Surgical Scar

• Belly buttons are actually a scar from birth. It is where your umbilical cord once connected you to your mother for the entire duration of your prenatal development. This flexible cord is of utmost importance to the life of an unborn child and the reason that everyone has belly buttons. Once the baby is born, the cord is no longer a necessity so it is surgically removed by the doctor, a midwife or a parent. After the procedure, a stump remains for approximately two weeks. When that stump falls off, it scars the belly with what is called a navel.
  
  

Oxygen

• One of the reasons that the umbilical cord exists in the first place is so that children in the embryonic or fetal state can breathe. Because the womb is filled with amniotic fluid, the unborn child would drown without his umbilical cord. The umbilical cord allows for the mother to share her oxygen intake with her baby.
  
  

Nutrients

• The umbilical cord also brings the unborn child nutrients. The transfer of nutrients from a mother to her child via the umbilical cord is vital to the survival and good health of her baby. This is the baby's way of eating. Without the proper nutrients, the baby would starve to death in the womb.
  
  

Waste

• The umbilical cord also acts as a vacuum. It sucks up all waste from the baby into the mother's system, where she then gets rid of it. If the baby were to void its bowels in the womb, it could be unhealthy for the mother and the child.