Brad Bradshaw, M.D., J.D., L.C



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Medical Terms

Abruption:
A separation of the placenta from the uterus that will typically cause brain damage or death if not treated immediately.
Acceleration:
An increase in the baby's heart rate (typically greater than 15 beats per minute and lasting for more than 15 seconds).
Apgar score:
A scale from 0 to 10 that rates how well the baby appears to be doing immediately after birth. Typically the score is taken at one minute and five minutes, occasionally it will be taken again at 10 minutes. A low score is sometimes associated with a long-term neurological deficit.
Baseline heart rate:
The basic rate at which the babies heart is beating when no abnormalities are occurring. Although each baby is different, this baseline will typically fall somewhere between 110 and 160 beats per minute.
Beat-to-beat variability:
The variation in the baby's heart rate with each beat or few beats. This is a subset of short term variability.
Bradycardia:
A drop in the baby's heart rate that stays down below 110 beats per minute for a prolonged period.
Chorioamnionitis:
Usually a type of infection that develops in the tissue surrounding the baby.
Cord blood gas and pH:
A sample of blood taken from the umbilical cord at birth that indirectly measures the amount of oxygen and acid (acute oxygen starvation), among other things.
Cord compression:
A compression of the umbilical cord that decreases or stops flow of blood to the baby. The amount of compression varies greatly. This may be minor, transient and normal just before birth. It may be severe or prolonged and cause brain damage. A cord compression will often cause characteristic decelerations to appear.
Deceleration:
A drop in the babies heart rate below baseline/normal.
Fetal Heart Monitor:
The monitor which records the baby's heart rate and typically measures the mother's contractions as well.
Hypoxia:
A reduction in oxygen concentration in the baby's tissues/cells.
Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE):
A lack of oxygen that was either 1) so sudden and severe, 2) less severe but so prolonged, or 3) a combination of 1 and 2, that a permanent brain injury has occurred. There are varying degrees of HIE.
Ischemia:
A reduction in blood flow. This is often in association with hypoxia.
Placental insufficiency:
A condition where a decrease in blood supply to the baby occurs because the placenta, the interface between mom and baby, is not functioning adequately.
Tachycardia:
A heart rate above 150 beats per minute.
Variability:
The moment to moment variations in the baby's heart rate. There are two types, long term variability and short term variability.




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