Talk to me about meconium

TrendyTina · January 2012

I know meconium is frequently used as an excuse for an induction. I know it is impossible to tell whether meconium is present until AFTER the membranes have been ruptured, so I'm not sure how to respond to my doctor if this comes up later in my pregnancy. Any data or advice you could share would be very helpful.

Mrs.MauiBride24 · January 2012

I guess I'm confused - you don't know until your water breaks, so if anything they might speed up the process but not induce you from nothing.

ETA: So I guess my question is - is it really an induction if your membranes have already ruptured?

I personally don't think it's anything to mess around with and would be concerned for my baby if he's not born within a reasonable time if meconium is present.

TrendyTina · January 2012

Mrs.MauiBride24:

I guess I'm confused - you don't know until your water breaks, so if anything they might speed up the process but not induce you from nothing.

ETA: So I guess my question is - is it really an induction if your membranes have already ruptured?

I personally don't think it's anything to mess around with and would be concerned for my baby if he's not born within a reasonable time if meconium is present.

At 40 weeks, many doctors will start discussing an induction because of the possiblity of meconium being present. Like I said, there is no way to know until the mother's water is broken (naturally or manually). Meconium can be very dangerous, so I would like some statistics to be more informed if this issue were to come up later in my pregnancy.

ncbelle · January 2012

Tell them my 39 week 6 day baby had mec and my 41 week 4 day baby didn't?? (just kidding of course!)

In all seriousness, I think the best thing to do is to educate yourself about the issue so you can discuss with knowledge anything the doc may suggest/push. Yes, "late" babies have a greater chance of mec. But the percentage of babies that actually take in any mec is small and the percentage of babies who have any sort of side effects from taking it in are smaller still. I don't have any stats off hand for you but I did read up on it before Eleanor was born because Callum had mec in his waters (although no issues) and since we were going to be at the birth center for her birth I wanted to be reassured (incidentally, if you have mec in your waters depending on when they break at the birth center, that can be grounds for hospital transfer).

Yes, it can be a very dangerous thing. But at the same time, providers should know how to handle the situation should it arise.

EBelle80 · January 2012

My first had meconium, he was 6 days overdue - but no one found out until my water broke in very late labor. I did not have to have pitocin or anything, but they were reluctant to let me push past three hours and started playing the csection card. However, his heart rate was great and he did not aspirate any meconium. As you're probably aware, they don't really take those first breaths until after they're out, so as long as suction takes place quickly it is usually no big deal. It does happen more often than I think people are aware of. I also know there's differences in the thickness, amount, etc. - more thick and dark meconium can mean the baby is in some distress, and that might warrant a hospital transfer. Even though it has happened to me, I'm not too worried about the reocurrance and if does happen again, it would just bear watching.

LindseyJW · January 2012

EBelle80:
My first had meconium, he was 6 days overdue - but no one found out until my water broke in very late labor. I did not have to have pitocin or anything, but they were reluctant to let me push past three hours and started playing the csection card. However, his heart rate was great and he did not aspirate any meconium. As you're probably aware, they don't really take those first breaths until after they're out, so as long as suction takes place quickly it is usually no big deal. It does happen more often than I think people are aware of. I also know there's differences in the thickness, amount, etc. - more thick and dark meconium can mean the baby is in some distress, and that might warrant a hospital transfer. Even though it has happened to me, I'm not too worried about the reocurrance and if does happen again, it would just bear watching.

this. like, all of it. except my son was born 12 days after my guess date. my MW did AROM after 35hrs of labor and discovered a small amount of meconium. eventually, i transferred from home to the hospital and my son was born surgically. as a result, he spent time in observation due to the huge amount of meconium (idk if my MW was really that inept or if only a small amount came out in the water, but my placenta was stained, indicating it had been there a long time). had he been born vaginally, the water would be have been squeezed from his little body during birth. that doesn't happen in a surgical birth, making vaginal birth that much better in these instances. in the end, he was perfectly healthy and never aspirated meconium.

when my daughter was born (hbac), meconium was the last thing i was worried about!

julyjennifer · January 2012

Good midwife blog post on meconium:

https://midwifethinking.com/2010/10/09/the-curse-of-meconium-stained-liquor/

julyjennifer · January 2012

TrendyTina:
I know it is impossible to tell whether meconium is present until AFTER the membranes have been ruptured, so I'm not sure how to respond to my doctor if this comes up later in my pregnancy.

I had a situation where we could tell meconium was in my waters even though my water hadn't yet broken, so it is possible

With my DD I labored at home for awhile and then had a "bulging bag," where my waters were still intact but the bag of waters came down and protruded about an inch on the outside. We could see it was dark green in color, so we knew there was mec. At that point (after confirming it was not a cord prolapse, which was my first thought when I felt the sensation) our doula suggested now might be a good time to think about heading to the hospital. She advised me that they'd likely want to break my waters so they could put on an internal fetal monitor to closely monitor the baby due to the mec, which they did. I got no talk of augmenting the labor when I arrived (I was fully dilated on arrival), but the midwife did bring up pitocin after I'd been pushing about 3 hours. We declined without issue, and DD was born maybe 20 minutes later.

TrendyTina · January 2012

julyjennifer:
TrendyTina:
I know it is impossible to tell whether meconium is present until AFTER the membranes have been ruptured, so I'm not sure how to respond to my doctor if this comes up later in my pregnancy.
I had a situation where we could tell meconium was in my waters even though my water hadn't yet broken, so it is possible
With my DD I labored at home for awhile and then had a "bulging bag," where my waters were still intact but the bag of waters came down and protruded about an inch on the outside. We could see it was dark green in color, so we knew there was mec. At that point (after confirming it was not a cord prolapse, which was my first thought when I felt the sensation) our doula suggested now might be a good time to think about heading to the hospital. She advised me that they'd likely want to break my waters so they could put on an internal fetal monitor to closely monitor the baby due to the mec, which they did. I got no talk of augmenting the labor when I arrived (I was fully dilated on arrival), but the midwife did bring up pitocin after I'd been pushing about 3 hours. We declined without issue, and DD was born maybe 20 minutes later.

Wow. I've never heard of this before.

TrendyTina · January 2012

julyjennifer:
Good midwife blog post on meconium:
https://midwifethinking.com/2010/10/09/the-curse-of-meconium-stained-liquor/

THANKS! This was extremely helpful. Thank you so much for posting.

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