When a baby is born, the umbilical cord shrivels up and falls off. What happens to the rest of the internal tubage? Does it disintegrate and somehow absorbed by the body?

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When a baby is born, the umbilical cord shrivels up and falls off. What happens to the rest of the internal tubage? Does it disintegrate and somehow absorbed by the body?

In: Biology

3 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Things are a little backwards in the umbilical cord. There’s two veins taking oxygen filled blood to the baby’s heart, and an artery taking deoxygenated blood back to the mom for refueling. When these aren’t used anymore and the front falls off after birth, they fuse shut inside the body and essentially turn into tough, supportive tissue (ligaments).

One cool thing is that the tube that fetuses use to move waste from the bladder to the yolk sac for processing is also in the umbilical cord, and this fuses shut later too. If it remains open (patent) later in life you can get pee leaking out your belly button. Aren’t bodies fuckin strange?

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