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If Caput is present from early on in a labour, how likely is it to indicate an obstructed delivery? Can it also be confused for descent? Finally, can it mask the true resentation of the baby's head? How common would these mistakes be?
During my labour there was Caput (marked with ++...does this mean a lot?). The different staff shifts noted that the baby was LOP, then LOA, and this kept changing...it is likely that the baby kept moving or just that the midwives / registrar had different views? At the c-section, it turned out that the head was transverse.
Thanks
Dear Jo, Caput is the soft swelling that forms over the bit of a baby's head that is coming first down the birth canal. It is not usually present in early labour as the baby is just at the beginning of her journey. It is also unlikely in the presence of intact membranes. Yes it can lead to themidwife/Dr thinking the baby is lower than it actually is because they are feeling caput and not the fetal skull. Yes it does make feeling the pattern of sutures .which are the seams of the baby's skull bones by which the position of the baby is identified, more difficult to define. And yes it is likely that different people feeling the same head will have diffferent findings. Which is one of the factors that make continuity of carer such a good thing, though even the best of midwives can only keep going for so long without a rest and recuperation. I would think it probable that your little darling started labour OP and was trying to come round and got sort of stuckin the transverse position on the way round I would be interested to know if the membranes ruptured early spontaneously, which can indicate a badly fitting presenting part like a deflexed OP. Or did some fool rupture them in the mistaken belief that this would assist a baby to turn from OP to OA in fact what it does is wedge the baby as it no longer has the cushioning effect of the intact mambranes.
In sisterhood Mary
LW updated February 22, 2006