difficulties with birth?

[ExpatJen]

Hello Everyone,
I was wondering if others with cranio babies also had more-than-usual difficulty in giving birth? I ask this because when Audrey was born, and without a correct diagnosis, I had thought her mishapen head was because of the birth. My pelvic bone split in two after 3 hours pushing and a vacuum extractor had to be used in the end. I couldn't walk at all for about 4 weeks and then had to have alot of physical therapy. When I did start walking again, I could only go backwards! It was about 6 weeks later that I could walk straight. At the time I assumed her head shape was because of that, but now I am wondering if it wasn't the other way around: that because her head was less flexible (one coronal suture fused) the birth was more difficult. Any ideas on this?

Jennifer

[verdon2]

:ughWow, what a difficult delivery. Fortunately both my babies are very large, but birth was extremely easy. I am a fairly skinny girl so I thought at first the cranio may have been due to a small pelvic passage, but that is not the case. My Maggie was just one of the "lucky ones" who was chosen for metopic cranio, I can not speak in your case because I am not too familiar w/ that type of cranio...:no

[craniomommynbaby]

Wow! I am so glad that my doc did a c-section instead of extraction! I progressed to 10 cm and the pushing part with all back labor. I never felt the contractions in my abdomen, and they say that he was facing up. When it came time to push, I pushed for 4-1/2 hours and only progressed to +2 station the whole time. His head kept coming out 2 cm and then popping back in. When the obstetrician examined me to decided what to do, he said that the baby's head was so swollen that he could not feel the sutures. At that point, an assisted birth (vacuum or forceps) was not an option. I could either keep pushing or have a c-section. I just wanted to get that kid out! The spinal tap brought blessed relief from the contractions that were coming without a break, and I had a baby boy who scored 10's on his Apgars.
It turns out that Simon's head was not swollen. Rather, both coronal sutures were fused, giving him a solid noggin with no soft spot. His face was smooshed from being in the birth canal for so long, and his forehead was tall from the cranio. For a while, I was in denial about the cranio and thought that his head shape had to be from the trauma of birth, but the geneticist pointed out that a head merely misshapen from birth would still have palpable sutures. He did not. :(

[Katie]

That must have been a very difficult situaiton! I can't imagine being in that much pain while also trying to care for a newborn :hugg
My labor went fairly easy as far as pushing, but Dillon did come out with head and shoulders facing the right, and his cord was around his neck a couple of times :(
If I remember right Jenny (my sister in law, also a member here) pushed for several hours with no luck. She ended up having a C-section and her daughter was bicoronal.

[MikenAustinsMommy]

Austin's birth was difficult as well. They did use the vacuum to get him out. He was "sunny side up" and the cord was wrapped around his neck twice. We were on the verge of an emergency C section but we gave it one last push and out he came.

[Rhonda O]

I had a difficult birth with Zachary also. My doctor was in surgery so I ended up with the midwife who works with him. His heart rates begin to go down and she did call for the on-call doctor to come into my room. We could see at this point that the midwife was starting to panick, which freaked me out. She called for the on-call doctor several times, each time with more worry. She had to use the vacuum to get him out and she was pulling so hard on the vacuum that she was shaking. My husband freaked out the third time that she cut me. When she finally got Zachary out, she was pulling so hard that she ripped the umbilical cord in two. He had the cord around his neck. He cried immediately but was cold and given an IV. I got to hold him while I was being sewed up, but them didn't get to have him in my room for at 7 hours. The on-call doctor finally showed up in time to sew me up. The midwife wouldn't even tell me how many stitches I had. It was a scary delivery and next time I def want a doctor.

[Jennifer]

Emily's was my easiest. Labor less than 4 hours, (no time for meds- dang it!!!) pushing less than 10 mins...... Was later told that labor was longer as they had me hold on pushing till my doc (midwife- that I love) showed up as they thought I'd want to deliver w/ her as I had my others- yes, I did prefer it, but given the choice at the time would have delivered with anyone!! :giggle

It does make sense though that it could make it more difficult if the head can't mold and condense if the suture(s) are fused.....

