Practice contractions

[Subha]

Dear Doctor,

My baby girl died during my 37 week of pregnancy. The doctors could not figure out the cause. We did not want an autopsy done. However during week 18 amniocentesis done and the baby was perfectly fine. Neither my husband nor i have any sort of genetic disorders in our familes. During week 36, my OBGYN said the baby was a slightly large baby (2.98kg) but however in a perfect condition and position for normal delivery and that nothing could go wrong. However, the Braxton Hicks contractions i had been experiencing from week 35 had started getting more frequent and intense, 1 every 15 or 20 mins, sometimes lasting upto a min. I mentioned this to my OBGYN and she said it was normal and i should not worry myself over it. Because of these contractions, i could not really feel my baby's movements. Two days before my baby died, i found that my weight had reduced by 1 pound. The next day i did not feel the usual movements of my baby. We went to the doctor and found that the pulse was only 64. An emergency c-section was performed. However, my baby could not be saved.

My question is, Is there even a remote possibility that these contractions could have had anything to do with my baby's death?


Anxiously awaiting your reply
Subha.

[Purple98Lady]

Hi Subha,

First I would like to say how sorry I am for you to lose your baby. I couldn't imagine this. I can not answer your question regarding the Braxton Hicks contractions but heres a link regarding them. You may want to talk this over with your Dr. as well.

http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/pregnancy/childbirth/156.html


Regards,

Purple98Lady

[Subha]

Thank you Purple98Lady.

Dr Joshua, do you have any replies for me?

[Dr. Joshua]

Dear Subha- I'm not an obstetrician so I'm afraid I don't have the expertise to answer your question - I'm truly sorry for your loss.

[Libranaster]

Hi I am so sorry for your loss. I have to say after loosing my baby 18 weeks through my pregnancy I have done alot of research on this. The information I got on why miscarriages and still births happen later on in pregnancy is quite extensive as it soothed my pain to get this information. There are some things even doctors can not explain so this may not be a reason for your baby's death but I can list for you some possibilities that you can research if you wish. The first reason that babies get miscarried and this mainly early in pregnancy but can happen later is if you are sick. If you are very sick then your body has to make a priority protect the baby from illness or save you. Now what makes us one with the animals is our bodies and survival instinct is still very much the same as a cave man really. So of course our body will start to create cell to stop us being ill but sometimes these same cells that protect us do the opposite to the baby and our body will reject the baby killing it. This has nothing to do with you some babies just don't make it and this is the reason. There are many other reasons though, some I don't even know. The second reason I know of is of course genetic deformality. Now this like the first one is not in your control you can not do anything to stop this. Now what happens is a woman has many normal eggs and a man has many normal sperm but some of the sperm or eggs are deformed. Now this can be a simple as there being a dent in the egg or the sperm that makes the baby genetically deformed. Also a woman can have an egg with the nuecleus entirely scrambled which can cause problems. people have way more normal eggs or sperm than they do deformed ones unless they have a problem with their furtility then it is different. So it is pot luck really that you get a normal egg and sperm that gives you a normal baby. You do not have to have a history of this in your family every one has a few duds. This is why 1 in 3 pregnancies end in miscarriage because we all have a few duds in the mix. I could go on and on with other reasons why you may have lost your baby but for a perfectly healthy person such as yourself these are the two most obvious answers. I wouldn't worry about the autopsy because sometimes gentic deformalities are not easy to find any way so they may miss it entirely. Oh and of course the answer about the braxton hicks (practise contractions) no they can not cause miscarriage. They only got stronger because it was getting close to the time for your baby to be born. I am so sorry for your loss but don't think there is something wrong with you. 19 months after I lost my son I had a beautiful baby girl and she was as strong as an ox by baby standards. Although she was born a month early she was very healthy. I am afraid you may have to come to terms with the fact it just happened and I hope you know you could have requested an autopsy on the baby. I very bravely donanted my baby to the hospital for learning so they did one any way but they didn't find anything but my obstitrician said the odds were it was a genetic deformity considering I have had two healthy children since. This is all the information I can give you I hope it helps as I know you will want to know as much as you can. Once again I am sorry for your loss and I know how hard this is. When I lost my baby I thought I would die of grief but it does get easier. You never get over it but you learn to live with it and move on.