Meconium, did you have it?

Wondering who else had meconium in their waters and if you know why? What decisions were made based on having meconium, and what the end result was?

For me, my waters broke on my due date after a few hours of easy labour and were meconium stained. Directly after they broke the contractions became intense. We were advised to transfer to hospital (planned homebirth) where a midwife wanted me hooked up to a constant monitor for the duration of my labour. That seemed unnecessary to me, and when my HB midwife arrived, she only briefly placed a Doppler on my belly ever 40 min or so. When DD was born, she was fine aside from a bit of a crackley chest which was cleared up with a bit of suction. I wasn't postdates, no complications, no distress etc. No idea why there was mec. Midwife did say the placenta was perfect albeit a little grainy. 100% sure on my dates so maybe I'm just not meant to bake for that long?

Also wondering (if anyone knows) the chances of a) having unexplained mec again and b) whether an IM would also advise a hospy transfer (we had oxygen etc at home). I know for the HB program I was in it was policy to transfer in that situation, but in hindsight they did nothing more than what could have happened at home (squeezey bulb syringe). TIA :)

Cant answer your bottom questions hun, but with DD1i had mec in waters,it was put down simply by being post dates. They made me wear the ctg until she was born, noone seemed particularly worried, which was good because it wasnt till after i found out how serious it can be.
Didnt have it with DD2, or DS

Meconium is a sign that your baby may be in distress. If they continue to be in distress they continue to poo in utero. This becomes a major problem for the baby as the meconium enters their lungs and they have major difficulties breathing (intensive care/death/long term lung problems). Because of this it is great they erred on the side of caution. If your baby had meconium aspiration then they would need more than an oxygen cylinder and a midwife.
I had the same thing as you. I got the syntocin drip which was horrid. His temp was low the next morning and spent a few hours in the nursery warming up- they didn't think skin to skin was enough?!?
It's all very frustrating I agree especially when it means you don't get the birth you want. My next child had no meconium problems.

It is very frustrating, but even if the prescence of meconium was not caused by distress the fact that it is there does increase the risk of aspiration. If a baby does aspirate, it will take more then oxygen and a bulb syringe to help resuscitate and stop further aspiration.

Cool, I didn't know that. So what do they do in case of aspiration, if not a bulb and oxygen (and anything else a midwife would have with her)? I don't regret my decision to transfer at all, but I did and do find it confusing as to why it happened (DD's apgars 9 and 9) and if it will happen again, what happened to others, how it is managed etc.

I haven't worked in a maternity hospital for about a year, but this is what used to happen if I got called to assist at a suspected meconium aspiration.

Once bub was born, no stimulation ie no rubbing down, bub placed on resuscitate cot and a pediatrician would look at the bub's vocal cords with a laryngoscope to check if there is meconium past the cords. If there is or they suspect there is, they will intubate and use that tube to try to suction out as much meconium as they can. They will also suction the mouth and nose. If this happens or how quickly it happens, or if they need to do other resuscitation methods depends entirely on the condition of bub.

I did with DD2 but not until her head came out. Her head popped out and a big gush of water with lots of meconium came out. In my case it was because I was pushing for 2 hrs and she got a bit distressed a the last bit. They cut the cord straight away and took her over to the table. They didn't stimulate her to breath so she wouldn't breath any in and they suctioned out her mouth and nose. Not sure if they did anything else but she was fine after that.

I did with DD2 but I was rupturing and this was one of the signs. She didn't seem to have breathed any in though.

I have had it with all 3.

DS1 i was in labour for hours and in the end had my waters broken, once this was done they realised i had meconium in my waters. From then on i had to have the monitor on my belly. Would have loved to hop in the bath but was not allowed. My labour was quite long and things were slow to progress so i think there was talk of a c-section (unbeknown to me at the time) if he became distressed but he never did. At the time i was aware it was that bub had pooed and usally from distress but he stayed so calm the whole time.
At the time i knew that it could be dangerous but not why. It wasn't until after i had DS and was watching a TV show that i was aware of just how dangerous it could be. From what i remember it was described as being like tar and turns the lungs from being like a spong to not being able to absorb anything.

DS2 my waters broke when i got out of the shower and they were tinged green. I was in no pain at all at this stage. I had a dr's appt which i went to and i was told to pack my bags and go to the hospital. I wanted to wait for labour to start itself but i was not allowed to. Upon examination it was discovered that it was my hind waters but they still progressed with induction. I was also hoping to labour in the spa and possible have a water birth but was not allowed to.

DD i had laboured at home all day, arrived at the hospital and my waters broke about 15 min later. Once again meconium in my waters. Once DD was born she actually continued to poo all over my tummy.

So for me i had it each time. I was as calm as could be expected and i don't see that my children would have been overly distressed either. After seeing that documentary though with the little one in special care and the tubes everywhere i know it can be a very serious issue. Thankfuly it never was for me.

So how to know if it could happen again or possibly prevent it i don't know. But i dont think you really want to take your chances with it.

I keep trying to think of why there was mec for me...all I can assume is that she was more than ready to come out and maybe I'll go sooner next time..?

Like I said, I totally don't regret transferring and would do it again in a second if we had mec stained waters again, it was a very scary sight and not at all how I imagine my waters breaking would go. I did know how serious it could be but didn't know that it couldn't be dealt with at home...that's good to know because it just confirms I made the right choice. I was glad the hospital did not force any intervention on me due to it. I guess I am glad I was already contracting and dilating well enough that I wasn't offered induction or anything like that.

