Neurologic Diseases—Childbirth Problems

While childbirth usually goes well, complications can happen. They can cause a risk to the mother, baby, or both. Possible complications include

• Preterm (premature) labor, when labor starts before 37 completed weeks of pregnancy
• Problems with the umbilical cord
• Problems with the position of the baby, such as breech, in which the baby is going to come out feet first
• Birth injuries

For some of these problems, the baby may need to be delivered surgically by a Cesarean section.

• Assisted delivery with forceps (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Brachial plexus injury in newborns (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Breech birth (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Caput succedaneum (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Meconium aspiration syndrome (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Premature rupture of membranes (Medical Encyclopedia)

Also called: Nervous system diseases

The brain, spinal cord, and nerves make up the nervous system. Together they control all the workings of the body. When something goes wrong with a part of your nervous system, you can have trouble moving, speaking, swallowing, breathing, or learning. You can also have problems with your memory, senses, or mood.

There are more than 600 neurologic diseases. Major types include

• Diseases caused by faulty genes, such as Huntington’s disease and muscular dystrophy
• Problems with the way the nervous system develops, such as spina bifida
• Degenerative diseases, where nerve cells are damaged or die, such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease
• Diseases of the blood vessels that supply the brain, such as stroke
• Injuries to the spinal cord and brain
• Seizure disorders, such as epilepsy
• Cancer, such as brain tumors
• infections, such as meningitis

• Cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) collection (Medical Encyclopedia)
• EEG (Medical Encyclopedia)