What is Meconium Aspiration Syndrome?

After giving birth twice, my delivery date has always been the 40th week. It was also estimated to be that way with my third pregnancy with DD as that has always been the so called "pattern"- 40 weeks. You see, I was breastfeeding my second child when I got pregnant with my third (talk about breastfeeding being a birth control- so NOT 100% true for me!) Little did I know that the longer she stayed in the womb, the greater the complications were...

Yes, my husband and I rushed to the hospital and when my curious hubby asked the attending nurse, "How many cm?" The girl answered with a grin : " It's fully dilated". Yes, too late again! My first, born in my hubby's car, my second, born in the hospital (but I was already 7 cm) and now for the third, I was fully dilated. Hmmmpphhh goodbye to painless child birth- Just when I was dreaming of having an epidural... :(

Anyway, to make the whole story short, I gave birth that morning via normal delivery and the doctor told us the baby's cord coiled and had a condition called Meconium Aspiration Syndrome. Say what?!

Photo courtesy of kidshealth.org

In rare circumstances like ours, the cord was short and around the baby's neck tightly, the blood flowing through the cord to the baby was restricted during the pushing and the baby showed signs of distress. This may be through prolonged, consistent drops in the baby's heart rate or meconium in the amniotic fluid. Yes, this was what happened to my precious DD. I had to accept that she had to be left in the hospital for a week for her to be given antibiotics.

According to Wikipedia, Meconium aspiration syndrome (MAS, alternatively "Neonatal aspiration of meconium") is a medical condition affecting newborn infants. It occurs when meconium is present in their lungs during or before delivery. Meconium is the first stool of an infant, composed of materials ingested during the time the infant spends in the uterus. Meconium is normally stored in the infant's intestines until after birth, but sometimes (often in response to fetal distress) it is expelled into the amniotic fluid prior to birth, or during labor. If the baby then inhales the contaminated fluid, respiratory problems may occur.

The most obvious sign that meconium has been passed during or before labor is the greenish or yellowish appearance of the amniotic fluid. The infant's skin, umbilical cord, or nailbeds may be stained green if the meconium was passed a considerable amount of time before birth. These symptoms alone do not necessarily indicate that the baby has inhaled in the fluid by gasping in utero or after birth. After birth, rapid or labored breathing, cyanosis, slow heartbeat, a barrel-shaped chest or low Apgar score are all signs of the syndrome. Inhalation can be confirmed by one or more tests such as using a stethoscope to listen for abnormal lung sounds (diffuse crackles and rhonchi), performing blood gas tests to confirm a severe loss of lung function, and using chest X-rays to look for patchy or streaked areas on the lungs. Infants who have inhaled meconium may develop respiratory distress syndrome often requiring ventilatory support. Complications of MAS include pneumothorax and persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn.

As instructed by our Obgyne, I went for an ultrasound that weekend, everything was checked and was ok.  I guess MAS is just difficult to prevent as we do not have full control on what happens in the womb and how fast our contractions are. The risk of MAS definitely increases after the 40th week of pregnancy. 

 

After a week of visiting my baby in the hospital just to exclusively breastfeed her , I carried DD home - very happy and excited for her siblings to see...