# autopsy results



## mamacita angelica (Oct 6, 2006)

i just got a call from my midwife, and the autopsy and all my blood work came back. they found out nothing. i have no underlying clotting disorder. she didn't have an infection, neither did i. there was a small infarction in the placenta (8%), which was so small, they don't think it would have affected her. they found a clot in the placental cord coming from the baby, which appears to be after her death. she has a marginal cord insertion. but she told me these things shouldn't have affected her.

i've been preparing myself to hear nothing at the autopsy report, and yet, it begs the question then why? why do our babies die for no reason? adults just don't drop over without some reason. how did my baby's heart at 38 weeks just stop?

tell me, strong mamas surviving this nightmare, how did you respond to the autopsy? how was it for you find out it was something? how was it for you to find out it was nothing?


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## jess_paez (Jul 5, 2008)

im so sorry mama. i actually didn't get one performed. for some reason i knew in my heart that they wouldn't find anything. but i'm still in the same boat as you-we both don't know what caused it. for me-all the signs pointed to a SCH and placental abruption (partial), so that's what *I* am saying is a "likely" cause and i will do everything in my power to prevent that from happening next time....as in 1 baby aspirin a day til the 3rd trimester. all my doc could say was that he thought it could have been a incompetent uterus.....uhhhh my uterus was closed when he examined me after my water broke. thats what he told me. so he was full of it. i don't know....







all i can say is im so so so sorry about precious Lucia and i hope you find some answers...


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## Fireflyforever (May 28, 2008)

We chose not to have a PM as Emma died in the last few minutes of a perfectly peaceful labour - it seemed obvious to us in our befuddled, shocked state that it was some sort of cord compression. Her death certificate says "uterine hypoxia" which isn't a diagnosis. She was dead because she wasn't breathing, sure but not breathing was the end result of whatever killed her and we don't know *why* she was starved of oxygen.

Mostly I'm at peace with having no PM done - I don't think it would have showed us anything. BUT, as the shock has worn off I've wondered ... I find it hard to believe (and my OB said something similar) that a healthy term baby dies showing NO signs of distress after a beautiful, staightforward, medically unaltered labour. So, I sometimes wonder if there was something undiagnosed in my daughter that made her more susceptible to the stresses of labour. I'll never know but it seems possible and I have absolute peace that a repeat section (she was a vbac baby) would not have altered the outcome - both DH and I believe that if she had survived, we may well have lost her to something like SIDS. That is not at all scientific but that is a gut conviction we both have - and again my OB did say that surgery has its own stresses and if she was in some way weaker than most term infants would be, he couldn't say with conviction that her life would have been saved if I had made different birth choices. (He even, somewhat shockingly considering he didn't approve of my HBA2C plans, commented that the care I received at home was exceptional and transferring to the hospital earlier would have made no difference to the outcome.)

I've made peace with not knowing. I believe that my daughter's death does not have physical implications for a future pregnancy. I hate that her death was an "accident" but I felt at some level right through my pregnancy that she was a precious gift on loan, never mine to keep. From that, comes a modicum of acceptance - that this was how it was and it could never have been different.

I wish you peace on this part of the journey. I truly hope you find a place of acceptance.


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## namaste_mom (Oct 21, 2005)

I'm sorry that you did not get answers.

I don't know why.

I equate it to SIDS, its called SADS Sudden Antenatel (sp?) Death Syndrome, somebody correct me on that spelling.

No one know why. I know it doesn't help. But, I can tell you that not having an answer does get better with time. I'm OK with it now. Norah died for no decernable reason. I hope to know someday why it happend.
(((HUGS)))


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## namaste_mom (Oct 21, 2005)

Firefly - "uterine hypoxia" it like saying, she/he died because their heart stopped, or they stopped breathing. Yeah, no sh*t. That is seriously what my moms death certificate says, her heart stopped.


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## Vespertina (Sep 30, 2006)

:

Having no answers really did worry me. I wanted an answer. I had a feeling though that it wasn't a normal pregnancy and something was wrong with him, but I tried ignoring those thoughts and feelings. I was in denial. I knew when I saw him that something wasn't right. I didn't want something to be wrong with him. I started to irrationally think it was me. I mean, I didn't think it was me, nor did my midwife.

We got the pathology results back several weeks ago that said he passed away from numerous complications associated with T21/Down's Syndrome. He had so much wrong with him. He hang on for as long as he could. It actually wasn't hard on me to read the pathology report, but I cry sometimes when I recall all of the details.

I think the grieving and mourning process would be a lot harder for me if there was no known cause of death.


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## expatmommy (Nov 7, 2006)

It is hard not to have clear answers. I am a facts person, so not knowing why just kills me.

My son's autopsy results also showed a marginal cord insertion, which wasn't supposed to be clinically relevant (as well as an amniotic plica). As I've hunted around the internet, it seems to come up more and more on different sites where people post their stillbirth autopsy results. I can't help but think it must at least be an indication of something not quite right. I wonder if it affected blood flow in some way.

The question "why?" haunts me.


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## mamacita angelica (Oct 6, 2006)

Wow, namaste mom, it is so amazing that you wrote that. i have been thinking that this is like inter-uterine SIDS. i had no idea there was a name for it.

you know, i thought i was okay with not having any reason, because a reason will not bring her back. she is dead.

i think i was hoping that i could do something during my next pregnancy to prevent this from happening again. maybe that is ridiculous, but i just am not sure i can have another baby knowing that they don't know why lucy died.

ex pat mommy, i have been thinking the same thing. they USED to have an association between marginal cord insertion and stillbirth, but now, they say it is insignificant. but why? i wonder if it is the combo of that with other things, though. the placenta has a small (8%) infarction, most likely from a car accident i was in in october. that also was deemed too small or insignificant to cause her death.

thank you for sharing your insights into this. it is hard to hear the results, and hard not to hear the results. and it is hard to have a reason and not have a reason.


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## SMR (Dec 21, 2004)

I didn't have an autopsy either. I have mostly felt fine with that choice. Although if the doctor had explained things differently we might have decided to get one (she made it sound like they would take his body for 5 weeks.. looking back I think she meant that we'd have results in 5 weeks??) Anyway, there is part of me that wishes we had some answers...but I felt pretty deeply that even with an autopsy, we would just never know! Dresden is gone, and knowing won't bring him back... although knowing COULD give a little peace with this pregnancy? I mean, if it was some crazy fluke.. maybe I wouldn't be as afraid of it happening again.. but I probably would still worry... and still sign up for the earliest possible c-section. It just goes with the package.. worry...


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## lisa_nc (Jul 25, 2008)

I don't know if I should join in or not because our son's death was no where near full term. We did have an autopsy, and our son was fine. We found out it was my placenta that was the issue. I do think knowing the "reason" was comforting and not comforting at the same time. Comforting in that I know that it wasn't me and it wasn't him--it was this thing that joined us together. Not comforting in that I know he was perfect, which makes it more senseless to me. I had a perfect son who died because of this random, rare event. I chose not to read the actual report.

Shannon, I don't think knowing makes it less stressful. It just gives a name to your worries, if that makes sense.


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## 2mama (Feb 3, 2006)

Hugs Hugs Hugs....


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## Amy&4girls (Oct 30, 2006)

I'm so sorry.


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