# My Belly-Button **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 21, 2000, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-belly-button/30192 "2000-08-21T18:14:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CnoteChris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@CnoteChris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CnoteChris)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2000, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-belly-button/30192/1 "2000-08-21T18:14:38Z")
As I was reclining in my chair mindlessly reading E-mail, I started fiddling around with my belly-button. Strange, I know, but hey, do what ya gotta do. It lead me to some serious wondering: What would happen if I cut the little nub on what was once my umbilical cord? I assume it has shruken up to nothing now, but assume for a moment it hasn’t. If I ate something would it come out of my belly-button? How about drink? Where exactly does this tube of yesteryear lead to anyway? ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2000, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-belly-button/30192/2 "2000-08-21T18:59:34Z")
I don’t think it leads anywhere. The umbilical “cord” was mainly a bundle of blood vessels, not a connection to your stomach. You can get hernias in that area, but, I assume it’s just because it’s a relatively weak spot in the abdominal wall. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2000, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-belly-button/30192/3 "2000-08-21T19:36:07Z")
eeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwww! Does that mean you have an ‘outie’? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2000, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-belly-button/30192/4 "2000-08-21T20:03:03Z")
Contrary to popular belief, the umbilical cord does not supply munchies to the fetus, just nutrient rich blood. After you’re outside for a while it shrivels ub into a bunch of scar tissue. If you poke a hole in it, don’t be surprised if you start squirting blood from your belly button 😃 ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2000, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-belly-button/30192/5 "2000-08-21T23:02:01Z")
Blood? haha…lots of people get rings there. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2000, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-belly-button/30192/6 "2000-08-21T23:11:55Z")
Related question: isn’t there a one-word scientific term for “belly-button”? I don’t like the expression “belly-button”, it has always seemed childish to me, like saying tummy instead of stomache. In french the word is “nombril”. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2000, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-belly-button/30192/7 "2000-08-21T23:27:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Arnold Winkelried \* > \*\*Related question: isn’t there a one-word scientific term for “belly-button”? I don’t like the expression “belly-button”, it has always seemed childish to me, like saying tummy instead of stomache. In french the word is “nombril”. \*\* navel or umbilicus ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2000, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-belly-button/30192/8 "2000-08-21T23:31:27Z")
Try ‘navel’. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2000, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-belly-button/30192/9 "2000-08-21T23:47:22Z")
what would happen if the cord was not cut, would we have the entire afterbirth just hanging around? ---
**Author:** ![AETBOND417](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@AETBOND417](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AETBOND417)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2000, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-belly-button/30192/10 "2000-08-21T23:56:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by k2dave \* > \*\*what would happen if the cord was not cut, would we have the entire afterbirth just hanging around? \*\* I would expect it to simply do the same thing as sunburnt skin. Peel, flake, erode, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2000, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-belly-button/30192/11 "2000-08-22T00:01:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bibliophage \* > navel or umbilicus Thank you, bibliophage and Badtz Maru. I feel like such an idiot! :o I was thinking and thinking and had a word at the tip of my tongue, but couldn’t spit it out. Sometimes I wonder if there’s something wrong with my brain. ---
**Author:** ![CnoteChris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@CnoteChris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CnoteChris)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2000, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-belly-button/30192/12 "2000-08-22T01:49:51Z")
Coming back to my thread late, I’ve been offline all day. So, the cord only serves nutrients and whatnot and is absorbed right inside the wall of the stomach of the fetus? Remember, I’m assuming that it hasn’t deteriorated since birth. What if I snip it and look inside? Where’s it going? The consensus here, outside of calling a belly-button a navel, is that leads nowhere? Enright, it’s and ‘inny’ but you can still feel the ‘nub’ if you rub it. Go eewwww yourself. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2000, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-belly-button/30192/13 "2000-08-22T12:07:50Z")
If you play with your belly-buckle too much, your ass will fall off. ---
**Author:** ![TheThill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheThill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheThill)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2000, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-belly-button/30192/14 "2000-08-22T12:22:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CKDextHavn \* > \*\*If you play with your belly-buckle too much, your ass will fall off. \*\* Of course. Everyone knows that. But do nutrients then flow out of the newly created vacuum? ---
**Author:** ![LazarusLong42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@LazarusLong42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LazarusLong42)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2000, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-belly-button/30192/15 "2000-08-22T14:32:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CnoteChris \* > \*\*So, the cord only serves nutrients and whatnot and is absorbed right inside the wall of the stomach of the fetus? Remember, I’m assuming that it hasn’t deteriorated since birth. What if I snip it and look inside? Where’s it going? > \*\* Bad assumption. 🙂 The umbilical arteries and vein shrivel up after birth to become a tendon of sorts, connecting the liver (because the umbilical vein connects to the portal blood system) and the navel. The tendon is completely disconnected from the cardiovascular system, and was never connected to the alimentary canal. If you were to snip and look inside, you wouldn’t see much of anything; the inside of a tendon is extremely boring. 🙂 Plus you’d have to look through the blood, which would come from your skin. LL ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2000, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-belly-button/30192/16 "2000-08-22T14:34:22Z")
One of my first posts was about BB lint. ---
**Author:** ![CnoteChris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@CnoteChris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CnoteChris)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2000, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-belly-button/30192/17 "2000-08-22T15:24:49Z")
**LazarusLong42** : My assumptions were based on the previous answers to the thread, not on what I believed, it was a generalization of the above. People seem to be missing a key point from my original post, that is, _if_ there were no disintergration that has taken place since birth, where is this veign leading to now? Is it leading to the liver? The heart? Or nothing in particular? That’s what I had been sitting here wondering when I originally posted. If it’s supplying blood to the fetus, then does it go throught the fetus’ heart? If it’s supplying nutrients, does it pass through the fetus’ liver too? Are there a number of ‘lines’ that extend into the fetus to each main organ? Maybe it’s two questions here and not one, but both are intriguing me now. –I have to leave for the day and can’t check back until tonight, so don’t think that I abandoned the thread by not posting. Thanks ---
**Author:** ![LazarusLong42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@LazarusLong42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LazarusLong42)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2000, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-belly-button/30192/18 "2000-08-22T19:31:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CnoteChris \* > \*\*People seem to be missing a key point from my original post, that is, _if_ there were no disintergration that has taken place since birth, where is this veign leading to now? > > Is it leading to the liver? The heart? Or nothing in particular? > \*\* The umbilical vein comes from the hepatic portal vein system, which brings “dirty” blood through the liver to be cleansed of things that the liver can break down. The two umbilical arteries flow into the internal iliac arteries, which are in fact in your groin/thigh area. LL ---
**Author:** ![The\_Mermaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@The\_Mermaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Mermaid)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2000, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-belly-button/30192/19 "2000-08-22T22:29:39Z")
Fetal circulation uses special shunts to bypass the fetal lungs because they do not funtion until after birth. They don’t need to because the blood is oxygenated by the mother’s lungs and then circulated thru the placenta from which the umbilical cord originates and is connected to the baby at the umbilicus. Once baby is breathing he doesn’t need mother’s oxygen rich blood at that point. It is the act of baby breathing that starts the transition from fetal circulation to postnatal circulation. So if you poked your belly button until it bled it probably wouldn’t kill you.