After delivery of a term infant with Apgar scores of 2 at 1 minute and 7 at 5 minutes, you ask that umbilical cord blood be collected for pH. The umbilical arteries carry which of the following?
- Oxygenated blood to the placenta
- Oxygenated blood from the placenta
- Deoxygenated blood to the placenta
- Deoxygenated blood from the placenta
Deoxygenated fetal blood is returned directly to the placenta through the umbilical branches of the two hypogastric arteries. The umbilical arteries exit through the abdominal wall at the umbilicus and continue by way of the umbilical cord to the placenta. Deoxygenated blood circulates through the placenta then returns, oxygenated, to the fetus via the umbilical vein. The umbilical 43 arteries atrophy and obliterate within 3 to 4 days after birth; remnants are called umbilical ligaments.