Unexpected delivery before arrival at hospital: an observation of 18 cases

We identify and discuss risk factors related to prolonged hospitalization, as compared with the average hospital stay (5.1 days) of normal delivery neonates throughout the last 10 years, associated with babies delivered unexpectedly in southern Taiwan.

This is a retrospective case series study; those babies delivered unexpectedly, including both pre-term and term infants, were pooled out from normal-birth babies, and their laboratory data and clinical histories were reviewed and discussed.

There was a total of 18 babies delivered unexpectedly during the past 10 years. Out of these 18 babies, there was only 1 mortality. The mean gestational age was 38 weeks; the mean birth body weight was 3097 g, and the average hospital stay was 6.2 days. Possible clinical factors related to prolonged hospitalization include the following: hypothermia, hypoglycemia, hyperkalemia, polycythemia, and a relatively high ratio of positive findings of chest X-ray study.

The best way to reduce prolonged hospitalization caused by unexpected delivery is by prevention, or if this is not possible, by increasing the knowledge and effectiveness of handling intrapartum accidents. Hypothermia, hypoglycemia, hyperkalemia, polycythemia, and positive chest radiological results were the most common reasons for prolonged hospital stays in unexpectedly delivered neonates. However, due to the limited cases in our study, a larger group study is still needed in the future for more precise statistical information.