Premature baby born to woman w/eclampsia

ThunderBoots · Aug 15, 2013

I've never had kids except for the furry, four-legged kind. So I'm really not familiar with pregnancy and newborns.

I have a character who is pregnant and suffers from what we'd call a serious case of eclampsia. Her baby is born very premature -- just barely able to survive with whatever preemie care is available in 1913 Shanghai.

Would there be anything obvious about the baby that would signify that the mother had eclampsia?

And besides being small, what visible signs (appearance, or behavior exhibited) would show that the baby is premature?

Thanks.

cornflake · Aug 15, 2013

ThunderBoots said:
I've never had kids except for the furry, four-legged kind. So I'm really not familiar with pregnancy and newborns.

I have a character who is pregnant and suffers from what we'd call a serious case of eclampsia. Her baby is born very premature -- just barely able to survive with whatever preemie care is available in 1913 Shanghai.

Would there be anything obvious about the baby that would signify that the mother had eclampsia?

And besides being small, what visible signs (appearance, or behavior exhibited) would show that the baby is premature?

Thanks.

Do you mean eclampsia or preeclampsia?

No.

It depends what issues the baby may have, and when you're talking about.

WendyN · Aug 16, 2013

From Medicinenet.com --

Preeclampsia is a condition that can develop during pregnancy characterized by high blood pressure (hypertension) and protein in the urine (proteinuria). If not properly recognized and managed, preeclampsia can progress to eclampsia, which involves the development of seizures in a woman with preeclampsia. Eclampsia can be serious for both mother and baby and can even be fatal. Preeclampsia was formerly known as toxemia of pregnancy. Without treatment, it has been estimated that 1 out of 200 cases of preeclampsia progress to seizures (eclampsia). Estimates of the incidence of preeclampsia range from 2% to 6% in healthy women who have never before given birth.

Preeclampsia occurs after the 20th week of pregnancy and can even occur in the days following birth. Some reports describe preeclampsia as occurring up to 4 to 6 weeks after birth, although most cases of postpartum preeclampsia occur within 48 hours of births. Ninety percent of cases occur after the 34th week of gestation, and 5% occur after birth.

At anytime prior to 37 weeks, there's a good chance the baby's lungs won't be developed enough to breathe on his/her own. I haven't done a lot of research on it, but I'd imagine that would be biggest struggle past generations would have encountered w/ premature births.

DeleyanLee · Aug 16, 2013

My ex was born prematurely because of preeclampsia (called toxemia back in the day).

He was no different than any other premmie. Small, under-developed lungs. He spent the first month or so of his life in premmie ICU. The only thing that's medically different between him and his sister (who was a normal term baby) is that he has severe asthma. Otherwise, he's completely normal. His parents were told that he would not have survived if he'd been born even 20 years earlier.

Though there is no history of preeclampsia in my family, I started coming down with it during my first pregnancy. I followed the restrictions as to exercise, stress and salt, went in for the tests so often I was on a first name basis with the techs, and my daughter was born 4 days after her due date. I didn't have full-blown preeclampsia until I went in for delivery. As the doctor told me, the only cure for it is to have the baby, so I'd be fine very soon.

But in 1913--premmies didn't usually live since there wasn't a lot of tech to help them survive, such as my ex had even in the early 1960's. And, IIRC, Shanghai was worse-off for tech than the States. You might want to look into that if you do need the baby to survive.

ThunderBoots · Aug 16, 2013

Since I have the mother die soon after giving birth, I'm talking about eclampisa -- i.e. "Eclampsia follows preeclampsia, a serious complication of pregnancy that includes high blood pressure and excess and rapid weight gain."

I do know that the lungs of a premature baby will be underdeveloped. My question is, what would make that visible to an onlooker? Would the baby be gasping all the time? Foam at the corners of the mouth? Blue tint?

And the mother's poor health during pregnancy would not leave any visible sign on a newborn's appearance or behavior?

Orianna2000 · Aug 16, 2013

I just finished reading "Call the Midwife" which featured a very premature birth to a woman who already had 24 children. It took place in the 1950s, in East London, where large families were common. The baby weighed just one pound and the doctors didn't think he would survive, but they wanted to take him to the hospital and keep him in an incubator, where they said he would at least stand a chance. The mother refused to let the baby out of her sight and kept him inside her nightgown, against her chest, all day and all night, and fed him milk with a dropper every half hour. Somehow, that tiny baby survived. Nobody understood it back then, but these days, doctors acknowledge that physical contact with the mother will help a premature infant to thrive, when they would otherwise die.

