What happened
The short answer
These pages are about events rather than diagnoses. Each one covers what the event is, what standard care looks like with the guidance cited, what can go wrong, which injuries can follow, and what to look for in the records.
If you are trying to work out what happened during your birth, start here and then read how to read your labor and delivery records.
The numbers, up front
During labor and delivery
VBAC and trial of labor after cesarean
Vaginal birth after cesarean. Candidacy, uterine rupture risk, and what the setting must provide.
Breech and other malpresentation
A baby who is not head down. Covers turning, mode of birth, and the injuries linked to breech delivery.
Macrosomia, a larger than average baby
A larger than average baby. Weight cannot be predicted accurately, which limits what can be planned.
Prolonged and arrested labor
How labor progress is measured, what arrest means, and the risks at both ends of the decision.
Oxytocin and Pitocin in labor
The medicine that drives contractions. Too many contractions leave the baby less time to recover oxygen.
Shoulder dystocia
A shoulder stuck behind the pubic bone. There is a defined sequence of maneuvers and a note that should record it.
Cord prolapse, nuchal cord and cord compression
Cord prolapse is an emergency. A nuchal cord is common and usually harmless. The difference matters.
Fetal heart rate monitoring, and what happens when it is not acted on
The strips, the three categories, what each pattern means, and what the records should show.
Delayed C-section
When an urgent cesarean is slow. Decision-to-incision time is the number to find in the record.
During pregnancy
Placental problems
Abruption, previa, accreta and insufficiency. The placental pathology report is the key document.
Preeclampsia and the risk to the baby
High blood pressure in pregnancy, seen from the baby's side: growth, monitoring, and timing of birth.
Maternal infection and the risk to the baby
GBS, chorioamnionitis and untreated urinary infection, and why each matters to the baby.
Rh incompatibility
A blood type mismatch that can affect a future pregnancy. Prevention is an injection given at defined times.
Premature birth
Born before 37 weeks. Antenatal steroids, magnesium and place of birth are the three things to ask about.
Going past your due date
Past the due date. Covers monitoring, timing of induction and the risks that rise with each week.
Gestational diabetes
Diabetes that appears in pregnancy. Changes growth, delivery planning and newborn blood sugar screening.
Care after birth, and what can be missed
Medication and dosing errors around birth
Drug and dose errors in labor and the newborn period. The medication administration record holds the answers.
Newborn resuscitation and what can go wrong
The first minutes when a baby does not breathe. The algorithm is timed, and so is the record.
Things that go wrong in the NICU
The recurring categories of NICU error, and how to ask about them without becoming the difficult parent.
Jaundice that was not treated in time
Jaundice has an hour-by-hour published standard. The records show the values, the times and the thresholds.
Low blood sugar that was not caught
Screening is by risk factor, not by symptoms. The record holds every glucose value with a time.
Newborn infection that was not caught in time
Newborn infection has no single sign. Treating first and investigating after is the standard, not the exception.
Where these facts come from
- American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Practice Bulletin 106, Intrapartum Fetal Heart Rate Monitoring: Nomenclature, Interpretation, and General Management Principles. 2009. www.acog.org/clinical/clinical-guidance/practice-bulletin. Link checked September 3, 2026.
- American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and American Academy of Pediatrics. Neonatal Encephalopathy and Neurologic Outcome, Second Edition. 2014. www.acog.org/clinical/clinical-guidance/task-force-report/ar. Link checked September 3, 2026.