I love truly happy stories like this…miracles, no less! Congrats to the Hamiltons on the birth of little Maxx and on having Aidan as “big brother.”

I was surprised to read CBB reader/poster Megan’s comments regarding nuchal cords.

Her post mentions “The cord around the neck is actually not a concern at all.” “The best way to help a newborn if they are born non-responsive is to keep the cord intact and have mother talk to and gently rub the baby. They usually come around quickly and the pulsating cord keeps oxygen rich blood coming to them.”

I believe that this information is slightly misleading, as this method would only be used for homebirthed or un/minimally assisted hospital-birthed infants who showed no other signs of demise and the delivery itself presented no other complications.

Several studies have shown that there is actually a high percentage of complications when a nuchal cord is present: one of the most common is heart rate deceleration, but also hypoxia and resulting acidosis, meconium, low APGAR scores, and low birthweight.

All cords are different: they may be lacking in the amount of Wharton’s Jelly, can be thick or thin and can come in a variety of lengths; longer cords being more prone to true knots and fetal entanglement.

Also, infants (as in the case of little Maxx) are going to need more aggressive resuscitation efforts than those mentioned by Megan. Some babies are going to need warming , suctioning and in many cases oxygen.

As posters, we need to be careful that we don’t mislead other readers, as our statements are our opinions (while sometimes factual) and may be generally misunderstood as “what worked for you will work for me”.

I also had a pituitary tumor and went through fertility treatments to conceive my son who was born on March 22. His name is Max. I love success stories.

What an inspiring story! I love Scott Hamilton and it’s amazing he can still have a sense of humor after all he and his family have been through.

Congratulations Hamilton Family!

I think Scott is incredibly inspirational! Talk about courageous, strong, caring, positive… and sweet, funny and super-talented to boot –WOW!

A huge!! applause also to his wife Tracie, for providing so much support and love to Scott during his ordeal.

Just love this family! I hope to see and read about them many years from now!

I am beyond thrilled for them. Since I loved watching Scott Hamilton skate on tv when I was a kid. All the things he has been through, having a beautiful wife and children must be the icing on cake. Congrats to them!

For some reason, in that second picture, Scott kind of reminds me of Paul Giamatti in the John Adams miniseries on HBO. (Which I’ve really liked).

Their children are very cute.

Look at Maxx’s red hair… so cute!

melanie, you took the words right out of my mouth~ all of them.

He’s a cute little baby!

The cord around the neck is actually not a concern at all. The cord is quite protected by a substance called Wharton’s Jelly and compression that causes any problems is quite rare. In fact some believe that having the cord around the neck protects it from compression during the pushing stage.
A few links to learn more: http://www.homebirth.net.au/2008/03/cord-around-neck.html
http://sagefemme.blogspot.com/2007/10/nuchal-cords.html

The best way to help a newborn if they are born non-responsive is to keep the cord intact and have mother talk to and gently rub the baby. They usually come around quickly and the pulsating cord keeps oxygen rich blood coming to them.