meconium?

[~Mom2thhts~]

How dangerious is meconium in your waters? Is it enough to call for imediate ceserian?

[Jenlaana]

Not at all. Meconium means that the lining of the baby's intestines is released into the water. There are different "levels" of meconium, and generally it shouldn't change anything about the birth, other than that baby may need to have their nose and mouth cleared immediately after birth (Ive seen it cleared when the head is out but the body is not yet). I would think, that the biggest issue with meconium is that it is generally released when the baby has been overly stressed. Although thats what I've heard, and now in researching it while writing this I've read that its only stress in about 10% of the cases. (so much conflicting information)

I have NEVER heard of a cesarean for meconium ever. And I've heard of cesareans for some pretty messed up reasons. Even on the mainstream OB type websites, it doesnt say anywhere that they would use meconium as a reason for a cesarean. However, if the baby is in stress (and the meconium is a symptom of that) then it would be whatever the stresser was, that was indicative of a cesarean. If an OB said they wanted to do a cesarean JUST for meconium in the waters, I would suggest that maybe they just wanted to do a cesarean and were looking for an excuse.

[mwherbs]

not on it's own-- and with the newer info if a baby has aspired the mec it has already happened before birth- so a c-section won't prevent that-- but if you have low heart tones, late decelerations or a prolonged PROM/risk of infection goes up in the presence of mec- in particular GBS infection.

[Jenlaana]

So would you suggest clearing the nose and mouth after birth "just to be safe"? or just assuming that any ingestion has already happened?

[~Mom2thhts~]

At the end of my labor (prodomal for a week and then full on labor for 12+ hours) the baby was showing signs of distress. His hearbeat was going really low with every contraction. I had only been checked 2 times throughout my labor. I did let them break my water to try and get things a bit more progressed. I was stuck at a 3 and the baby would not come down. The doc did another check and found that not all of my water had been broken. He broke it and thats when the meconium was found. They did an emergency ceserian and the baby was not breathing and they had to suck meconium out of his lungs. His first apgar was a 2.

I'm just trying to figure out why my labor went the way it did. Why wouldn't the baby come down, why wouldn't I dialate past a 3 after such a long labor? This labor was by far my worst. I have never been in pain like this with my other labors.

[mwherbs]

the current recommendations for neonatal resuscitation is no automatic suctioning of a baby-- suction/try to clear airway before you resuscitate in a non-breathing baby but NO otherwise.

here is an article that has the info---scroll down to clearing he airway of meconium

http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/cont...4_suppl/IV-188

[~Mom2thhts~]

Originally Posted by mwherbs

the current recommendations for neonatal resuscitation is no automatic suctioning of a baby-- suction/try to clear airway before you resuscitate in a non-breathing baby but NO otherwise.

They said the meconium was blocking the airway and was the reason why he wasn't breathing. So I think they suctioned and the reuscitated. He was on a breathing machine for 12 hours. When they did the ceserian they put me under general anesthetic and i wondered if that could have contributed to him not breathing.

[mwherbs]

so the recommendations for mec a few years ago was to suction on the perineum---
ok no way for me to know given the limited info I have but if they used a general they must have been very worried and felt an urgent need to do it right now- may or may not have depressed the baby more- so when I have seen them move fast and it is an urgent section- prolapsed cord, heart tones that drop radically from normal to nearly nothing-- severe shoulder dystocia.

[pamamidwife]

deep suctioning causes a decrease in heart rate (a vagal response) and often can lead to further trouble, instead of helping it hurts babies.

[clavicula]

as long as the heartbeat is okay (no decels), there is no need to worry. meconium means a hypoxic episode which can normally occur at the end of pregnancy. (my water broke while i was pushing, mw noticed meconium, but the heartbeat was okay, so they told me not to worry. baby was just fine)

[~Mom2thhts~]

Originally Posted by mwherbs

so the recommendations for mec a few years ago was to suction on the perineum---
ok no way for me to know given the limited info I have but if they used a general they must have been very worried and felt an urgent need to do it right now- may or may not have depressed the baby more- so when I have seen them move fast and it is an urgent section- prolapsed cord, heart tones that drop radically from normal to nearly nothing-- severe shoulder dystocia.

I'm not sure how long the babe had been showing distress. It was definetly more towards the end, because my dh said the midwife said a few times to herself that the baby wasn't looking to well. They didn't have time for an epidural and they said I couldn't be still enough for a spinal.

I just don't understand why after such a long labor and the baby doing fine, that all of a sudden things went downhill so quickly. I don't understand why my contractions weren't doing anything and the baby wasn't coming down. By the end of my labor contractions were double peaking and 2-3 minutes apart. I felt like the baby was coming down, my hips hurt so badly, but when they did the exam 12 hours later everything was the same. I just don't understand...

[mwherbs]

there are some studies that show that multips are often not in "active" labor until they are 6 cm-- walking around in your normal awake hours- and resting at night if possible -- eat and drink in early labor-
I feel that this is always one of the tight ropes we walk - how to facilitate birth before mom or baby get too worn out.
I would say try some belly banding in pregnancy and in labor and see if that helps the baby to funnel into position sooner-- some babies need more guidance into the birth canal than others-- that is the only way I can explain it-- sometimes a mom will have loose enough tone that the baby is lying transverse the last 3 months of pregnancy and then plunk baby goes right into the pelvis with just a few contractions and others the baby can nearly be lined up and still float- the other thing the belly bander can do is reduce prodromal labor- what i have seen is that if the uterus folds over on it's self it makes irritable contractions- after banding they may just go away- but fear not true labor labor will still come-