Shoulder Dystocia and 10lb+ babies.

[xnatalie81x]

Hi

I'm having my 3rd baby in Nov/Dec and my 2nd was 10lb girl and i had shoulder dystocia. She was back to back (my 1st was in the perfect position so not my uterus that is problem) and they had to do the McRoberts manouvre.

I am petrified of having another huge baby (i suspect this is a boy so bigger already??) I'm trying to find anyone who has had babies after a shoulder dystocia and if it occurred again, and also those who had BIG babies - did they get bigger???

Are there any special things in place after a shoulder dystocia previously and is there anything i can do to avoid it this time - i was lying down with her so i may well try and be more natural this time - standing, or in the pool (didn't make it inot pool as pain intensified and had pethidine. Which was RUBBISH and made me feel out of it for the rest of the birth. I think it's the reason i ended up on the bed)

PAny replies greatly appreciated

 

[budge]

yep my second baby who was 9 pound and my 4th baby who was 10pound 1 an half had shoulder dystocia.

give birth on all fours if possible or squatting.

if in all fours try and elevate one leg so the shoulder can be released.

im sure the midwives will help you. don't worry.

 

[xnatalie81x]

So did you not have SD with the 1st and 3rd? Also were they all back to back or in the right position - sorry to be a pain but as i'm sure you know it is really scary - especially when you have about 50 people rush into the room!

Will be better if i'm expecting it this time though i guess...... I think the midwife was more scared than me - after she came to see me on the ward and she said it's the first time she's delivered a baby and though 'o shit' as baby was born. DD was blue all over and her apgar was 4!!!!!!! VERY FRIGHTENING and my DH had probs bonding as he was so scared after the horrific delivery.

 

[budge]

no the 1st and 3rd were only 7 pounders! they were all in th right positon.

i had the 3rd in hospital and the 4th at home.
shoulder dystocia is bnot always a threatenng situation. given a good midwife it can be ok.

 

[xnatalie81x]

What did you do differently to have small babies?? I just want a normal one first was 8lb boy (1.5weeks early) and 2nd 10lb (4days late) - i can push for an induction but was induced with son and pretty horrific. Did they give you the choice???

Sorry to be so annoying but i haven't met anyone else who had SD! and i was the only person on the ward with a baby the size of a 3mth old lol

 

[budge]

i have no idea why child 2 and 4 were bigger babies. they are all girls.

you're not annoying

they told me the 2nd baby was big and offered me indiction. i refused. my waters broke and my labour failed to pregress so it was augmented . it was horrific. i only have gas and air and you can imagine how painful it was with a drip in to make the contractions come

She got stuck at fully dilated. There was a room full of people at one point. I was told baby s shoulders were stuck and c section was mentioned. Im happy to say she cme out with the help of two midwives holding my legs and almost wrapping them around my neck

I was on my back and it didn't help.

With my 4th baby. i had her at home and my midwife was adament i was to have her on all fours as this is meant to be the best position for birthing a baby. especially a big one! she knew she was big so thats why she was so persistent. i am glad she was so expereinced.
It was excellent.
She got stuck also and i had to sort of squat with one leg really up in the air! i can't describe on here but i could demonstrate if you like.

she came out when she was twisted by midwife, was very painful but i did it!

 

[rhian85]

my FIRST baby was born in november and he was 10lbs 14.5oz i had to have cuts and alsorts !

 

[nathanmum]

nathan was 10lbs 3 ozs back to back and was "sticky" they done the mcroberts and he was born with a bit of tugging.

im am worried about what will happen next time but i take comfort that there are other manouvers that can be done to help baby out. a very severe dystocia is rare. theres loads on the homebirth website thats relevant its www.homebirth.org. i think the biggest worry is an unconfident or unexperienced midwife when it comes to dystocias, i had a student and a "matured" midwife who identified and remedied the problem quickly.

 

[Xena]

My daughter (first baby) was 10lbs 10oz but she didn't have the shoulder thing. Her head was stuck though. They gave me an episiotomy but she was still stuck, so then they cut me a bit more, but she was still stuck, and then I just tore after that.

I'm predicted to have an even bigger baby this time round but I'm hoping it won't happen. I'm already measuring ahead though so it's looking likely. Blah.

 

[budge]

just make sure you're not on your back when birthing.
thats the worse position to be in in any labour.

 

[xnatalie81x]

Well although she was big and all of the problems (the Mcroberts is the legs behind your head and the insides of my legs ached for weeks) I am proud to say I didn't tear or need to be cut and they tried the epidural but i dilated 5 to 10cm in about 30 seconds so they could not get it in and didn't kno why (my contractions were coming on top of each other and the space closes whilst you contract)

They had the drip set up but hadn't started it luckily, they were waiting for the epidural to start.

I had epidural with son and it was great but i loved being able to get up after an hour with my daughter, so i'm torn, as big babies are meant ot be a more painful labour and birth.......

Thanks for all your advice i will make sure i get a good nights sleep before this time (i didn't sleep with daughter as thought i was being induced the next week and so i went out oops) and i can avoid the pethidine. I can definitely pinpoint that moment to when i felt like i completely lost control. I should have got in the pool at that time (ir was all filled)

Definitely want a very experienced midwife though. The all-fours sounds like fun. Think i'll start practising lol.

As daughter only 9mths the thought of the pain makes me want to cry already lol.

 

[kellie80]

I had this with my 3rd baby and the did the mcroberts. My MW was very calm and delt with it very well. Although i did wonder at the time why loads more people came in the room. Nathan was quite big at 9lb 5oz but no where near as big as your baby but he has very broad shoulders. He was born in the right position.