

Most of the blood that leaves the right ventricle in the fetus bypasses the lungs through the second of the two extra fetal connections known as the ductus arteriosus. As a result the blood with the most oxygen gets to the brain.īlood coming back from the fetus’s body also enters the right atrium, but the fetus is able to send this oxygen poor blood from the right atrium to the right ventricle (the chamber that normally pumps blood to the lungs). This hole allows the oxygen rich blood to go from the right atrium to left atrium and then to the left ventricle and out the aorta. The hole between the top two heart chambers (right and left atrium) is called a patent foramen ovale (PFO). The oxygen rich blood goes through one of the two extra connections in the fetal heart that will close after the baby is born. The oxygen rich blood that enters the fetus passes through the fetal liver and enters the right side of the heart. The oxygen rich blood then returns to the fetus via the third vessel in the umbilical cord (umbilical vein). When blood goes through the placenta it picks up oxygen. The placenta accepts the blood without oxygen from the fetus through blood vessels that leave the fetus through the umbilical cord (umbilical arteries, there are two of them). This is because the mother (the placenta) is doing the work that the baby’s lungs will do after birth. The blood that flows through the fetus is actually more complicated than after the baby is born ( normal heart). National Hypertension Control Initiative.Pets and Your Health / Healthy Bond for Life.
