"Born in a shirt" - more than once lucky and happy people have heard such a phrase directed at them.
Where did this expression come from, what does it mean? Let's figure it out. To be born in a shirt means to be born in an unruptured, whole amniotic membrane. She wraps around the newborn like a shirt. This usually makes childbirth difficult: the baby can suffocate. In the old days, with the almost complete absence of medicine, surviving such a birth is already happiness. So there was a belief that to be born in a shirt means to be happy all your life. Sometimes a newborn is born not in a shirt, but in a so-called hat, when only his head is covered with a shell. Such children were credited with the ability to clairvoyance, witchcraft, and other mystical features.
Is it good or bad to be born wearing a shirt?
At the beginning of the last century, it was deadly. Babies born in the amniotic sac often suffocated or died from exposure to the amniotic fluid. Today, this danger is practically non-existent. Modern medicine has invented a method (amniotomy) that allows the baby to leave its protective intrauterine membrane in time. Those who todayborn in a shirt, getting smaller.
Why is this happening?
Some women have insufficient amniotic fluid or amniotic sacs that are too tight and elastic. This may be due to genetics, drug exposure, or certain diseases. In this case, even if the cervix fully dilates to release the newborn, the bubble does not burst (as in normal childbirth). He remains whole. It is in this case that doctors use amniotomy, or an artificial puncture of the bladder. The word "amniotomy" consists of two words: "sheath" + "dissection". The operation is carried out for almost every woman who gives birth according to plan. The doctor takes a special hook and pierces the amniotic sac with it in such a way that the water in front of the baby's head begins to pour out. The ones at the back stay in the bladder and help the newborn to smoothly make their way out. It is almost impossible to be born in a shirt today. It is worth noting that the procedure is completely painless and even imperceptible: there are no nerve endings in the fetal membrane.
Who needs an amniotomy?
Doctors do not believe that being born in a shirt is a great happiness, and therefore every woman in labor admitted to the maternity hospital is carefully examined. Far from all expectant mothers avoid a preliminary puncture of the bladder. Here are the indications for requiring an amniotomy:
- Overpregnancy. If the fetus is more than 41 weeks old, then the bladder membrane becomes verydense. It almost does not pass oxygen and nutrients. The fetus may die.
- Protracted contractions. They tire the woman so much that she has no strength left for attempts. With prolonged childbirth, the fetus is threatened with asphyxia.
- Preeclampsia. This is a special pathological condition of pregnant women, which is accompanied by the appearance of very high pressure, protein in the urine, disorders of the vascular and autonomic systems, and edema.
- An unopened cervix in time.
Those who were born in a shirt today are practically no different from other people. However, the observation of doctors for such lucky ones in the first years of life is mandatory.
