Apgar

[Kim]

What does apgar mean? I saw it mentioned on Rubies discharge sheet but haven't a clue what it is?? Can anyone enlighten me??

 

[Urchin]

The apgar scale is how they score newborns:

Activity, Pulse, Grimace, Appearance, and Respiration.

Five factors are used to evaluate the baby's condition and each factor is scored on a scale of 0 to 2:

* heart rate (pulse)
* breathing (rate and effort)
* activity and muscle tone
* grimace response (medically known as "reflex irritability")
* appearance (skin coloration)


More info here:

http://kidshealth.org/parent/pregnancy_ ... apgar.html

 

[Kim]

Ah right, well Rubie scored 9 after 1 minute and 9 after 5 minutes so is that good?

 

[Urchin]

Yep that's very good.
It's only really an initial indicaction, and has no long term relevance, but it's nice to know she was born kicking and screaming!

 

[Kim]

thanks a lot urchin i like to know what everything means!!

 

[Lou]

Hey

Isaac scored 9 at 1 min then 10 at 5 mins.

He was pulled out with forceps because he was back to back and the ventouse kept coming off his head. He was quite stressed and poohed tons. The first time I saw him he was being held up with his back to me and he had a pooh hanging out of his bum about 2 foot long!

So considering all that he scored pretty well!

Lou