Birthing Question for those Who May Know

[AC7179]

I had a very difficult labor with my daughter.

My labor was induced when I was 10 days over due because of low fluid. I ended up pushing for over four hours , and she was stuck. They were about to do a C-section but she came after using the vacuum. When she came, she didn't cry, and the doctor (whom I've since come to realize was terrible ) took her over to the table without saying anything to me. The nurse explained that he was keeping her from breathing purposefully so she wouldn't ingest meconium. She eventually cried--I have no idea how long it was--but they didn't seem concerned at all after the initial birth and she was kept with me for the next few days, although I did have to stay an extra night since she had a rough birth.

My question is, would this constitute lack of oxygen at birth? I'm reading about how their is a belief that many children that experience a lack of oxygen at birth have minor, often unknown, brain damage that can cause behavioral or developmental issues, and later down the road, schitzophrenia. Of course, I'm not saying this has anything to do with my daughter---I just read an article and wondered if her birth experience would constitute lack of oxygen at birth or if it is a common practice---and if by lack of oxygen they mean babies born with cords around necks, having to do cpr, etc.

 

[Queen2PrincessG]

I would think lack of oxygen no matter why, is lack of oxygen. I was induced with DD and she did not cry when she came out. she was breathing and perfect but just didn't want to talk. 3 NICU Dr's were already there because of meds I was placed on and they took her and kept poking until she did cry. (SHE WAS PISSED!) She never was airless just happy enough to be out after her water bed was taken away. I don't consider lack of oxygen just her being calm.

I wouldn't worry about it unless she is displaying something that concerns you. There are always going to be articles that will freak parents out.

 

[LaraK]

My daughter didn't cry after a vacuum delivery either. She had a low apgar at birth, but was fine within about 5 minutes (NICU team suctioned her... and she started fighting them off)

She's fine now. No evidence of any problems at all.

 

[Hannathy]

You need to be without oxygen for minutes not seconds for it to do damage.

Just get he APGAR scores the next time you are at the Dr's. If they were low you would have known about it. A lot of babies don't cry when they are born. Remember the old scene in the movies with the Dr. smacking the butt.

Ingesting meconium can cause a lot of problems, he was probably suctioning her very well before getting her to cry, with a lot of babies it is when you suction them that they don't like it and cry.

 

[AC7179]

Thanks...I feel so uneducated! My daughter did come out blue/purple at birth. My husband and mother thought she was stillborn. I don't know what would cause her to be that color though since they are not even supposed to breathe until they are out, right?

I will ask about apgar scores next visit---curious now!

 

[epcotprincess]

Do you know her APGAR scores?

Generally, they make you stop pushing in order to get any meconium out via suction of the mouth and nose (they did this to me for my DD's birth) as generally my understanding is that babies don't try to breathe until they are fully out... but it sounds like you had special circumstances.

Check the APGARs and call your pediatrician to ask, but it seems like if it were a short period of time, it wouldn't constitute lack of oxygen, although I am not a doctor so I don't know for sure.

 

[LadyZolt]

Thanks...I feel so uneducated! My daughter did come out blue/purple at birth. My husband and mother thought she was stillborn. I don't know what would cause her to be that color though since they are not even supposed to breathe until they are out, right?

I will ask about apgar scores next visit---curious now!

Labor can cause compression of the umbilical cord, resulting in low oxygen, which can result in blue or purple skin tone. My husband is an ER nurse and said he has never seen one come out pink. They all look a little weird in color. One of mine was pretty gray. This is why the Apgar is done at birth and then at one minute. Usually, a baby who scores low on color at birth is much better by one minute. Anyway, I just want to say it isn't rare to have a bluish newborn.

