Skin. Most babies are born looking purpled-blue in colour. The medical term for this is 'cyanosis' and at the moment of birth is a natural feature due to the baby coming from an environment of sharing oxygen with their mother. After a few breaths your baby's head and chest will turn pink and their lips will change to ruby red. Within a few minutes their arms and legs will become completely pink, then their hands and feet. As mentioned before a baby's hands and feet can remain bluish colour, or fluctuate at times to looking this way for many weeks after the birth. This is a very normal physical feature.
The blood circulations of newborn babies are immature in the early weeks, often causing skin discolouration. This can include a mottled or 'blotchy' red-purple appearance (particularly if the baby is premature) and on the odd occasion the baby's upper body looking pale, with their lower half looking redder in colour. While this is normal, gently moving your baby around or massaging them will help stimulate the blood flow around their body.
Image 10-11 shows how the baby's skin colour changes in the first minutes after birth.
Depending on your baby's ethnic background, their skin can look pink, pale, and ruddy red or brownish in the days following the birth. Babies that will have very dark skin do not always look 'black' when they are born. This is because the melanin (or the body's natural pigment) is not present in their skin immediately and can take weeks and sometimes months before the final shade is present, although their genitals and nipples will usually be darkly pigmented.
Umbilical Cord. There will be a small, plastic cord clamp placed on your baby's umbilical cord soon after the birth, but before being cut. Your caregiver will remove this clamp, attached to what is remaining of the cord, after about 2 to 3 days when the cord dries a little.