A hematoma at birth is a red flag for trauma and the Gillespie Approach.
A concerned grandmother emailed me about her 12-week-old granddaughter. After a challenging delivery consisting of an epidural, a blood pressure drop, a flushed epidural with saline, pitocin, water broken, and stuck in the birth canal for 20 minutes, she was born with a hematoma on the right side of her head.
The doctor assured the family that she was fine and that the hematoma would likely go away because the body usually resorbs the dried blood in time. But twelve weeks later, it seemed to have calcified and was becoming problematic in moving her head.
Her current pediatrician referred her to a neurologist. The specialist said everything was normal with nothing to do now. He recommended that mom should check back in a year if there is still a concern.
In my world, the pressure of being stuck for 20 minutes in the birth canal could have broken a blood vessel, causing the hematoma. The cranial osteopaths believe that the cranium is normally compressed in the birth canal but pops back out upon entering the world, with the first breath, and breastfeeding.
She had trouble sleeping, difficulty breastfeeding, gas, tight abdominal muscles, inconsistent bowel movements, and was a mouth breather. She also had respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) a month ago.
She presented with a zero-second brain cycle, and her parietal and temporal bones were distinctly internally rotated. They apparently got stuck during the trauma of labor and never popped out. A classical sign was that, from a frontal view, her face was wider than her cranium.
After 1½ hours of therapy, her brain cycle opened to an amazing 160 seconds. A twist in her pelvis and strain in her lower back were pulling on her upper structures. I expect her to do well upon final completion.
I wish that I could have worked on this baby at birth to see if a better functioning craniosacral fascial system could have helped to resorbed the hematoma. Gillespie Approach Training is a must for every newborn provider.
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