号外：新生儿评分完全版（ZT）

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by XiaoLily
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新生儿评分

（上次没有贴全，抱歉！这次把完整版贴一下，新妈妈们可以参考。）

What is Apgar Score?

Thevery first test given to your newborn, the Apgar score occurs rightafter your baby's birth in the delivery or birthing room. The test wasdesigned to quickly evaluate a newborn's physical condition afterdelivery and to determine any immediate need for extra medical oremergency care.

Although the Apgar score was developed in 1952by an anesthesiologist named Virginia Apgar, you may have also heard itreferred to as an acronym for: Activity, Pulse, Grimace, Appearance,and Respiration.

The Apgar test is usually given to your babytwice: once at 1 minute after birth, and again at 5 minutes afterbirth. Rarely, if there are serious problems with the baby's conditionand the first two scores are low, the test may be scored for a thirdtime at 10 minutes after birth.

Five factors are used to evaluate the baby's condition and each factor is scored on a scale of 0 to 2:

heart rate (pulse)
breathing (rate and effort)
activity and muscle tone
grimace response (medically known as "reflex irritability")
appearance (skin coloration)
Doctors,midwives, or nurses add these five factors together to calculate theApgar score. Scores obtainable are between 10 and 0, with 10 being thehighest possible score.

A baby who scores a 7 or above on thetest at 1 minute after birth is generally considered in good health.However, a lower score doesn't necessarily mean that your baby isunhealthy or abnormal. For example, a score between 4 and 6 at 1 minuteindicates that your baby simply needs some special immediate care, suchas suctioning of the airways or oxygen to help him or her breathe,after which your baby may improve.

At 5 minutes after birth, theApgar score is recalculated, and if your baby's score hasn't improvedto 7 or greater, the doctors and nurses may continue any necessarymedical care and will closely monitor your baby. Some babies are bornwith heart or lung conditions or other problems that require extramedical care; others just take a little longer than usual to adjust tolife outside the womb. Most newborns with initial Apgar scores of lessthan 7 will eventually do just fine.

It's important for newparents to keep their baby's Apgar score in perspective. The test wasdesigned to help health care providers assess a newborn's overallphysical condition so that they could quickly determine whether thebaby needed immediate medical care. It was not designed to predict ababy's long-term health, behavior, intellectual status, or outcome. Fewbabies score a perfect 10, and perfectly healthy babies sometimes havea lower-than-usual score, especially in the first few minutes afterbirth.

Keep in mind that a slightly low Apgar score (especiallyat 1 minute) is normal for some newborns, especially those born after ahigh-risk pregnancy, cesarean section, or a complicated labor anddelivery. Lower Apgar scores are also seen in healthy premature babies,who usually have less muscle tone than full-term newborns and who, inmany cases, will require extra monitoring and breathing assistancebecause of their immature lungs.

If your doctor or midwife isconcerned about your baby's score, he or she will let you know and willexplain how your baby is doing, what might be causing problems, if any,and what care is being given. For the most part, though, most babies dovery well, so relax and enjoy the moment!