Birth Injury Not Uncommon

Birth injuries are not as uncommon as many people believe. I personally have had two grandchildren who were born naturally who have sustained broken collarbones during birth.

A birth injury may be caused if a mother is having a difficult delivery. Many of these birth injuries are not major and heal quite well on their own.

My granddaughter's broken collarbone went undetected for 18 months. She fell and broke a leg on a short step and had to go to the hospital. At that time a full body scan was taken to determine if that was the only fracture. It was then a previously broken collarbone was discovered. By the appearance of the break they determined that it probably had happened during childbirth. We were surprised.

My grandson's broken collar bone was detected at his first visit to the pediatrician. Once again we were shocked; he never even fused over it. He was a very content baby and hardly ever cried.

In both cases, nothing was ever done to aid in the healing of the break. They healed totally on their own. The doctor assured us this was not caused by anything we had done. The broken collarbones were due to the stress of the baby coming through the birth canal and pulling him and her out.

Another common birth injury is head trauma. Head trauma usually occurs in larger sized babies. The head is compressed too much in the birth canal because of its size. This compression can lead to a swollen scalp. The busing and swollenness usually goes away after a few days and presents no problems for the baby.

Also if the head is larger than normal the pressure to the head can cause some bleeding to the scalp and redness to the eyes. It may take a couple of weeks for the body to absorb the blood in the brain and for the redness in the eyes to go away. Again there is usually never any permanent damage done to the baby.

Sometimes during labor the baby may have a bowel movement. If the baby should inhale the fecal matter into its lungs upon delivery, this could result in serious lung infection. This happened with my second daughter's delivery. The staff was well aware of this happening so they were prepared in advance to take care of the issue right away before the baby could take his first breath.

If during a difficult labor the baby needs assistance to come out, forceps or a vacuum attached to the head may be needed. These can leave marks on the baby's face and head.
These marks are normally temporary.

Giving birth is a major trauma to the mother and baby. A birth injury of some kind is not all that uncommon. All birth injuries do not require a lawyer or a lawsuit. Birth injuries are sometimes just a natural occurrence due to birthing.