Developmental Delays Due to Prolonged Labor?
I spent 109 hours in labor because the doctors wouldn't induce labor because my due date had not yet arrived. My son has developmental delay and is still behind. Could my labor being so long cause his delays?
Question:Peg Plumbo CNM
Peg Plumbo has been a certified nurse-midwife (CNM) since 1976. She has assisted at over 1,000 births and currently teaches in the... Read more
I'm not sure anyone could say for sure whether or not your son's problems resulted from your labor but my guess would probably be "not necessarily."
If a mother takes excellent care of herself and has the best prenatal care, most of the time, her baby is prepared for even the longest labor. If your labor was monitored (with frequent fetal heart tone checks, or internal or external electronic fetal monitoring) as it would be in a hospital or birthing center and your attendants saw no indication of fetal distress, it is unlikely that the prolonged labor caused problems to the baby.
There are a number of intrauterine events which can cause hypoxia (lack of oxygen to the baby's brain). And developmental delays are not all caused by hypoxia.
After the birth, aspiration of meconium or infection can cause distress and hypoxia as can preterm birth or small for dates baby. Genetics may also play a role. Medications, drugs, smoking, prenatal infections, can also put a baby at risk for oxygenation problems.
In the end, there are just too many variables to say that a prolonged labor is the cause of any problem in the baby, unless it was a "neglected" or "obstructed" labor where nothing was done to correct signs of fetal distress.
I hope you can find some peace about this; although I know it is hard not knowing.
Peg
