I had a homebirth baby last week who looked like she had poo’d herself silly in utero.
When the membranes ruptured heaps of old meconium (of the pea soup variety) came pouring out so I asked the mother had she had an upset tummy or taken any castor oil in the last week (She was 42 weeks by dates when in labour)
The mother replied that she had certainly had an upset from a very hot Indian currey, so we put the baby’s bowel evacuation down to this as well.
Fetal hearts remained steady, Baby had Apgars of 10,10,10 (crying at birth) and got dunked pretty quickly as she had her bowel contents in hair, ears, eyes, nose, mouth, all over. I had not seen such a sight for many years.
Normally I don’t bath baby’s until the cord comes off, but this one received her ‘initiation to the bath’ pretty quickly.
Regards
Jan
On 27/5/03 7:49 PM, "Mary Murphy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
American Journal of Obstets & Gynae. Vol 188. jan 2003 pgs 153-156
Defecation in utero: A physiologic fetal function
C. López Ramón y Cajal MDa and R. Ocampo Martínez MDb
>From the Unit of Prenatal Diagnosis, Service of Obstetrics and Gynecology,a and the Service of Interne Medicine, Xeral Hospital.b
Received 30 November 2001; revised 18 April 2002. Available online 7 February 2003.
Abstract
Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the occurrence of in utero defecation as a normal function in the human fetus. Study Design: The anuses of 240 fetuses were studied sonographically between weeks 15 and 41 of gestation. Fetal defecation was defined as the expulsion of rectal contents through the anus into the amniotic fluid. The diameter and area of the anus were measured sonographically at times of maximum anal aperture. Results: One or more defecations were documented in all fetuses. The frequency of defecations was highest between week 28 and 34 of gestation. Conclusion: This study confirms that defecation in utero is a normal function and supports the view that the evacuation of rectal contents into the amniotic fluid is no departure from normal fetal physiologic behavior. (Am J Obstet Gynecol 2003;188:153-6.)
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