When you think about birth injuries, you probably think immediately of a newborn. In Texas, the occurrence of newborn injuries during labor and delivery continues at a steady pace. However, what about the mother? The focus is almost always on the baby, but mothers can...
Birth Injuries
Mixed cerebral palsy: symptoms and treatments
There are various types of cerebral palsy, including spastic, athetoid and ataxic CP. However, residents of Texas should be aware that some patients exhibit symptoms that are common to all of these types, in which case they have what medical specialists call mixed...
Birth injuries could put infants’ lives at risk
Many Texas parents-to-be are concerned about the potential for serious health problems for their babies. While infant mortality rates have declined nationwide, 22,335 babies lose their lives each year. Parents are worried their children might suffer serious injuries...
Meconium aspiration syndrome: symptoms and treatments
Meconium aspiration syndrome is a birth injury that expecting mothers in Texas and around the country should know about. Meconium is the stool that infants pass before they start to feed on milk or formula. Usually, infants pass meconium after birth. Problems with the...
3 birth injuries that may prove fatal
Childbirth is natural, but that does not make it easy. Until a few decades ago, childbirth was the number one killer of women. Advances in healthcare have changed this statistic, but it does not mean accidents do not still occur. Doctor decisions made in the days and...
Fetal distress, asphyxiation need separate terms
In the past, Texas newborns who experienced fetal problems or asphyxia were often grouped together under the generic term "fetal distress." However, this term does not give an accurate description of what the baby may be experiencing. The Committee on Obstetric...
Overview of persistent pulmonary hypertension babies
Babies born at 34 weeks or more run the risk of developing a breathing condition called persistent pulmonary hypertension at birth. Before babies are born, they receive oxygen from their mother, and most of this oxygen does not reach the lungs because the blood...
Klumpke paralysis birth injury often responds to timely treatment
Difficult births in Texas occasionally result in birth injuries, like Klumpke paralysis. This paralysis limits an infant's ability to use the affected shoulder and arm. Damage to the nerves of the brachial plexus that happen during birth cause the partial paralysis....
Shoulder release surgery could help Erb’s palsy patients
All Texas parents want their baby to be born healthy. Unfortunately, there are several injuries that an infant can suffer during the birthing process. One of those injuries is brachial plexus birth palsy, which is also known as Erb's palsy. Erb's palsy occurs when...
Periventricular leukomalacia, an infant brain injury
In Texas and across the U.S., many infants born prematurely suffer a brain injury called periventricular leukomalacia, or PVL. The ventricles, or fluid-filled areas, of the brain are fragile before 32 weeks of gestation, and changes to blood flow in these areas can...