, that would just be unbearable. But I'm saying this sitting on my comfy computer chair so it probably isn't acurrate anyway...

[Chemistry4me (OP)]

Getting back to belly buttons and umbilical cords, it is connected to the placenta on the mothers side right? It enters the babys belly button and then what? Does the unbilical cord extend to the heart? Or is it connected to something else that winds its way to the heart? Does it even go to the heart? And what happens to the bits of the umbilical cord inside the baby after birth?