When your labor starts in earnest, you know that you have to go to the hospital. Especially if you have had early contractions or Braxton Hicks, you may time your contractions carefully before you once again call your doctor or head to the hospital.
However, once you are certain that labor has begun, you will rely on medical professionals who care for you and your unborn child. Unfortunately, especially if labor lasts a long time, there is the potential for medical professionals to make a mistake with lifelong consequences.
One simple mistake increases the likelihood of an unborn baby potentially developing medical issues related to oxygen deprivation in utero.
Doctors and nurses may not be proactive enough about fetal monitoring
Issues during labor and delivery can crop off in a matter of minutes, and it only takes a few minutes without oxygen for brain damage to occur. Doctors and nurses need to have a constant understanding of how mother and her unborn child are.
Maternal and fetal monitoring are crucial for the safety of the mother and child. When performed properly, fetal monitoring can provide health care professionals with an early warning that something has gone wrong for the baby. They may be able to intervene before problems reach a point where they cause irreversible damage.
Unfortunately, not all health care professionals place the importance they should on adequate fetal monitoring. They may fail to check the devices to ensure proper connections or may fail to read the displays tracking the condition of mother and child. When medical professionals fail to use monitoring or don’t actually check on it, the child or mother could experience medical distress that goes unattended for too long.
Oxygen deprivation is a common source of fetal injuries
There are numerous ways that an unborn child might not receive enough oxygen. The umbilical cord could become pinched. The baby might also move the cord around their neck. Issues with the placenta or distress in the mother could also impact how much oxygen the baby receives.
Any early warning signs of fetal distress, including an abnormal heart rate, may require immediate intervention to protect the child from injury. When professionals don’t properly monitor the infant, they may not act in time to prevent the worst possible outcome.
Understanding the role that fetal monitoring may play in birth injuries scenarios can help you take the right steps if inadequate or negligent supervision contributed to your child’s birth injury.