-Dorothy

 

[bdcp]

My DS (now 27) didn't cry at birth either. He wasn't a vacuum birth, but he was pulled out (large episiotomy) due to to his heart rate dropping a lot (meconium birth-didn't inhale any) while I pushed. I had a very quick labor. His apgars were 4/5 and he was kind of gray/purple. They took him away to a delivery room to give him some oxygen and he started crying there. He does have a moderate hearing loss, which no one is sure if he had it before birth or not since it wasn't diagnosed til he was 5. They didn't test newborns then. That was the only possible problem as he was top of his class all through school, won many math awards. He went to a HS that he had to test to get into and had a perfect math SAT score. He majored in math and astronomy in college (hard to get into state school) and graduated in 4 years. So, while lack of oxygen can cause problems, there are cases of newborns who don't breathe for several minutes and have no residual problems. Plus, time is difficult to judge when you're in a situation like that so what seemed like a long time to you might have only been two or three minutes which won't cause brain damage. My DS (24) came out screaming and had 9/9 apgars and while his hearing is normal, he was never the student his brother was, (average student). Babies can and do cry during delivery too. They can come out purple if the cord is being pinched in any way.

 

[amberg@eastlink.ca]

your birth story mimics my own with dd now 5. she needed to be vaccum extracted, came out up vs down, uncaring docs through the 31 hrs of labour, was blue when born and didn't scream-at all, they also covered her face with a mask to get oxygen into her and were rubbing her to stimulate her. in her case tho she was oxygen deprived for hours and did have brain damage, not known until day 10, but i suspect they knew this sooner. she had seizures that evening as well....thankfully aside from a few glitches along her short life you dont even notice her cerebral palsy. none of this has however stopped me from retaining a lawyer, and mistakes have been found in her file. shock!!!

i agree with the above posters, ask for her apgars...and if you can find a doc friend get her blood gas levels. dd was borderline with hers and had poor apgars. it's a scary world out there and you put your faith that your children will come into the world safely when you're in the hospital. please no matter what you may be going through do not feel guilt...i know it's easy to say, and for a long time i questioned myself as to why i didn't say something sooner...like hello-maybe 24 hrs after i went into labour. but you put your trust in them- they do this for a living. my second birth experience was much better-and faster! lol but i had fear and doubt going in and i hate the fact that i felt that way due to my past delivery.

try not to read too much into everything on the internet....i turned to it to in the early months and bawled at everything i read in regards to lack of o2. too much knowledge can be a bad thing! lol dd is thriving at five, but has had her bumps in the road...i pray you don't have to endure what we have over the years. good luck!

 

[vettechick99]

I would think that the doctor knows best. I also know that the umbilical cord does a lot for the baby in the few minutes after birth. Why are you asking though - you suspect something with your DD? How old is she?

 

[Hannathy]

Blood gases are not done routinely.

 

[kirstenb1]

our older dd had a vaccuum assisted birth. She did swallow some meconium, so they whisked her off for respiratory assistance. Her APGAR scores were crappy at birth, but just fine later. She's a healthy preteen with all the attitude that conveys 12 yrs later!

 

[bumbershoot]

Sitting here stunned, thinking I had already heard everything from the ICAN boards and other boards like that...

"The nurse explained that he was keeping her from breathing purposefully"

That's disgusting of him!

And if the baby was close enough to being out to come through with the vacuum, what horrors was he going to have to do with surgery? Pull her back up through the cervix? What would that have done to your body? Was he serious about being that close to performing surgery???

Seriously, this guy doesn't deserve to be near babies. I'd get the full records, try to remember the nurse's name, and write to the hospital and licensing board.

Keeping a baby from breathing...terrifying.

 

[palavra]

Sitting here stunned, thinking I had already heard everything from the ICAN boards and other boards like that...

"The nurse explained that he was keeping her from breathing purposefully"

That's disgusting of him!

And if the baby was close enough to being out to come through with the vacuum, what horrors was he going to have to do with surgery? Pull her back up through the cervix? What would that have done to your body? Was he serious about being that close to performing surgery???

Seriously, this guy doesn't deserve to be near babies. I'd get the full records, try to remember the nurse's name, and write to the hospital and licensing board.

Keeping a baby from breathing...terrifying.

Are you serious? Ingesting meconium is very dangerous! Keeping her from breathing that in was the right thing to do.

And what would you have had the doctor do if the baby could not have been safely delivered by vacuum? Having a C-section would have been the only recourse the doctor had. Before you assume that the doctor did something wrong, you might want to learn a little more about what can go wrong during a delivery.