[ExpatJen]

Gosh, Rhonda, that must have been frightening. My doctor was as cool as a cucumber, which mad eme think, this is exhausting but everything is ok. I think I just started to wonder if there was aproblem when the extractor was broought out. Audrey had developed a fever, as had I, and that caused some panic, which at that point I was too out of it to realize. Do you think the difficulty you experienced was due to the cord being wrapped around Zachary's neck or the inflexibility of his head? I find that I really need answers for what happened - to Audrey and also to myself. That is why I wondered if cranio. was likely to make delivery more difficult. In any case, if I had a 3rd, I'd demand a c-section!

Jennifer

[cheryl2]

Clara came out sunny side up. The doc used vacuum extraction, then foreceps to get Clara out. And she also had the cord wrapped around her neck. Scary. I have wondered if the delivery was more difficult at least partly because of the cranio didn't allow her head to mold when going thru the birth canal. Though just being sunny side up makes things more difficult.

[mikaylasmommy]

My midwife thought Mikayla was sunny side up because the soft spot on the back of her head was larger than the one in front. I had an epidural with her and that labor hurt more than Allie who I had without any pain meds. I was able to push her out without any problem but her heartrate went way down and it was very scary. Mikayla is bicoronal.

[Lauren]

Okay, here's my story. Matthew was always sitting up (breech) facing out. Everytime they went to find his heartbeat it was right below mine. He flipped during my last week, but I never effaced or dilated at all. My blood pressure was borderline high but they didn't want to induce me because my mom lost a baby right before delivery due to pre-eclampsia before I was born. My doctor said that because I was apparently not going to go into labor on my own, that the induction would be very difficult and may end up in a c-section anyways. So, both of mine were c-section deliveries, but I always wonder if the fact that his head spent so much time jammed up under my ribs led to his sagittal. The weird thing is that his cranio developed later than most (around 6-8 months) and when he was a newborn and a younger infant, I actually got several comments about how round his head was and "c-section babies have such beautiful heads". Oh, well....show's what they knew!!!

[plukids]

Sylvie was a scheduled cesearean delivery.

[ExpatJen]

My first was a c-section. I was in labor for 28 hours before they gave up. I had all the drugs to move things along but, like Lauren, I never dilated. The doctor tried manually dilating me, which was as near to being tortured as I've ever been, but it didn't work (I think my kicking her in the stomch may have had something to do with why she stopped trying). Ironically, I wanted to avoid a c-section with Audrey (and being laid up for 3 whole days as I had been with my son) so I was given an epidural first, then the manual dilation. The doctor used a metal rod to prise my cervix open but I didn't feel a thing. She said sometimes a cervix once forced open a little way will then open up the rest of the way on its own and, I have to admit it, that's what happened. Of course, because my pelvis was torn in 2 when Audrey was being ripped out of me I ended up being laid up for over a month, but hey, at least I tried. I do think that her less than fully flexible head had to have had something to do with my pelvis being torn. I'm fairly wide-hipped and she wasn't that big (8 pounds).

Jennifer C.

[Lauren]

My doctor tried to get me to dilate through a lovely procedure called "reaming the cervix". Now, I didn't go through labor, but holy cow that was painful! In my opinion, nothing on my body should ever be reamed. Shane was in the room and when the doctor said "oh, there's the head right there" Shane asked if it was mine and not the baby's based on how agressive the procedure was! Then the doctor had some cavalier attitude about me needing to relax and I basically told him to let me take a poker to his crotch and see how enjoyable he found it. I did like him so it was done jokingly, but come on! MEN!

[verdon2]

:banghead I love my babies, but labor is an UNEXPLAINABLE pain unless you feel it yourself. I am not a real girly, girl and the pain was horrific. I can't imagine being prodded during a time like that w/out wanting to rip heads off!!!!:mad:

[Rhonda O]

I do think that the problem was that Zachary's head wasn't as flexible as it should have been. Since we have found out about the cranio, I have always thought that was the reason.

