Black Eyes from Birth

[2bluefish]

Has anyone had a baby develope black eyes after birth? This is one of the mysteries of DS2's birth - he had very red puffy eyes at birth, the next day he looked like he had been slugged in both eyes. He also had bruising from resucitation equipment around the mouth and bruising on the back of his head (lot's of molding). My midwives had never seen black eyes like that before and are puzzled by it. Our doctor says it's from being born too quickly - but that doesn't make sense to me - second stage was quick (10 min), but I had a long latent phase, I wouldn't call it a quick labor though it was gentle (from my pov at least!).

Also have you seen any kids that take a long time to "unmold"? It took around 6 months for DD to loose this ridge at the front of her head (can't remember the name of the suture - looks like a head band). DS2 has this too. Just curious...

[Defenestrator]

My guess would be that they are from the resuscitation mask as well -- some people push pretty hard to get a seal.

[Jane]

I've seen one baby with black eyes and a few more with swollen up eyes. The black eyed baby had spiraled past his mama's tailbone kinda funny - I think that's what got him. He looked like a boxer the day after the fight. It was gone in 3-4 days,though.

[doctorjen]

I've had a couple babies that had black eyes - generally bigger babies that were a tighter squeeze.