ABSTRACT
History Mrs Richardson is a 23-year-old swimming teacher in her first pregnancy, who is admitted to hospital at 26 weeks gestation because she has had spontaneous rupture of membranes. Forty-eight hours later she goes into spontaneous labour and a baby boy is delivered, weighing 800 g (25th centile). At delivery, he is making spontaneous respiratory effort with marked subcostal and sternal recession. He is stabilized and transported to the neonatal unit.