[eden'smom]

I had 3 hours of pushing w/Eden and then a forceps delivery. The cord was wrapped around her neck once, loosely, and I thought that that was the reason delivery was so hard. Once the cranio was diagnosed, my ob thought that that was probalby the cause. When I had my second daughter in Dec., he said that he now routinely checks the babies' sutures to see if they appear to be open so that he'll know whether to expect a harder than usual delivery. He said he did that because of Eden. I found that interesting, though I don't know how he could tell that while the baby isn't even totally out of the mom yet.

[snickers9246]

Well with my others (all large babies, 9-10lbs) I didn't really have a problem. In fact with Reilley, I went from 0cm to delivery in 36minutes. So when I was pregnant with Doodles they told me as soon as I get a cramp, get to the hospital. Well, after 18 1/2 hours, and the most excrutiating pain in the world, (I never had meds with Reilley (too quick) or Holly (by choice) so this time I thought something was wrong) When she was finally born, I saw her head and knew something was wrong. I was told moulding, but I didn't believe them. Now I firmly believe that the birth was so difficult because her skull was already partially fused. If I had another I'd definately try to have the late Ultrasound (level 2 at least) and then make a decision as I'd be afraid of having another baby natural with Cranio and the baby getting stuck! :)

[plukids]

Jennifer - I have never heard of using a metal rod to pry the cervix open?? That sounds painful! Ouch!

Lauren - Wow! I cannot even imagine how you did not KICK that doctor whether you liked him or not. I have never heard of "reaming" the cervix. What exactly was the procedure?

[Scotwr]

I have had 3 children. The first was born at 26 weeks, very premature back then (1989), so he was small and delivery was a breeze. He now is 16 years old and has autism, MR, CP, and epilepsy. My second was 2 years ago and he was hard, I had to be induced, his heart rate kept dropping, and I was just about rushed to have a c-section. He is perfectly healthy now. My 3rd baby though, Luke, was the worst pain of my life! And I had a great epidural. I was numb from the waist down until I started pushing. I felt like my hip bones were literally breaking off. I could not walk very well afterwards for a day or two. He had to be vacuumed out as well. He was stuck on my pelvic bone. I also assumed his head shape was from that and there was no mention of it from any of the doctors. Within 2 days, his head looked perfectly normal to me. Now we have just found out about the cranio.

[brownsga]

Yes! My daughter was born 'sunny side up' and the delivery was rough even though she is my third child. I am curious about the correlation between craniosynostosis and the babies facing up. I've heard so many similar stories.

[Matthews Mommy]

Matt got stuck he came out broad (not faced sideways) but it was my fastest labor 2 hours he did however misalign my pelvic bone being 8lbs 3oz and 24 inches. My 5th baby Amber was really difficult she was resting on my pelvic bone which was still misaligned (very painful 19 hour labor).
Josette

[eden'smom]

I had 3 hours of pushing and then a forceps delivery for Eden. I'm very petite, but she was not big (6 lbs., 6 oz). Nobody can say for sure, of course, but I'm sure my difficult delivery was related to the cranio. She also had the cord wrapped around her neck, but it was loose and they dont' think that is what caused my difficulty in delivery. Just to make the experience that much mroe fun, we both had fevers during/after delivery adn then I got shingles the next day adn they kicked us out of the hospital! At literally the same time as my ob was checking out the horrendous rash on my butt and saying he thought it was shingles, our ped was checking out Eden's head and wondering if she had hydrocephalus. Dermatology was called for me (positive on shingles) and an emergency ultrasound for Eden's head (negative, thankfully!). It was wild. Since then, almost nothing has been easy w/Eden. She likes to do things the hard way...

[Applepeel]

I had an emergency section with Leon because he wasnt budging! I guessed later it was due to the cranio but it sounds as if a few of you gave birth naturally [but painfully]Did any body else have placenta previa [low lying placenta]? I have heard that one of the thoughts on cranio is lack of space in the womb and as leon isnt a twin I wondered if it was linked to the placenta previa. I knew straight away Leon head shape wasnt right but they kept telling me he had a "section" head. Leon was 8 weeks when he was diagnosed.

