From Apgar to Vitamin K

Tests and Procedures for Your Newborn Baby

By Melissa Granberry

You are finally in the delivery room. The nurse is showing you this gooey creature and exclaiming, "You have a beautiful baby!" Now what? Read on to prepare yourself for the flurry of activity that will be surrounding your tiny bundle of joy.

The baby is only seconds old and the obstetrician is asking you to perform your first fatherly duty. "Do you want to cut the cord?" the doctor asks. You hear the question, but you are not sure of the answer.

To prepare yourself for this moment, ask experienced dads for advice. "After my daughter was born, I started to cut the cord," says my husband, Zach. "Something squirted on me, and I dropped the scissors!" Fortunately, being a new mother, I was too engrossed with our daughter to notice the mishap. "The obstetrician took over and finished the task," Zach says. "I was actually relieved to be done with it."

The Apgar score will be calculated at the mere age of 1 minute and repeated at 5 minutes. This score is used to determine what kind of resuscitation is needed on the new baby. The test focuses on heart rate, breathing, color, reflex irritability and muscle tone. Each category is given a score of 0 to 2; then the scores are added up for a total, with 10 being the highest.

"Don't get hung up on the number," says Dr. Bennett Kaye, a pediatrician with Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Ill. "A baby may score low on the 1-minute test, then be pink and screaming at 5 minutes. The 5-minute score is much more important."

Want to see more?

• She Won't Break! New Dads With Newborn Fears
• What Is Dad's Role? A Quiz for Fathers-to-be
• What Not to Do in the Delivery Room
• Talk about it!