Meconium? Oh, the HORROR! lol.

I think that OB needs a copy of “Everybody Poops”

GAHHHH that is NORMAL! It’s only an issue if it’s literally sludge….geez.
My 40 week baby had some meconium in the fluid. No biggie; she was totally healthy.

The “Birth Sense” blog did a GREAT post on meconium a couple of weeks ago. Surprise to me…current “official” reccommendations say that if the meconium is thin and baby is vigorous at birth, suctioning is NOT needed and can be harmful. I’ve know that is true, I just didn’t know it was an “official” reccommendation. It certainly isn’t practiced in my area!

This was mine…and yes, all 6 have had mec. Some have been just washed and handed to me, others have been suctioned. The last three HAVE been and it is frustrating. #4 had thick mec, and she was vigorous, and they suctioned her and took her to the NICU for 6 hours. She did have trouble nursing, and was fussy for a while, but had not problems from the mec. They sucked out her stomach, and I think they even x-rayed her lungs (or did some other scan). The other two they suctioned weren’t as deeply suctioned. I do think the last one was not necessary because they said it was thin. I saw a photo of them suctioning her, and the mec was very thing for sure…I could tell the waters were discolored, but only a slight bit. #4 had “old” mec and #5 had stained skin and fingernails, suggesting the mec was also there for a while. She actually was not allowed to breathe and had an apgar of 1…they kept her still, took her to the warmer and suctioned her…and her next apgar was 7 or 8. She had no damage, and was back to me very quickly. I think if the nurse was ready, she could have suctioned her as she came out and I would not have even been apart from her. I think they’ve changed standards now so that she would have been allowed to breathe on her own, but don’t know. She wasn’t vigorous.

I wish I knew why they get mec, especially since they all have had it. The ones with “older” and thick mec really do bother me as it indicates a problem earlier in labor or even before labor. However, again, even with mec they are all fine and normal. So I’m thinking only the one with the apgar of 1 (with only a heart rate of 80) needed the suction. #4, being vigorous, was likely okay. She came out without doc in the room and nurse was across the room not looking at me. Baby bounced on the bed…so they thought she might have sucked in mec. If I had a midwife or a doc present, she likely would not have had so much and wouldn’t have gone to the NICU for no reason.

My little one, born on his due date, had a serious MecAsp that was completely unexpected. There was no mec in my waters, no mec in the prebirth, no mec in the afterbirth, no mec on baby. But he wasn’t breathing and they suctioned a great deal of it out of his lungs, took 32 days in NICU plus a run of ECMO for his lungs to fully recover (discharged with no long term issues at all). Even the NICU doctors were unsure of how he managed to asperate it without any show. MecAsp is NOT something that can be predicted.