How beautiful is the concept of giving birth, but how absolutely sad is the fact that if you take one wrong move during your pregnancy, you can put the health and future of your unborn child at risk?
If you are expecting a child soon and if you want to make sure that you are fully aware of the possible causes, impacts, and types of birth injuries that your unborn child can be exposed to. Then you must continue reading this article.
Birth Injuries
For all the new moms that are reading this article or the concerned fathers and relatives, birth injuries are all the damages that take place with a newborn child or an unborn child. These might have multiple causes, and every child is affected differently by different types of birth injuries.
It might bring chills down your spine to know that if your child faces a birth injury, the chances of it affecting them throughout their life are very high. This is because not all birth injuries can be treated. Some might not even have a cure.
For those who do not believe in this concept, every year, 7 out of 1000 children in the United States undergo birth injuries that are fatal and last for a very long period.
Origin of Birth Injuries
It can often get quite confusing to think about all the possible things, actions, and steps that can lead to birth injuries. The unborn child or the newly born child is unaware of its surroundings and is extremely sensitive and prone to everything.
The doctors, caretakers, and relatives have to act responsible and dependable. The mother, however, of that child has to be cautious about everything they do, all that they eat, what they wear, where they go, and even who they interact with. Pregnancy induced hypertension adds the cherry on top of creating complications at the time of birth. Listed down below are all the major causes of birth injuries.
1. Abnormal Position of Fetus
Usually, the fetus faces the back of the mother. This makes sure that the head of the fetus comes out first at the time of delivery. However, in some cases, the position of the fetus becomes abnormal.
This is when the fetus is rather facing forward. This puts the mother in a lot of pain. The doctors have to get the baby out through different techniques. In the process of it, the baby might get injured.
2. Pushing the Fetus at Time of Delivery
If your situation is critical enough, the doctor might ask you to push harder and harder with every passing second. This might be because you are losing a lot of blood at that time. In this case, when you push the fetus, its soft body and bones might get ruptured. This can cause serious issues because it is quite difficult for them to recover at such a young age. This pain triggers later in life as well.
3. Premature Delivery
In some cases, the mother is unable to keep the baby for 9 months. Her health starts getting affected. The baby’s health might not be in the best condition either. In those cases, premature delivery is suggested.
In such cases, the body of the baby has not formed fully or is weaker than normal babies. They are more prone to diseases, and they also get seriously ill in the first few months after delivery. They might not be able to eat, drink and respire like other babies that were born after 9 months.
4. Mistakes made by the Doctor
If you did not consult a renowned doctor, the chances of them making mistakes with your pregnancy case are very high. Doctors, at times, tend to lack attention because of all the stress and pressure they are under due to other patients lining up.
They, at times, prescribe the wrong medicines and diet or might even inject the wrong vitamins into you. Such mistakes on the doctor’s end can cause serious problems to the nerves and body formation of the baby. Due to this, you need to consult a good doctor that has positive reviews.
Types of Birth Injuries
Birth injuries are divided into multiple categories. These categories are decided based on the causes of birth injuries. Once the cause has been decided, they further categorize it based on how critical the situation is. The different types of birth injuries have been discussed down below.
1. Intraparenchymal hemorrhage
This happens in the actual brain tissue. Highly premature neonates frequently experience intraventricular hemorrhages and intraparenchymal hemorrhages, which are typically caused by underdeveloped brains rather than birth injuries.
Large hemorrhages, however, may result in apnea, blue-grey staining of the skin, or the newborn’s upper body may abruptly stop functioning normally. Most of these hemorrhages do not show complications. Large hemorrhages in newborns have a bad prognosis, whereas tiny hemorrhages frequently result in survival and good outcomes.
2. Nerve Injury
Large nerves that supply each arm are found in a region called the brachial plexus, which is situated between the neck and shoulder.
Either of the baby’s arms may be stretched during a challenging delivery, injuring the brachial plexus nerves and leading to weakening or paralysis of all or part of both the child’s arm and hand.
Brachial plexus injuries affect kids with routine deliveries about half as often as those with difficult deliveries, which often include large babies. Babies born via cesarean are less exposed to brachial plexus damage. To allow the nerves to recover, extreme motions at the shoulder should be avoided.
3. Bone Injury
In 1 to 2 percent of neonates, collarbone (clavicle) fractures are relatively common. These fractures can occasionally go undetected until a knot of tissue grows around them a few days after birth. Clavicle fractures don’t appear to disturb infants and do not require medical attention. The entire healing process takes a few weeks.
Impact of Birth Injuries
The impact of birth injuries tends to vary depending on the type of birth injury that you have experienced. Some birth injuries are curable and would stop bothering you after a few years if you get treated for them.
On the other hand, some injuries, such as nerve or brain injuries, would last for a very long period because their impact is greater and more complicated to resolve. These injuries might hinder the normal working of an individual, their day-to-day routine, their academics, and their lifestyle as a whole.
The above-given information gives complete details on birth injuries. If you are expecting your first child soon, you do not need to worry much if you have thoroughly read this article. You now know more than what doctors like to tell their patients. We hope you have a safe and healthy delivery!