Google images of premature babies to see what they look like. They tend to look different from full-term babies, having long, thin limbs, large heads, and very big eyes.

melindamusil · Aug 16, 2013

On "Downton Abbey", before Sybil dies after childbirth from toxemia (ecclampsia), one of the doctors says that he thinks she is "thick", i.e. retaining water, and because of that he thinks she is toxemic. This would be post-WWI England (1918, I think). She seems okay for a few hours after the baby is born, then starts having seizures and dies.

storygirl99 · Aug 16, 2013

Premature babies also have underdeveloped nervous systems and twitch frequently. My son was only 5 weeks premature and weighed over 5 pounds so he didn't have to stay in the hospital nursery, BUT he did constantly twitch while he was sleeping. This made it impossible for me to sleep--his tics kept me awake, but as soon as he was quiet I was terrified that he had stopped breathing so I couldn't sleep when he was quiet either. I eventually placed his cradle next to me bed and I slept with my hand on his stomach as he slept so I could feel him breathing.

He was so small that I could hold him in one arm while I brushed my teeth and went to the bathroom. His arms and legs were very skinny and he had no baby fat. He woke up to feed constantly because he was so small that he couldn't hold down much milk at one time. This meant I didn't sleep for about 3 straight months. but my the time he was 3 months old he was cute and chubby like any other baby.

He is now 6 years old and is healthy and bright, but has been disgnosed with sensory processing disorder, which is a mild form of autism which means that he has a disorganized neurological system. it is much more common in premature babies and my doctor has posited that because so many babies are now born early (due to older moms and c-sections) maybe that is why there has been a surge in mild autism.

ThunderBoots · Aug 16, 2013

Orianna2000 said:
The mother refused to let the baby out of her sight and kept him inside her nightgown, against her chest, all day and all night, and fed him milk with a dropper every half hour. Somehow, that tiny baby survived. Nobody understood it back then, but these days, doctors acknowledge that physical contact with the mother will help a premature infant to thrive, when they would otherwise die.

Google images of premature babies to see what they look like. They tend to look different from full-term babies, having long, thin limbs, large heads, and very big eyes.

What a great answer! Thanks so much.

ThunderBoots · Aug 16, 2013

melindamusil said:
one of the doctors says that he thinks she is "thick", i.e. retaining water, and because of that he thinks she is toxemic. QUOTE]

Great terms -- I'm going to use both "thick" and "toxemic" in the text. Thanks.

ThunderBoots · Aug 16, 2013

storygirl99 said:
Premature babies also have underdeveloped nervous systems and twitch frequently. My son was only 5 weeks premature and weighed over 5 pounds so he didn't have to stay in the hospital nursery, BUT he did constantly twitch while he was sleeping. This made it impossible for me to sleep--his tics kept me awake, but as soon as he was quiet I was terrified that he had stopped breathing so I couldn't sleep when he was quiet either. I eventually placed his cradle next to me bed and I slept with my hand on his stomach as he slept so I could feel him breathing.

He was so small that I could hold him in one arm while I brushed my teeth and went to the bathroom. His arms and legs were very skinny and he had no baby fat. He woke up to feed constantly because he was so small that he couldn't hold down much milk at one time. This meant I didn't sleep for about 3 straight months. but my the time he was 3 months old he was cute and chubby like any other baby.

He is now 6 years old and is healthy and bright, but has been disgnosed with sensory processing disorder, which is a mild form of autism which means that he has a disorganized neurological system. it is much more common in premature babies and my doctor has posited that because so many babies are now born early (due to older moms and c-sections) maybe that is why there has been a surge in mild autism.

Thank you for all the details. I'll work in the tic, lack of baby fat & perhaps the need for constant feeding.

Glad to hear that your son is thriving, btw.

jaksen · Aug 17, 2013

In some developing countries, which lack a lot of modern medical facilities, premature babies are wrapped against their (naked) mother's belly. The survival rate for these babies has gone up where this practice is being used.

