Study finds brain bleeds in 25% of newborns

When I was pregnant with my first child, my OB wouldn't schedule an ultrasound after 5 weeks gestation. He said that as long as the baby and I appeared healthy, there wasn't any reason for it. With my second child, I had a different doctor who scheduled two or three throughout the pregnancy. The final ultrasound set off a flurry of tests and follow up ultrasounds when they thought there was something wrong with the baby's kidneys. Several ultrasounds later, I finally gave (normal, uncomplicated) birth to a healthy, happy child. None of those tests were necessary and in the end caused me more stress and worry than anything else. As my first doctor said, "Sometimes a little knowledge can be dangerous."

That's a very long story to explain to you how I feel about this story. I can see myself hovering over my firstborn, worrying over the umbilical cord. If I had known about brain bleeds, I probably wouldn't have been able to relax enough to enjoy the little sleep I got those first few weeks. Expectant mothers don't need more to worry over, we do enough of that already. Though I have no medical training and don't want to be glib about this finding, my instincts tell me that this is a normal side effect of birth and that the findings won't change anything in the long run about labor and delivery. Any moms or OBs out there interested in chiming in?