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Childbirth

Share experiences and get support around labour, birth and recovery.

Original poster

Anyone else had apgar score of 4? Short and long term experience?

31 replies

mmm2020 · 30/12/2021 21:00

Hi all,

My son was born at full term a few days ago and came out in shock and not breathing.

Luckily his heart rate was still normal and managed to get Oxygen via hand pump straight away, however because there was potentially a few minutes during birth where he was without enough oxygen, he was placed on a ventilator (took around 40mins from birth to ventilator) for 10 hours and now breathing on his own. He's also been placed on a cooling mat for 72 hours to protect his brain. Ecg has been normal so far.

His apgar score was 3 at 1 min then 4 at 5. Some acid in his blood due to being oxygen deprived which has been treated.

He has an MRI in a few days to check for damage to his brain.

I've been searching the forum for others with Apgar score of 3 or 4 and what MRI results came back for you.

Thank you for any experiences you may share

OP posts:
Gonegrey31 · 30/12/2021 21:05

My dd was 1 at birth, 2 after 5 minutes. I don’t remember much else given the panic in the room. She’s absolutely fine , adult now, sending you good wishes.

ok2020 · 30/12/2021 21:22

Thank you Gonegrey31, glad it all went well for you.

May i asked if they gave you an MRI and how long your DD was in hospital for? thank you so much

Ballcactus · 30/12/2021 22:04

Sorry you must be in shock. A close friends little one had a very scary entrance to the world - I’m not sure on apgar but she had to be ventilated and was on the cooling mat for some time. She’s now a lovely lively and very active 4 year old

tooearlytobeup · 30/12/2021 22:09

My son had a score of 1 at 1 minute, 4 at 5 minutes. I too was very worried about potential brain damage. He however is now 21 and soon to graduate university, my fears were unfounded and time has shown that there was no impact. I hope that this will reassure you a little.

Staragain · 30/12/2021 22:12

My daughter was similar but didn't need an mri. Got out of ICU after 4 days and she was fine. Extremely traumatic at the time. She's 12 now and fabulous.

Imamumgetmeoutofhere · 30/12/2021 22:13

My eldest was 1 at birth, born 9 weeks early. Can't remember what is was on the second check they did as he was straight to NICU. Can't say it's made a difference to him luckily, in mid teens and very healthy, no issues

ChristmasRobins · 30/12/2021 22:18

DS was also 4 at 5 minutes, full crash team etc. He’s now 16 and has just been translating Virgil to me as revision for his Latin GCSE mock. You’ve been through an awful shock- I hope these stories are some reassurance and that you get more reassurance from the mri.

bumblenbean · 30/12/2021 22:25

My DS scored 1 at birth after a very long labour ending in emergency forceps. No respiratory effort at all and floppy etc. Had to be resuscitated, then whisked off to PICU. He was in for a week and the first few hours were touch and go but I was pretty much out of it as I had a PPH so needed transfusions etc and we were separated :(

Luckily his tests all came back normal, he was discharged without any problems and is a happy 4 year old now. He does have some speech delays / issues with focus that I do sometimes fear were caused by the traumatic birth but it could be totally unrelated and he excels in other areas.

1stWorldProblems · 30/12/2021 22:28

DD1 (full term) came out not breathing & blue. Full crash team & off to Special Care before I'd even really seen her. She was born with a lung infection (they never found out why) & was on antibiotics & assisted breathing for 3 days.

We were invited back for check ups every six months til she was 3 years old and I discovered at 2.5 years by reading her notes that they were checking for brain damage (though they never discussed it with me) before she was signed off. She is now a happy, fun, intelligent 15 year old with barely a health issue since, so hopefully your child will be the same too.

Doublechins · 30/12/2021 22:29

My eldest had scores of 1/1 4/5 6/10.

He was in SCBU for a week various treatments and tests. He had follow ups with the paediatrician until he was 9 months but as he was meeting all milestones they discharged him.

He's now a perfect 11 year old (with the attitude to match).

LadyWithLapdog · 30/12/2021 22:49

My eldest had 1 at birth and 7 at 10 minutes. Fine now, the cleverest of my kids 😊

ok2020 · 30/12/2021 22:50

@Ballcactus @tooearlytobeup @Staragain @Imamumgetmeoutofhere @ChristmasRobins @bumblenbean @1stWorldProblems @Doublechins

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer, you don't know how much this means to me

Policyschmolicy · 30/12/2021 22:55

My 7yo had an apgar of ~5 at birth and 3 at 5 minutes. His cord gases were ok but there was no sats machine available on the delivery suite (!) so we have no idea what those reading were. He was intubated (after 17 minutes) and taken away. I don’t think he was ventilated for long, and as far as I know didn’t have an mri and I don’t remember a cold mat. He had a chest X-ray which identified a punctured lung. 5 days in hospital and on IV abx. We had ‘the chat’ with the medical team about what to look for in terms of milestones etc and very close attention from the HV in his first year.

