Having a baby is an emotional experience without parallel. For all the months of your pregnancy, you worked to keep your little one safe and healthy. All of that hard work culminated on delivery day when you finally got to see your precious child. Sadly, for some, the joys of childbirth are tempered by an injured newborn. While many medical…
There is nothing scarier than when your baby is injured. So when your newborn is placed into your arms for the first time and you notice a distinct swelling on her head, your first instinct is to panic: What does this mean? Is it serious-could it be fatal What is Cephalohematoma? Cephalohematoma is a fairly common type of Virginia birth injury. As…
You’ve been in labor for over 18 hours and although you are fully dilated and have been pushing for what seems like forever, your baby still hasn’t been born. Your doctor believes that he is stuck in the birth canal, and may need help to squeeze through. He suggests using forceps to quickly guide him out before he becomes too…
Fetal distress is not a term that an expecting mother ever wants to hear. Fetal distress can lead to a myriad of problems for the baby and the mother and occurs when the flow of oxygen to the unborn baby is compromised. As a result, the baby’s heart rate can go flat. Fetal distress may occur during pregnancy or labor.…
You went to all your prenatal appointments. You did everything you were told to do, and still your baby was hurt during delivery. The feelings of grief and guilt can be overwhelming, but you need to know this: if your baby was hurt because he or she was too large for a safe vaginal delivery, then it was not your…
After eight months, two weeks, and six days, your baby has finally decided that he wants to come into the world. You’ve been in active labor for approximately eight hours. You’ve done everything the doctors and nurses have told you to do—including lapping the entire second floor of Inova three times—and you’re still not progressing. You’re at the point where…
Waiting for your little one to arrive is an exciting and nervous time. Trying not to think about everything that could possibly go wrong during delivery is difficult, particularly for first-time parents. Unfortunately, birth injuries can occur when delivering a baby. Whether the birth is done vaginally or through a C-section, the process can put the little baby in distress.…
Finding out that you may have an intrauterine growth restriction or placental insufficiency is beyond scary. The world practically stops as you sit in your gown, wiping ultrasound jelly off your belly and try to listen to the Medstar resident explain your options. You pull yourself together for the sake of your child as you carefully listen to what you…
Hundreds of healthy babies are born every day in Virginia; so it’s understandable if you want to blame your doctor when your baby was born with an injury or medical problem. To better understand if anything—or anyone—is to blame for your child’s ailments, you must first know the difference between a birth defect, a birth injury and birth trauma. Birth…
Erb’s Palsy and Cerebral Palsy are both medical conditions with profound implications that can be caused by medical negligence at birth. While the conditions share certain similarities, they are in fact different and distinct medical conditions. Parents of children with either Erb’s Palsy or Cerebral Palsy should know that their families may be entitled to compensation for either injury and that…