Labor and delivery-hypothermia

Specialties Ob/Gyn

Published

Okay so question...... I work in labor and delivery/nursery. I had the strangest thing happen to me today. And I am curious to see if anyone has any input...... So after mom delivered the baby had a temp of 93.3(yes I know insane. And i did 4times with different thermometers) so the labor nurse checks moms temp and its 93.4!!! No one really knew what to think about it. I mean baby warmed up fine, blood sugar was good, vital signs were good, and ate well. So what do yall think of this??? As to why mom was so cold that baby came out so cold??

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Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.
https://allnurses.com/ob-gyn-nursing/hypothermia-in-the-986317.html
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Specializes in Emergency/Trauma/LDRP/Ortho ASC.

Was it a core temp? Rectal or foley probe?

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How long after the delivery was the temp taken? axillary or rectal? How about for mom oral or tympanic? I did have an experience once that the mom's temp was low normal and the babies temp was 94 rectal when going to the nursery after a c/s. Same thing, baby did fine warming up and blood sugars. It was freaky. Baby was fine throughout stay. Still stumped by that one.

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We are doing a QI project on hypothermia in the or. We are trying to see where the breakdown is, (ie. anesthesia not using warming blankets, rn's not warming the pt before surgery). Any thoughts? We do not use warmed fluids.

Insights?

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It was a routine lady partsl delivery. No complications. I took babies temp axillary with 3 thermometers. It 93.3. Was was 93-94 both orally and axillary. Took mom about 4 hours to warm up. Baby did good though.

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Mom was 93-94 orally and axillary

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Specializes in ICU.

Did mom have an epidural with narcotics? There's been research done about use of morphine in an epidural (or spinal during Csection) causing hypothermia. The opioids affect the hypothalamus, which normally does temperature regulation.

My educator just brought this up today. She said the med to give to combat this is Ativan.

Doing a quick google search, I found this article, and it states using Narcan to reverse this effect.

Hypothermia and excessive sweating following intrathecal morphine in a parturient undergoing cesarean delivery. - PubMed - NCBI

Persistent hypothermia after intrathecal morphine: case report and literature review. - PubMed - NCBI

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These articles had great information. I may have to do a literature search now!!!

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