What is facial presentation of the fetus and what the consequences may be for the child?

During pregnancy, in which the child is in a facial presentation, may have certain features. Also, such an arrangement of the fetus in the future will determine the tactics of obstetric aid. This article will tell about what the facial presentation of the fetus and what the consequences for the child during such pregnancy.

The way the baby is located in the uterus is actually called previa. Facial presentation - one of the options for placing the child in the womb. This condition is found in obstetric practice quite often, and has been known to doctors since ancient times.

Doctors call the facial presentation of the special position of the child, in which his head is in a highly inclined position. The reasons for the development of this state can be very diverse. According to statistics, it occurs with a frequency of approximately 1 case per 500 genera.

Determining the facial presentation of the fetus is quite simple. To do this, the doctor assesses where the main parts of the child's face are located. Be sure to evaluate the position of the chin. By the way the chin is located, several types of facial presentation are distinguished. They can be:

• front chin (occurs, according to statistics, more often than others);
• posterior chin;
• cross-mental.

Also, doctors believe that facial presentation may be primary or secondary. The first is found in obstetric practice extremely rarely. It develops due to the thyroid gland pathology of a pregnant woman. Much more common secondary facial presentation. It is usually formed if there is a discrepancy between the size of the fetus and the female pelvis.

If necessary, more accurate diagnosis, doctors resort to ultrasound examinations. With the help of ultrasound, you can also monitor possible changes in the position of the baby in the uterus. Before the onset of labor, the future mother, whose baby is in facial presentation, can be carried out several such ultrasound examinations.

Prolonged facial presentation can have extremely dangerous consequences. So, a child after birth may manifest pathology in the work of the nervous system. As a rule, various defects in the work of the brain occur in approximately 10–15% of babies born with facial presentation during pregnancy.

Another problem that parents of a newborn baby may face may be the development of various pathologies in the cervical spine. Prolonged extensor position of the head with facial presentation contributes to the formation of a violation of tone in the muscles of the neck.

Observation of the course of pregnancy, in which the fetus is in facial presentation, is carried out by specialists quite carefully. The location of the baby in the womb doctors necessarily evaluate in dynamics.Before the imminent onset of labor, the obstetrician-gynecologist must necessarily assess where the main large parts of the fetus are located. To do this, it determines the location of the head, back, as well as arms and legs. After such a determination, the doctor can already decide on the tactics of the future obstetric aid.

Another method of diagnosis that helps determine the correct tactics for childbirth is pelviometry. It is necessary in order to determine which pelvic pathologies a specific woman has.

It is important to note that if the facial presentation of the child was detected in early pregnancy, it is still inconclusive. In obstetric practice there are situations when the fetus changes its presentation. Reviews of some women who have been established facial presentation of the fetus during pregnancy, also confirm this fact.

An important goal pursued by doctors during the observation of such a pregnancy is the possibility of preserving it as long as possible. The longer the baby is in his mother's belly, the higher the likelihood that he will be viable after his birth. Too early spontaneous childbirth with facial presentation is very dangerous. In this situation, the risk of death of the baby is quite high. In order to prevent this, a pregnant woman during pregnancy should be constantly under the close supervision of doctors.

The choice of obstetric aid tactics is always individual. There are cases when a cesarean section during childbirth with a facial presentation is not performed. Usually this option is possible if the fetus is small, and the size of the pelvis of the expectant mother is quite large.

In the middle of the XX century, some obstetrician-gynecologists practiced a special method of changing the presentation of the fetus. So, through certain manipulations, they tried to achieve a change in facial presentation to occipital. It should be noted that not all modern doctors share the opinion on the expediency of such a procedure. During manipulations, the risk of developing dangerous complications is quite high. The result of such a turn may be certain injuries to the head of the child, which will further negatively affect the work of his nervous system.

With facial presentation, natural childbirth can still be, and this happens quite often. Not always with natural childbirth, there are some complications or birth injuries.

The prognosis of the development of pregnancy in the facial presentation of the fetus can be called quite favorable. Experts believe that this pregnancy is much easier than pregnancy, for example, with occipital previa.

A newborn baby who has been in the womb for several months in facial presentation may have a specific head shape. So, it becomes spherical. In this case, a generic tumor can be located in the eye area and on the chin.

In some cases, the child may have small bruises in the right or left half of the face. Usually they appear when the head passes through the birth canal. Worry about this is not worth it. Such small subcutaneous hemorrhages will completely disappear in a few days.

If the birth tumor goes to the tongue, then in this situation, the newborn baby may develop small problems with swallowing.Typically, these babies suck the breasts badly, but all these adverse effects disappear after a while on their own.

On the biomechanism of labor in the facial presentation, see the following video.