Massive newborn head lump from vacuum

My newborn has a very large lump on the top right side of his head after the vaccum was needed during my emergency CS (in my ob's words, "he was a bit stuck"). We were originally told this is fluid under the scalp and it would disappear in five days. 12 days on, no change. He looks incredibly lop-sided. We are seeing the paediatrician next week, but I was wondering if this happened to anyone else out there in BB land, how long it lasted, and if it left a depression in the scalp when the swelling finally disappeared?

Hope I have posted this in the right place...

WTH ;)

You should notice it starting to go down in the next day or so. It would be a good idea to point it out to you paed when you go next week

Thanks for your speedy reply, Alan. Do you know if this is a cephalohematoma? I am not sure what is mean't by "fluid". Is it blood, or something else?

Thanks again
WTH

probably totally unrelated but DD2 was born with a massive bruise across the top of her head from being born posterior, 2 weeks later there was still a large bluey/purple lump that didnt want to budge, anyway turns out its a strawberry birth mark and not a bruise at all, it was just coincidence that it was in the same spot at her bruising

Without being able to examine it I cannot say for sure what it is however I would suspect that it is a bruise caused by the vacuum (cephalohematoma). A bruise is caused by small blood vessels in the shin and underlying tissues being damaged and thus releasing blood into the tissues. I would expect to see some improvement by now or within the next day or so in this type of injury. I would suspect that when they said fluid they meant blood. Perhaps they think that if they said it was blood it would sound more scary than if they said fluid.

dd1 had this after a vaginal vacuum extraction. poor little darlings, it must be really sore i always though. i was told it was a hematoma (bruise). there was also a little scab in the middle of hers from where they put in the monitoring device. i cant remember exactly how long it lasted but i do remember it was there for a fair while after they said it would go away. oh, and not there was not depression after it finally went away.

my ds had the same thing from the vacuum. It was there for a few weeks from what i remember but it cleared to be perfectly normal.

Alan - thank you for your clear explanation. Things are much easier when given a direct answer, like your's. I like to know what I am (or am not) dealing with.

MrsB26, Hollo and Skybie - I appreciate your reading about your experiences. You have taken a load of our minds.

Thanks again
WTH ;)

I can't remember exactly how long my son's took to go down but it was still very noticeable when we left hospital after a 5 night stay. I think it was less than it was but maybe up to another week before it was fully gone.

By the way, congratulations on the birth of your lil man.

I think my daughters took about 2 weeks to go down fully. Can't remember exactly though

DD had a similar thing on her head from being engaged for two weeks while I was on bed rest with constant contractions to stop her being born at 35 weeks . It was huge but there is no sign of anything anymore.