71writer · Aug 17, 2013

I had preeclampsia/toxemia with my son and he was a preemie. He had oxygen level troubles, required a blood transfusion, other health issues his first couple of years that I believe (not proven) were a result of the toxemia. He required a bronchoscopy, had 14 ear infections his first year after being born, had asthma to where he was on breathing treatments 6 xs a day, his vision was affected and he required glasses by the time he was 4. Just things like that that I'm not sure can be pinned down to the preeclampsia.

Christabelle · Aug 17, 2013

My great-grandmother had toxemia in the 1930s. She gave birth to twin girls. One baby survived, and my great-grandmother and the second baby died after about 1 day. The surviving baby was packed up and sent to the neighbor's house. I'm not sure if they used the neighbor lady as a wet nurse or what, but the older children went to another family member and didn't see their baby sister for a long time.

holy_shiitake · Aug 17, 2013

Hey, this is me! No, really. I was born three months early and my mom had toxemia. I weighed a pound and a half and lived in the hospital's NICU incubator for three months. I was so tiny that they had to cut a Cabbage Patch Doll's diaper in half for it to fit me. And my mom wasn't allowed to see me for three days after I was born, because she was too sick - toxemic moms don't always get better right away after they have their baby. However, my lungs were actually overdeveloped for how far along I was (28 weeks, and according to my measurements, I was only on par for 26 weeks when I was first born!). This is definitely unusual. The only things that were significantly different between my experience as a newborn/toddler and any other on-time newborn's experience was that until I was in kindergarten, I had periodic visits with a hospital-appointed social worker to make sure I was developing mentally and physically as I was supposed to. I'm fine now, and there have been no long term effects from me being extremely early. Hope that helps!

ThunderBoots · Aug 17, 2013

holy_shiitake said:
Hey, this is me! No, really. I was born three months early and my mom had toxemia. I weighed a pound and a half and lived in the hospital's NICU incubator for three months. I was so tiny that they had to cut a Cabbage Patch Doll's diaper in half for it to fit me. And my mom wasn't allowed to see me for three days after I was born, because she was too sick - toxemic moms don't always get better right away after they have their baby. However, my lungs were actually overdeveloped for how far along I was (28 weeks, and according to my measurements, I was only on par for 26 weeks when I was first born!). This is definitely unusual. The only things that were significantly different between my experience as a newborn/toddler and any other on-time newborn's experience was that until I was in kindergarten, I had periodic visits with a hospital-appointed social worker to make sure I was developing mentally and physically as I was supposed to. I'm fine now, and there have been no long term effects from me being extremely early. Hope that helps!

Wow -- that image of a resized Cabbage Patch doll diaper really brings it home. So glad you (and your Mom, yes?) had no long-term ill effects.

Greene · Aug 19, 2013

My older sister had this happen with her twin girls. (Twins are often early anyway, but my sister had both pre-eclampsia and eclampsia, severe enough that she almost died.) It runs like crazy in my mom's side of the family; nearly all the women with children have had it at least once.

As others have said, my sister's twins were pretty much like other preemies. They were born at 36 weeks, and weighed almost 5 pounds each, which is probably the lower limit for a preemie that might realistically have survived before modern medical care. My sister had had steroid shots to help develop the girls' lungs, but they suffered respiratory issues for the first year of their lives anyway. They were tiny, skinny, and made awful rasping sounds when they breathed. My sister said they were so small that she was afraid to hold them, because she felt like they'd slip through her arms and fall. Hard to believe, now that they're active, high-energy nine-year-olds with no problems except mild ADHD.

Sunflowerrei · Aug 20, 2013

My little cousin was premature and her mom had eclampsia. My cousin was 4 lbs. at birth and her lungs were definitely underdeveloped. I think she was about a month too early. She has a lung disease and needed a double lung transplant as a toddler. She was connected to an air purifier with a breathing tube as a very young kid and spent practically her first two years in the hospital. I didn't even meet her until she was nearly a year old. Definitely would not have survived in 1913. She's 18 now.

Premature baby born to woman w/eclampsia

ThunderBoots

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cornflake

practical experience, FTW

WendyN

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DeleyanLee

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ThunderBoots

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Orianna2000

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melindamusil

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storygirl99

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ThunderBoots

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ThunderBoots

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jaksen

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71writer

Christabelle

holy_shiitake

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ThunderBoots

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Greene

Sunflowerrei