Following the homebirth of your baby you will be asked to keep track of some basic information regarding your baby's vital signs until we see you again (we stay about 4 hours after the birth). Of course we go over these instructions in detail with you, and it is all written out on a handout because you are so excited that you won't really remember much of what I am saying after the birth. Below is a list of things we ask you to watch out for. If any of the following signs occur in the mother or the baby, or if you are worried about anything,
call Michelle at 407-687-3138.
Temperature:
Axillary temperature of less than 97 or greater than 99.6 degrees after clothing & room temperature have been adjusted. Baby’s temperature keeps changing even when room temperature and clothing stay the same.
Respirations:
• Fewer that 40 or more than 60 breaths per minute while resting.
• Labored breathing with grunting, retraction of the ribs, or flaring of nostrils.
Heart Rate or Pulse:
Pulse outside normal range of 120 to 160 per minute taken while resting or quiet. Crying babies heart rates are higher!
Elimination:
• No passage of urine or stools in first 24 hours after birth.
Other signs:
• Excessive sleepiness—sleep periods lasting longer that 6 hours after the first day
• Hyperirritability or extreme reaction to ordinary stimulation like diaper changing, picking him up, etc.
• Jaundice on the first day of life.
• Poor feeding, not at all interested in feeding, or exhausted by it
Cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow.
For babies grow up we've learned to our sorrow,
So quiet down cobwebs, dust go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.
Ruth Hulbert Hamilton
Newborn Care Instructions
