Birth question for moms of kids with Down's syndrom

[JessJoy]

Hi! I was wondering for those of you who had a vaginally birthed child that was diagnosed with Down's syndrome, how many of you were past 40 weeks?

Thanks!

[Guinevere]

Hi there,

Just saw this and wanted to respond, even if I'm not in the sub-group of women you're looking for. It could be that you haven't received more responses because the situation you describe is not terribly common.

My 4 yo DD has Down Syndrome and was born via emergency c/s at 35 wks. b/c her placenta started failing quickly and dramatically. Very fortunately, my Mommy instincts kicked in, I noticed her decresed movements and became concerned, and we managed to get out her out just in time -- her apgars were 1 and 1. Today she is a healthy, happy, wonderful little girl and my little miracle.

In my four years of posting on a forum specifically for parents of children w/DS (downsyn.com), we have compared birth notes many times and have found that our children mostly tended to be born a few weeks early (36w on average) and quite a few experienced fetal distress during labor. While some were born a bit small for gestational age (a lot of 5 or 6 lbers), many were not. And some were born full-term or after, and quite hardy and hale apart from the DS. In fact, a mom from my DDC here when I was pg w/Sophie also had a baby girl w/DS and went full-term and had a homebirth and baby was over 9 lbs., if I remember correctly. So it can certainly happen, but it doesn't seem to be all that typical.

Hope this helps!

Guin

[47chromosomes]

I hope someone has some useful info for you. Our son who has Down Syndrome was born 2 weeks early. I have heard that it is not at all uncommon for babies with Down Syndrome to come a little early, but then it seems many moms (from another forum for Down Syndrome specifically) have shared that their little ones were past 40 weeks when they decided to arrive.

[perstephone]

My son was born via Csection (he was double footling breech), but I went into labor before the scheduled date. I was well into active labor- so I have no doubt that he would have been born that day, regardless of the manner.

I was 38w2d.

[MySunflowerBoys]

I agree with PP, it seems to be the trend that babies born with Ds are born a little than late. My son was 3 weeks early, via unmedicated vaginal birth, not induced. He was 6 lbs 4 oz and pretty healthy.

[qimama]

My (vaginally birthed) son with DS was born at 38.5 weeks. He was a healthy 7lbs 13oz.

[AbbieB]

Absolutely!

DS was born at home at 40 weeks 6 days. His water broke 2 days before his due date and labor did not get going until one week later (well, it did start, stop, start stop just like his sister's birth.) DD was born at 43 weeks and my mother says my sister and I were 42 weeks so I was expecting to go late.

Labor was smooth and relatively quick, 10 hours. No complications. He nursed right away (although he was a weak nurser at first.)

He was 8 1/2 pounds.

DS did not need any medical interventions (still has not) so he was able to stay at home for a baby moon before we went to the family doctor for his first well baby visit.

If you want more details PM me. I'd be happy to share.