Shoulder dispartia

[Heuls]

Having my 4th baby but worried as had shoulder dispartia(not sure of spelling) with my 3rd which was awful.Anyone know if it is likely to happen again?

[barbamama]

Do you mean shoulder dystocia? I had it with my first and I have heard (but not seen the evidence) from my consultant this time (referred because of previous shoulder dystocia) that there is a 10% increased risk that it will happen again over the background risk if you have had one before. She did say though that it is very difficult to predict until just before it happens so the only action they are going to take is monitor me more closely during the labour to check on progress as the head comes down, do a CTG trace at the end of the first stage to check the baby is happy up to then, and have a senior midwife in the room and doctor hanging around outside just in case. No implications for the pregnancy itself, just keep a closer eye on the labour. I did, however, have a previous consultant whose attitude was very different - should be lying on the bed, continuous fetal monitoring etc - old fashioned approach. If you search for shoulder dystocia you will see this thread in Childbirth.