The arrival of a new baby is both a challenging and rewarding experience. This can be particularly true for parents whose newborn has a health problem.

"There is no way to completely prepare yourself for the discovery of a birth defect or for complications during delivery," admits Nancy Chescheir, MD, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

"It's important for parents to know as much as they can going into the labor and delivery room so they can be prepared if they need to make decisions," Dr. Chescheir says. Prenatal testing and education can provide valuable information to help prepare you for your newborn's arrival. Read on for important facts about common newborn health problems and tips to prepare you to make informed decisions about your baby's health.

Common Newborn Problems
Certain birth defects, such as spina bifida, Down syndrome, congenital heart disease, exposed bowel, or cleft lip, can often be diagnosed prenatally. Other birth defects cannot be detected before birth and are noted for the first time in the delivery room. In addition, complications such as meconium aspiration (when a newborn inhales a mixture of meconium - the baby's first feces, ordinarily passed after birth - and amniotic fluid during labor and delivery) can occur.

If a birth defect is discovered prenatally, your obstetrician will prepare you by rehearsing what will happen in the period following delivery. Parents can find out what to expect in the period following delivery and can visit intensive or special care units before birth to become familiar with the environment and meet the neonatal team. This team may include a neonatologist, a pediatric anesthesiologist, or pediatric surgeon, as well as neonatal nurses and nurse practitioners.

A very common problem affecting premature infants is immature lungs. Some preemies lack enough surfactant, a chemical that prevents the air sacs from collapsing when a baby exhales. Surfactant isn't reliably present in the fetal lungs until after 34 weeks' gestational age, so many premature babies require devices to assist their breathing, keep their air sacs open, and promote air exchange. One of these is a ventilator, a breathing machine that is hooked up to a small plastic tube that goes into the baby's windpipe to aid in breathing.

Synthetic surfactant is now routinely given (down a breathing tube) to very premature babies right after birth. These infants are able to breathe on their own much sooner than in the past, and sustain less lung damage because they do not require long-term ventilator use.

Other problems are less severe. It's not uncommon for preemies or even full-term infants to develop jaundice in the first 2 to 3 days after delivery. It usually disappears in about 5 to 7 days. Almost 80% of premature babies develop jaundice within the first 5 to 7 days. Jaundice occurs in healthy babies when a baby's immature liver initially can't dispose of excess bilirubin (a yellow pigment produced by the normal breakdown of red blood cells) in the blood.

In some cases, your doctor may order tests to determine bilirubin levels and whether treatment is necessary. The most common treatment involves exposing the baby to special ultraviolet lights that help to break down the extra bilirubin to help the baby's liver process it. This treatment can often be done at home with rented equipment.