# Baby choking after birth...



## bfw0729 (Jun 7, 2008)

I had a hbac last year. It was almost textbook. I also birthed her in the water and pushed her out fairly fast, they said about 8 minutes. It felt longer than that









Anyway, after she was born, the midwives there said that she sounded pretty "wet" and to watch out for fluid coming out. They only used the bulb syringe to remove any fluid, not any deep suctioning. About 11 hours after birth, she started choking, turning blue and not breathing. I didn't know what to do exactly. I kind of tipped her over and hitting her on the back to get her to breathe. I was starting to freak out after several seconds and started to yell to my husband to call 911. AFter about 30 seconds to a minute or so, after not breathing and turning colors, she threw up all this brown stuff. Tons of it. When I think about this I worry so much. What if she didn't throw up this fluid? Why didn't I take this description of her sounding "wet" more seriously. I called and the office sent someone over to check her lungs and she sounded clear.

How common is this? Can a baby seriously choke on this fluid and cause serious problems? Have any of you experienced this with the mothers you've worked with?

I really feel in my heart I need to find these answers to move on from this and not fear having another homebirth. I was alone with my husband at home when this happened. I mean at a hospital, he would press the button and a nurse would come running, right?

Thank you.


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## sweetsadie77 (Jun 13, 2006)

I usually 4 warn my clients before leaving them with their new babes that babies can be really mucousy in the first 24 hours. That they may sound like they're coughing up hairballs or choking and to do exactly what you did. Especially true for babies who are pushed out quickly as they have less time having fluid squeezed out of them on their journey out. IT sounds like the fluid she spit up was blood she probably swallowed during the brth, and that it came from her stomach and not her lungs.
If you had been in a hospital with a nurse a button away they would have done what you did instinctively.


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## momileigh (Oct 29, 2002)

You think it was blood, sadie? I was thinking meccy water.


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## katelove (Apr 28, 2009)

If she hadn't vomited it up it would have just passed through her gut and been poo'ed out. One of the issues with mucousy babes is that they feel "full" because of the fluid in their stomachs so they can be a little bit slower to feed but, when they do feed it encourages the gut to be active and move that fluid through. And, IME, most of them seem to vomit at least some of it up.

Sounds to me like you did all the right things in what must have been a very scary situation.


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## AspieMom (Feb 11, 2009)

Everytime I tried to nurse my DS a few minutes later he would throw up mucus. He had shoulder dystocia and was a fairly blue when he first came out. I was little worried about it, but the midwife had told us it would probably happen.

I was very scared, and am finally starting to get over being angry about this. My MIL came over after I gave birth and was trying to change his diaper. He coughed up a lot of mucus and she let him choke and turn blue while she was trying to wipe the meconium off of his butt. My Mom finally had to push her aside and help him. I still won't her out of my sight when she has him for more than a few minutes.


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## texasnurse3 (Feb 19, 2009)

It doesn't happen to every baby, but it's not unusual. It sounds like you did exactly the right thing by turning her face down and patting her back.


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## callieollie (Jan 2, 2007)

A similar thing happened to my dd after birth, but just not for as long. She also came out very fast (I pushed for 4 minutes) and a few hours after her birth at home (I had her at a birth center and left 3 hours after her birth), she was coughing and gagging and her lips starting turning blue. I turned her over and patted her back and then she coughed up some phlegm. It wasn't even that much but it scared me half to death. I called the midwife and she reassured me it was normal and to do what I did, etc. but I worried for the next few days any time she started coughing. It was just so scary.


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## Mamatoabunch (Sep 23, 2007)

Although my dd did not turn blue the same thing happened w/ my last baby. We were asleep, she on sheepskin right next to me. She was on her tummy and threw up brownish mucous, nothing after that. I think it did help she was on tummy. In 8 babies before I had wet sounding babies and a bit of cough sounding, but never so much mucous and brown. She was fine though. She was also a HBAC, waterbirth. I wanted to add that my last seven babies were waterbirths and not until my 9th did we experience the moucous thing. I think it was unrelated to the waterbirth.


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## bfw0729 (Jun 7, 2008)

Thank you very much for your responses. It does make me feel a lot better. I may reconsider having a waterbirth again. I didn't "plan" on having a waterbirth. My only "plan" was to birth where I felt most comfortable.

Again thank you. I now feel that my situation may not have been as dangerous as I thought.


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## seaheroine (Dec 24, 2004)

Something similar happened with DD, also about 11 hours after birth. She started turning blue while I was holding her and it TERRIFIED me. I tilted her over, swept her throat with my finger and pulled out a small gob of mucous. I really wish I'd known to possibly expect that! I think my Mom and DH actually thought I was tired and imagining it...but it happened, so fast.

This time I'll be aware of the possibility. Watching for more responses...


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