A 26 year old female is in active labor. The baby's head has just delivered and you can see the umbilical cord loosely wrapped around the neck. What should you do?

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A loose cord wrapped around the baby's neck is a common situation that can be safely relieved by simple, gentle manipulation. When the head has delivered, you should slide the cord gently over the baby’s head to free the neck. This relieves any potential compression on the cord and preserves blood and oxygen flow as the rest of the delivery continues. Cutting the cord immediately isn’t appropriate here because it wouldn’t relieve the wrap and could leave the loop still around the neck; tying the cord tightly would worsen compression; waiting to clamp and cut after delivery is standard, but the immediate step with a loose nuchal cord is to slip it over the head. If the cord were too tight to slip over, you would clamp and cut to loosen and then remove, but that’s not needed in this scenario.