As parents, we do everything we can to help our kids grow up healthy. But the reality is health conditions can occur no matter how much you care for your child. Chromosomal abnormalities that occur in utero can lead to a variety of ailments. Environment, lifestyle choices, and exposure to toxins can also adversely affect a child’s health.
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The APGAR score (also called “newborn scoring”) is the first test that your newborn baby will ever be given. It is performed in hospitals throughout the world by the doctor, midwife or nurse. It is usually done twice, at 1 minute after birth, then again at 5 minutes. Occasionally, if the baby does not appear to be doing well, or the score was low at 5 minutes, the test may be done a third time 10 minutes after birth.
The APGAR scores are simply a way for the healthcare provider to quickly assess a newborn’s physical condition, and determine whether extra medical or emergency care is needed. The tests indicate if the infant needs help breathing or is having heart trouble.
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We are all appreciative of the advances that have been made in safely delivering infants in our modern age, which have increased the number of live births, compared to many decades ago. However, just like doctors can get carried away doing unnecessary medical interventions and prescribing drugs that aren’t really needed, in general and specialized medicine, the specialty of obstetrics is no different.
An expectant woman does well to gather all the information she can about labor and delivery, before her due date arrives. Quite unfortunately, in regular hospitals, it is more the norm than the exception to subject mother and baby to procedures that go too far, and which can result in unnecessary complications for mother and infant.
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What Are the Pros and Cons of Water Birth?
Far too many mothers know firsthand the frequent pitfalls of giving birth in a regular hospital, on a bed. The pain can be excruciating, often prompting women to use hospital-administered drugs. The baby can take many hours to come. An episiotomy may be performed. The obstetrician may rupture the amniotic sac with a stick in an attempt to speed up a slow labor; but tearing the amniotic membrane can lead to other complications.
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According to the March of Dimes, a woman can take important steps to improve her chances of carrying her unborn baby to full term.
Pre-term birth is defined as a baby who is born before 37 weeks of pregnancy. Even at just a few weeks short of 40 weeks — a true full-term pregnancy — a baby could still face much higher odds of being born with serious health problems. These are some key points for an expectant mother to keep in mind, to help insure that her baby is not born prematurely:
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Mistakes by medical staff are usually to blame in cases where a baby suffers a lack of oxygen at birth, according to a new study from Norway.
Birth asphyxiation, or hypoxia, happens when a baby does not get enough oxygen before, during or right after birth. Oxygen deprivaton can result in brain damage, mental disabilities, cerebral palsy, epilepsy or even death to the infant.
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