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NURS 165
Labor & Birth Reading Guide

Chapter 18

1. What are fontanels and what is their function?
· Lowdermilk pg. 326
· Flat bones of skull, formed during embryonic period
· Enable head to pass thru birth canal

2. Be able to identify and name the bones and suture lines in the fetal head.

I’ll try & send this graphic separately, it made the file too large to send, rats




3. DEFINE:

· Lowdermilk pg. 449, 450-1-2

Presentation = part of the fetus that enters the pelvic inlet 1st and leads thru the birth canal during labor

Cephalic = head presents 1st, 96% of births

Vertex = occiput presents 1st/aka cephalic presentation

Breech = buttocks or feet present 1st, 3% of births

Lie = relation of fetal spine to mother’s spine – longitudinal or vertical (then transverse, horizontal, oblique)

Attitude = relation of fetal body parts to one another – general flexion

Biparietal diameter = the largest transverse diameter of fetal head (approx. 9.25 cm) – this is the widest part of the head that needs to fit thru the pelvic inlet

Suboccipitobregmatic diameter = the smallest and most critical anteroposterior diameter (approx 9.5 cm) because when the fetal head is completely flexed & the smallest measurement presents, it can fit thru the pelvis easily – but if the fetal head is more and more extended the part of the baby’s head that presents may not be able to even enter the pelvis (please see Fig. 18-5 on pg. 452)

Position = relation of the presenting part (occiput, sacrum, mentum (chin), sinciput (forehead) to the 4 quadrants of the mother’s pelvis. Position is denoted by a 3-part acronym:
· R or L = side of mother’s pelvis
· Middle letter = presenting part of fetus (O is occiput, S sacrum, M...