 

[rie'smom]

Sitting here stunned, thinking I had already heard everything from the ICAN boards and other boards like that...

"The nurse explained that he was keeping her from breathing purposefully"

That's disgusting of him!

And if the baby was close enough to being out to come through with the vacuum, what horrors was he going to have to do with surgery? Pull her back up through the cervix? What would that have done to your body? Was he serious about being that close to performing surgery???

Seriously, this guy doesn't deserve to be near babies. I'd get the full records, try to remember the nurse's name, and write to the hospital and licensing board.

Keeping a baby from breathing...terrifying.

Not as terrifying as a baby swallowing meconium. My friend Debbie had her baby boy the day before I had mine. Her baby swallowed meconium which led to pneumonia. He was in the hospital for a month and almost died a few times. The baby ended up having developmental delays.

 

[hambirg]

My oldest was 14 days late. I had a very difficult labor. I was actually in active labor for 4 days. But she and I were doing fine so they let it go. I pushed for 2 hours before they decided to suction her. . .mostly because I was exhausted. She scored a 10 on her Apgar. My SIL is a NIC unit nurse and she said if she wouldn´t have seen it with her own eyes she wouldn´t have believed she was a 10. . .but she was.

With my DS10, he passed meconium. They told me that there were risks with that and they had a whole team from the NIC unit in the room for his delivery. Not to be too graphic, but the doctor had me stop pushing when his head was out and she suctioned him nose and mouth. I think he started crying before his feet were even out. Everyone looked relieved and I was told he was fine.

To be honest, I don´t think the doctor did anything wrong. You have to be sure the baby´s airways are clear if they passed meconium before they breathe so they don´t aspirate on it and then you have real problems. Just how long was she without air? It is minutes before they are considered without oxygen. If it was just a minute and she was still attached via umbilical cord then I can´t imagine he did any harm. It would have been worse if she aspirated.

 

[Hannathy]

And if the baby was close enough to being out to come through with the vacuum, what horrors was he going to have to do with surgery? Pull her back up through the cervix? What would that have done to your body? Was he serious about being that close to performing surgery???

Actual they do just that. It is not a thing they want to do and try everything possible to avoid it but they do do it. It has very serious risks for the Mother and the child.

I almost had that with my DD she had shoulder dystocia-that means her shoulders got stuck . Her head had been delivered but her shoulders wouldn't come out. There are a series of things they attempt from suction, positioning the mother, pushing on the uterus, breaking the babies clavicles, forceps and if nothing works yes they push the baby back in and do a C section. the biggest risk from pushing them back up is spinal damage and nerve damage and can lead to paralysis for the child. Luckily they were able to get her out before having to push her back up and do a C. I won't go into the graphic details.

 

[catherine]

Our oldest DD (16) was born with the cord around her neck and had aspirated meconium and wasn't breathing. As soon as she was born the Drs whisked her out of the room to work on her. Her initial Apgar was really low. I have no idea how long she was without oxygen, as they were out of the room for a while, but I can tell you that it has in no way affected her. She started talking at 7 months, she walked at 8.5 months and she has been in the gifted and talented programme since she was 12.

 

[scottishduffy]

Keeping her from breathing was the safest action at that point. As others have said if she had inhaled the meconium a very serious, and occassionally fatal, form of pneumonia could have developed.

Thanks to you receiving oxygen the baby should also be well oxygenated. All her oxygen came from her cord and her circulation, before that first breathe, actually does not direct much blood flow to the lungs. But once she took her first breathe that would have changed. Point being she could be without oxygen for a little bit, a couple minutes would be needed to hurt her.

Get her apgars. I would expect her 1 minute score to be low, but so long as her 3 and 5 minute scores came up she most likely did not suffer oxygen deprivation and the docs actions were to protect from a potentially fatal aspiration of meconium.

 

[mjkacmom]

When they broke my water with ds12, there was meconium. They told me ahead of time that a NICU team would be there at birth, and he would be wisked away, to be suctioned. He was born only 3 hours later, and it all went fine.