[mom2mykidos3]

Miriam was born sunny side up too. She was also head down for the last part of my pregnancy. I kept telling my midwife that I could hardly stand the pain. Even when I was sleeping it hurt. My husband and I are wondering why OB/GYN and CFS's aren't talking and doing something about it. I wonder if Miriam would have been born a few weeks earlier then she wouldn't have CS. Just a thought.

[ahope4us]

Wow! I feel so lucky to have had a fairly easy birth. I say this because we decided on a home birth for Trey. I only pushed for about 30 minutes...an easier time than my first. When he came out, my midwife said that his head didn't mold because of the short amount of time he was in the canal. We now believe it didn't mold due to the cranio. Someone must have been watching over us knowing we weren't in the hospital.

[saraweise]

Joseph was sunny side up too. It was painful but not like what is described here!! OUCH!

[Anna Webb]

Hi ExpatJen,

I have found it really interesting reading about your experience. My daughter is 19 months old and will be operated on this month for saggital synostosis. Her birth was very easy compared with our first baby. I have felt so guilty and stupid for not realizing earlier that there was something wrong with her. My midwife, nurse, Doctor also missed it and it was not until I pushed on past them to get a diagnosis that she is now to have surgery. I would really like to know about your experience with an older child and the surgery. I guess I am just astounded that some children slip through the cracks like this and it has been such a hard road as a mother to have to single handedly advocate for my child. We live in New Zealand.

thanks,
anna webb

[snickers9246]

Holly was breach until about 34 weeks, turned at the last minute thankfully. My first was sunny side up, 32 1/2 hours labour, forceps, episiotomy you know ladies, all the good things!! :rofl He was 9lbs 11oz.. no cranio, then Reilley the speedy girl 0-10cms and out in 36 minutes, also no cranio. Then Holly, she slowed down and they had to induce me after I'd already been in labour for about 16 hours or so cause the labour had pretty much stopped. I think it's cause she was having a hard time moving. She came out with the bruised swollen forehead and I know it's cause she was hitting against my pelvis. Poor little peanut head! :giggle

I'm almost dreading the thought of this one!! :rofl

[JamiesMum]

Firstly I'm new to this forum so hello to everybody.

First baby was normal labour and easy delivery. Second my son Jamie I started labour on a Thursday with mild contractions and 2cm dilated(normal for 2nd child), admitted Friday night with contractions every 10 mins and starting to get very uncomfortable but still only 2 cms, midwife said baby was sunny side up, spent all saturday walking round the hospital in a lot of pain and managed to get to 3cm, did the same on sunday but really tired and emotional now. Doctor decided to break waters to speed things up, 8 hrs later in agnony contractions every 2mins or so still only 3 cms. I was giving up and begged for an epidural. Finally 5 days into labour on the Monday morning Jamie was born naturally (have no idea where I found that energy or strength from), heartrate kept dropping and cord wrapped round his neck he was delivered sunny side up with a very obvious bony ridge on his head. It then took me 6 months to get someone to have a proper look at his head when he was diagnosed with Sagittal. We are now one month post-op and he is doing well.
Pregnancy was also very painful with extremely strong tummy and back pains, I kept telling the hospital but they kept saying it was muscle pain.
Jamie was head down for most of my pregnancy and every contraction was just pushing him into my back.

This definately scares me about getting pregnant again but Jamie was worth it !!!

[Jules]

Wow! What a great question. Like Cindy, I carried Gabe frank-breech almost my entire pregnancy. He turned about 4 days before I delivered. My water broke at home. It was wierd, it just kept coming out. I couldn't leave the bathroom for about 15 minutes and when I did I was wearing enough pads to resemble a diaper. I kept thinking "So much fot the head coming down and sealing the cervix" idea. It wasn't working. I hind sight that was our first indication that there was a problem. When we got to the hospital I wasn't even dialated. Four hours later I was at 2. The contractions were horrible and I wanted to push and they kept saying no. I was given patocin, which did nothing. After 16 hours of labor I still was at 2 and Gabe's heart was decelerating after each contraction. My doctor and widwife decided that it was time and they delivered Gabe by c-section 30 minutes later. The Neo that checked Gabe in the nursery right after he was born caught the CS. He had a thin hard ridge of bone right down the middle of his head and his back soft spot was completely closed.

