A baby can’t drown in the womb because until they are born they don’t breathe air. The umbilical cord is attached to the baby by the placenta, which is attached to the wall of the womb. We can see the placenta & cord on your ultrasound baby scan. The cord passes nutrients and oxygen in and removes waste back to the mother’s system for elimination. She does the breathing and eating for the baby. We can see baby drinking the fluid around them, then weeing it out. You can see the umbilical cord with your ultrasound baby scan, the cord floats in the fluid that surrounds baby, it can be clearly seen on 4D scans as a thick black rope, and often appears wraped around baby, its nothing to be worried about, cord rolls around baby and slips off when baby moves all through your pregnancy. Lots of babies enjoy the feel of the cord or placenta on their faces, it’s their first comfort blanket.
In 4D ultrasound scans we need a pool of fluid in front of babies face to get good clear imaging, so we ask mum to drink extra fluid for a week or more before her scan to ensure she is totally hydrated and to encourage better volume of fluid around baby.
The baby is physically protected both by the flesh of the mother and a fluid sac which can deflect any soft impacts and a lot of hard impacts away from the baby.