RE: [ozmidwifery] CTG & stillbirth

[Lieve Huybrechts]

Hello Michelle   Last week something strange has happened. Two colleague midwives had a stillbirth at home. A very normal labour, half an hour second stage, good heartbeats. When the baby’s head was born they saw meconium in the mouth (the water was clear when it broke minutes before). The baby was flat and gave no reaction. They tried to reanimate and called urgency. The baby died later that day. Yesterday I spoke to a colleague that works in a hospital. She told that they had on that same day (17th of May) a similar story. A woman came a few days overdue for a monitor. The monitor showed a non variable heartbeat. They controlled with another monitor, even flatter tracé, than the STAN monitor and emergency C-section. Baby had apgar 0 at birth. Clear fluid at the c-section, meconium aspirated from the lungs!  After reanimation,  baby lives but has very bad brain scans, so is severely damaged. The people of the tertiare hospital were called and when they came to pick up the baby, they told that they didn’t understand what was happening: they had the same day already five similar cases.   I think this is all very strange.   Greetings from rainy Belgium Lieve   Lieve Huybrechts vroedvrouw 0477740853   -----Oorspronkelijk bericht----- Van: owner-ozmidwifery@acegraphics.com.au [mailto:owner-ozmidwifery@acegraphics.com.au] Namens Michelle Windsor Verzonden: zaterdag 27 mei 2006 11:16 Aan: Ozmidwifery Onderwerp: [ozmidwifery] CTG & stillbirth       Recently where I work a primip come in at term plus 7 days in early labour about 11pm.  She had a CTG at 3pm which was reactive, good variability etc.  (they do routine CTG's on post-dates women).  The woman wasn't in established labour and the midwife suggested she return home.  The woman wasn't keen for this so stayed and the FHR was auscultated every couple of hours and was normal, with the woman still not in active labour.  Apparently after change of shift the next midwife couldn't find a FHR and USS confirmed the baby had died within the last couple of hours.  I wasn't caring for this woman so don't know all the details but apparently she had an uneventful pregnancy although she had presented three times during pregnancy with decreased movements and the CTG's were always normal.   To me it just proves again the unreliability of CTG's.  Just interested in what others think.....   Cheers Michelle On Yahoo!7 360°: Your own space to share what you want with who you want!