I had ARM to be induced. When they did the arm I had merconium staining. the midwives weren't worried as I was so overdue and said that sometimes they just poo because they can. There was very little tho. I had a natural drug free birth (despite the induction drip). Ds came out fine, didn't need any extra attention and got both 10s in his score thingy (that I can never remember the name of!)

Meconium by itself doesn't necessitate transfer to hospital. I don't know all the things they look at, but you can still birth at home with a private midwife if other signs are ok.

DD was under intense stress in the womb. Due to birth defect she had, mec is common..
She was completely covered in it, and delivered at 34 weeks.
She also had APGARs of 9 and 9.
I'm worried about it happening again.

Babies just poo sometimes ;) I had mec with dd and she was two weeks early and wasn't in distress.
Sometimes it happens for no reason at all.

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Meconium by itself doesn't necessitate transfer to hospital. I don't know all the things they look at, but you can still birth at home with a private midwife if other signs are ok.

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This is what I was hoping :)

I'm seeing my midwife this week. will try to remember to ask her for more info.

Had it with DD 10 days late but she was happy as larry had a scalp monitor on and she was cruisy despite jamming her head - she did a mec poo just as she came out e- c sect that nearly dropped into my open stomach.

DS was born due date no meconium even though he got stuck too and his monitor showing some distress.

I had meconium with DD1 but the waters didn't break until her head came out. I was in the bath and the water instantly turned green/brown. No one seemed worried, the midwife fished her out of the water and gave her straight to me. I guess she was watching out for signs that anything might be wrong.

She was born a day before the due day and wasn't in distress that I know of, although the midwife only checked her heart rate once when I got to the clinic two hours before she was born.

I had obstetric cholestasis and had to be induced. When they broke my waters they were really thick with mec. It looked like I had severe diarrhoea.

I'd already been in early labour for a week and I was induced 2.5 weeks early.

Doc said at 6 week check up it was lucky.

That said, there was no paediatrician there despite my condition and the mec. They suctioned her lungs with her on my chest and we had skin to skin right away. I'm a bit shocked about that, but there were a few other births happening at the exact same time, I guess the paeds were all busy.

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Jude 07/10/2008 | Lilac 16/06/2011

Thier is a documentry called Losing Layla - very sad about her little girl who died after birth due to mecinioum aspiration. The local hospital was not equipped enough to save her. Thats always sticks in my mind i always cry and cry when i watch that story
Anyway my son had meconioum when my waters broke and i had to stay on the monitor the whole time as he was showing signs of distress with low heart rates very scary.

No mec with any of mine. It's like everything in birth it's one sign. But you will get that 1% of people that take that to the extreme. I wouldn't want any of my babies to be suctioned at birth unless totally necessary :)

Oh and that doc on losing Layla was heart wrenching.

Neither of mine did a mec poop in the uterus, but I wanted to comment about the placenta. With my DS, the placenta was classed as "gritty" in the records and when I queried it I was told that it's common in overdue babies and an initial sign that the placenta was getting "old" and starting to break down. Very odd considering DS was 2 1/2 weeks early, so not even close to "overdue". I tend to cook my babies big, and quickly, lol.

With DD1 my waters broke (were clear) and had very weak contractions, maybe one every 20 minutes. Went to hospital to be checked. After been on CTG for 20 minutes I was told I could go home. Went to loo and my pad was green. Was told I had to stay and in 2 hours they will start the drip if contractions don't progress. They didn't so synto was started and I was strapped up to the moniters, bubs showed no signs of distress once. I soon learnt that I just had to ask to be un strapped to go to the loo and each visit usually took me about 20 minutes:) in that time I got to move around in the bathroom all I wanted.
Contractions were intense and by 2pm I was still only 1cm. But bubs was born at 4:30pm and was perfectly fine.

I was 41 weeks when I had DD1 and the MD did comment that I had a lovely placenta so no real reason why.

Did not have it with DD2 and she arrived at 41+2weeks.

Both my girls experienced some distress during labour, but no mec - DD2 was obviously ready though as the midwives declared her placenta 'dead' when she was born at 41 wks, and she pooped all over my tummy while having her first BF :) DD1 was induced 2 days before her due date and didn't have time to get really distressed, I don't think - from 0 to cord cut in 4 hours, her heart rate dropped to about 20bpm at one stage during pushing but it was all over and done before anybody got a chance to really panic. Hopefully next bub of yours won't have meconium and you'll be able to get your homebirth :)

My ds1 had meconium in my waters when they broke before I experienced a single contraction. He couldn't maintain a stable heart rate and it kept dropping lower and lower for longer periods of time and so after 6 hours of labouring and only dilated 3cm he became an emergency c-section .

DS had meconium in his waters but i had had 3 starts of labour that stopped when my waters broke spontaneously at 40+5 and it was thick and stank. After a rushed labour with an episiotomy & venthouse delivery cos his heart stopped when he was almost out we discovered his cord wrapped around his waist ( anterior placenta) so was being seriously compressed with each contraction. They think labour stopped couple of times cos he went I distress with the contractions. The chances of it happening again is quiet small. Your midwife probably transfered you so if something did happen then help would be right there rather than having to travel for it.

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