Many a labor begins with the baby's umbilical cord wrapped at least once around his/her (hir) neck. It's common enough to be considered a normal phenomenon. The biggest problems with this variation seem to be an over-reaction from the birth "team". Yes, once in a while a short cord will impede a baby's decent but that seems to be the exception rather than the rule.
If the cord is seen once the head has emerged, the first thing to try is pulling it over the head and freeing the baby from it. If this proves too difficult, you can try holding the baby's forehead to the mother's thigh and letting the baby's body "somersault" out so the cord doesn't get any tighter.
There may be an instance where the cord seems to just be too short to allow the baby to descend. If the mother senses a real problem and the cord is visible around the baby's neck you might need to clamp and cut in order to free the child. This is a one-in-a-million, last resort, "mother senses something isn't right and the baby just won't come" intervention. The umbilical cord supplies oxygen to the newborn who doesn't have any experience breathing yet. Cutting the cord forces the breathing functions to start but that's not the way nature intended us to learn this vital skill. Cutting the cord before the placenta has been delivered is going to further compromise the already compromised newborn so never cut a wrapped cord unless you *must*.
If you *must* cut the cord before the baby is Earthside, clamp it in two places first and cut in between the clamps. Then, once the baby is out and you can tell which side of the cord is which, release the clamp on the mother's side and let the baby's blood drain into a bowl. It will make the placenta delivery easier if it isn't full of blood.
The Midwives Archives on this topic
cbirth archives on nuchal cords/placentas
cordclamping.com ~ An entire website devoted to abolishing the routine use of cord clamps before the birthing of the placenta.
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