The births of those infants born to women
who provided consent and who gave birth vaginally
before the end of the observational shift were included
in the analyses. Each birth was directly observed by
the research assistant for the timing of the umbilical
cord clamping, which was measured using a stopwatch
started at the time that the infant was born as far as the
umbilicus, and stopped when the first clamp was
applied to the umbilical cord.