He’s a healthy 7yo. He does have Aspergers but is wildly intelligent and well liked by his peers and teachers. I’m convinced the ASD is related to hypoxia at birth but all things considered we are very lucky.

stairway · 30/12/2021 23:01

My son was born with an apgar score of 3 after heart rate dropping in labour. I vaguely remember the midwife applying the face pump and rubbing him to cry. He was a bit blue and floppy and never really cried as a newborn. The health staff weren’t really that bothered about it though and the midwife even suggested we could both go home after 6 hours! It might be that they are being over cautious in your case though I don’t see that as a bad thing. My son is 8 months now and I’ve no concerns.

Opihr · 30/12/2021 23:03

One of my twins had an apgar of 3 at birth, and I ended up with a cat 1 c section due ' imminent risk to foetal or maternal life', though the problem was not with me or her brother. Her heart rate plummeted in labour and the midwives commented afterwards that they had never moved so fast to get her out once they hit that panic button.

She spent 4 days in SCBU but after that, no long term problems and she's a very healthy, developmentally normal 10 year old.

Wishing you the very best of luck for the same outcome.

Mandatorymongoose · 30/12/2021 23:06

DS had a low apgar and HIE (I can't remember how low without getting his notes out but it was very low). He was very stiff initially like a little macho man. He spent about 4 days in SCBU. Very long stop start failed induction/ forceps. Had a year of follow up then discharged as met all milestones.

He is nearly 9 now and gorgeous. He is super bright. Only issues he has are some long sight / squint which might well be genetic + possible ASD which again there is family history of. He is funny and smart and lovely.

Hope you are all ok OP

ok2020 · 30/12/2021 23:09

@Policyschmolicy @stairway @Opihr @Mandatorymongoose

I'm so happy you and your children are all so healthy now. Thank you all for replying, so lovely of you

LouLou198 · 30/12/2021 23:11

What an ordeal for you. I hope you have support. My dd decided to stop breathing on our first day at home. She was floppy and blue. Dh had to resuscitate her in our living room. She turns 11 next week, no issues at all, but I remember how worried I was about brain damage at the time.

merryhouse · 30/12/2021 23:20

S1 had 2, 4 and 9 (started breathing at about 3 minutes iirc, which I might not as I was quite out of it).

He's 22 now, in his final year of an MEng. Possibly some neurodiversity (never felt the need to pursue diagnosis, probably genetic) but intellectual attainment is high.

Jessicabrassica · 30/12/2021 23:43

DS was 3/1 and 6/5. Cord round his neck, no respiratory effort and bradychardic. Took a while to resuscitate. V High tone. Admitted to NICU at 3hrs, eeg, iv pen & gen (suspected meningitis), fits, treated with phenobarbital, iffy brain ultrasound at 12hrs and tube fed first 24hrs.. diagnosed with encephalopathy.
It was terrifying and I cried for the first few weeks of his life.

His 2/52 brain scan was normal. He was discharged after 4 days. Met all his Early developmental milestones. Discharged by neonatal team at 12/12.

He's now 10, bright as anything and utterly fabulous.

Fingers crossed all goes well for you and your gorgeous boy.

ShowOfHands · 30/12/2021 23:46

My DH was 1 at 1 and 2 at 5.

He's about to turn 40 and while congenitally incapable of wiping up toast crumbs in a timely fashion, he's just fine.

Lifeisnteasy · 30/12/2021 23:47

Not me personally but a lady in my NCT group, her daughter was around 10lb and she had a shoulder dystocia, not sure of the Apgar but her daughter also had to have the brain cooling thingy. She’s now a beautiful, non-delayed 2 year old - no lasting effects. Sorry you’ve had such a scare 💐

Lambtales · 30/12/2021 23:52

My daughter had an apgar score of 2 at birth. I don't remember much about the birth as I was given pethidine for pain relief. Possibly too much as I then had to have oxygen as it affected my breathing and it seemed to have passed to my baby too as she was born not breathing.

She's now at teenager and was diagnosed with autism aged 2.

ok2020 · 31/12/2021 05:10

@LouLou198 @merryhouse @Jessicabrassica @ShowOfHands @Lifeisnteasy @Lambtales I'm so glad everyone is doing so well and is healthy.

Thank you for sharing your story, really means a lot to me

Will2022bebetter · 31/12/2021 05:56

Dc1 apgar 1 at delivery, needed resus and a spell on nicu, now is a lovely full of life toddler. Harrowing then, but totally fine after a wobbly start.

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