Jen, I can't help but think that I might have experienced something similar if Gabe had actually dropped down into my pelvis.

[Melissa]

I don't know how I ever missed this thread! We had tons of problems with pregnancy, labor, delivery, the whole works.

First of all, I was originally told that Bryson was due July 12th, then after an ultrasound they changed it to August 25th. In mid-July I went into labor twice, which they decided was "pre-term" based on the ultrasound, and they stopped labor and put me on medicine and complete bed rest for the next 6 weeks. They also found that I had placenta previa (placenta was covering the opening of the cervix). So, we go along, and they decided to stop the bed rest and meds on 08/25...and nothing happened.

I finally woke up early in the morning (around 2:30 a.m.) on September 1st when my water broke, and off we went to the hospital. I had the same problem as Jules - tons of amniotic fluid coming out and trying to waddle into the hospital with a bunch of pads trying to catch it as I went. The oddest thing was that at first they didn't believe my water had broken - they thought because of the volume that I was just 'peeing' myself - they did the strip test and instead of pink or blue (one means amniotic fluid the other means it's something else), they got purple. They ended up having to do a physical exam to prove that my water had broken. I guess because of all the meds, labor wouldn't start, so they ended up having to induce me - luckily the placenta previa had resolved itself enough for a safe vaginal delivery by that point. So they induced (around 8:00 a.m.), and I was in labor all day and all night. I got an epidural that didn't work right - there was one spot of my abdomen that wouldn't numb until they gave me a ton of the meds. Finally, around 8:30 that night they told me that I was fully dilated and could start pushing. I pushed for 4 hours with no results...he was stuck. They had placed an internal fetal heart monitor at one point, and he started decelerating badly so they decided to use the vacuum extractor. It took a LOT of pulling with the extractor, and I tore pretty badly, but they finally were able to deliver Bryson at 12:38 a.m. on September 2nd. (After like 16 1/2 hours of actual labor.) He had the cord wrapped around his neck twice and was completely limp and blue at birth. They rushed him over to the incubator and worked on him - it took over two minutes to get him breathing. His first APGAR score was a '3' - barely alive - and his 5 minute one was still only a '7'. Basically, his heart was beating weakly at birth and he urinated, so he got the '3'. But he wasn't breathing, had no muscle tone, no response to pain, etc. Anyway, they got him going and rushed him off to the nursery - he ended up with jaundice and a problem regulating his body temp for a while. Then a couple of days later he was diagnosed with Pfeiffer Syndrome, with all sutures prematurely closed - aka "cloverleaf skull".

We know that his difficult delivery was due to the sutures being closed. Bryson was 7 pounds 9 ounces and so difficult to birth, but his brother was 9 pounds 7 ounces (they reversed weights on me, LOL) and quite frankly popped right out after a little over 6 hours of labor and 2 or 3 pushes. So it's not like my body couldn't deliver a 7 1/2 pound baby easily - only because his skull couldn't mold and he got stuck.

[ErinD]

This is so interesting. I never thought about a link between her diffictult birth and her cranio but it makes sense. Hannah was born sunny side up and had the cord wrapped around her several times. She has sagital cranio so it would make sense that her head would not have been able to cone out in the back like most babies so she flipped and it coned in the front instead.

[frankiesmom]

Frankie was out very quickly...3 pushes .....no problems.
when doctor looked and diagnosed he said that the "dent" in his forehead (he had right coronal)took some time to be formed. He did cause me alot of pain in the last two months of pregnancy, we think he was wedged in and would try to squirm out and hit a nerve......